Australia news LIVE Victoria records 1003 new COVID-19 cases 14 deaths NSW records 216 new local cases three deaths as state surpasses 90 per cent full vaccination rate
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NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is under fire after it emerged he was at a high-level meeting that sealed the fate of a controversial $40 billion rail corporation, despite warnings it should be dismantled over safety and financial concerns.
The meeting in September last year to discuss the future of the Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) included Mr Perrottet, then premier Gladys Berejiklian and one of NSW’s most powerful public servants, Treasury secretary Mike Pratt.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has rejected Labor’s claims that TAHE was a budget deception and that any suggestion that safety was compromised as a result of the corporation being established is unfounded.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Emails tabled in Parliament as part of an inquiry into the rail corporation â€" sparked by an investigation by this masthead â€" reveal Ms Berejiklian was “unequivocal [at the meeting] that TAHE will go aheadâ€, and that “everyone was well across the challenges but also imperativeâ€.
Former KPMG partner Brendan Lyon told the inquiry on Monday that he was humiliated, bullied and discredited by a so-called “hit squad†that included Mr Pratt when he refused to change a report that warned of safety risks and that the state budget would be more than $10 billion worse off than Treasury claimed.
Read the full story here.
Hit theatre show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is to be restaged in Melbourne as a shorter, one-night production, with the current five-hour, (generally) two-night experience due to end in March next year.
Producers say it has “become clear†that the condensed script, developed for a Broadway season that is due to begin on Friday, should replace the longer version in Australia.
San Francisco and Toronto will also take the shorter version, while London and Hamburg productions will continue to run the original two-night version that collected nine Laurence Olivier Awards, including best new play and six Tony Awards (where it also won best new play).
The last two-part tickets are on sale to March 27, and the new version will premiere in May 2022.
Experts recommend Queenslanders still wear masks where they can, despite incoming rule changes making them more “like sunscreen†in the public health response to COVID-19.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday announced that almost all mask mandates would be lifted once Queensland reached an 80 per cent first-dose rate.
Queensland Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken says masks may become more like sunscreen.Credit:Matt Dennien
Queensland’s first-dose rate stood at 79.84 per cent yesterday afternoon and is expected to reach the 80 per cent benchmark today.
When that milestone is officially confirmed, masks will not be required anywhere except at airports and on planes. However, authorities are still “strongly recommending†they be worn in crowded places such as on public transport.
More on the situation in Queensland here.
Health authorities have issued an alert for three gyms across Sydney after they were linked to 11 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District says anyone who attended Barry’s Bootcamp classes at Kings Cross, Surry Hills and Martin Place between October 30 and November 4 is being contacted by NSW Health with testing and self-isolation instructions.
Anyone who has not been contacted is asked to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
Under the current NSW government guidelines, gym classes are limited to 20 people.
NSW has recorded 216 new, locally acquired COVID-19 cases and three deaths.
There were 95,804 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday, while one overseas or interstate case was also reported.
Of the state’s population aged 16 and older, 90.1 per cent are fully vaccinated and 94 per cent have received at least one dose.
There are 235 people in hospital with the virus, including 41 in ICU.
Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.
The state has recorded 1003 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths. Today’s tally is down on yesterday’s 1069 cases.
There are now 15,031 active cases of coronavirus across the state.
Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 71,601 coronavirus tests.
There are now 471 coronavirus patients in Victorians hospitals. Of those, 84 are in intensive care. Forty-six are on a ventilator.
In terms of vaccines, 84 per cent of Victorian residents aged 12 and over have had two jabs of a coronavirus vaccine.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says it’s time to abandon politically dictated climate targets and timetables and move to a market-led solution to climate change.
Mr Morrison said Australia would oppose mandates that impacted the country’s employment, regions and lifestyle on the path to net zero carbon emissions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking in Melbourne earlier this morning. Credit:Paul Jeffers
“It’s not about if and why and when. It’s now about the very practical question of how. The world does not need to be punished for climate change we just need to fix it,†he said.
“That’s the Australian way.â€
Mr Morrison said for Australia to become a low-emissions technology leader, it had to invest in innovation that hadn’t been developed yet.
“We’ll reset to letting the economy do the work,†he said.
This will be done through “a combination of public and private finance and personal assistance on the road to net zeroâ€, the PM added.
Mr Morrison also dismissed claims the federal government wasn’t doing enough to cut down emissions, and said Australia was faring better than South Korea, Canada and the US.
As mentioned earlier this morning, the Morrison government has announced a new emissions technology fund. It’s hoped the $1 billion fund will drive investment in Australian companies developing new technology that will assist in decarbonising the economy by 2050.
But Labor has questioned whether the fund is diverting money away from existing renewable energy technologies.
Australia’s economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with Reserve Bank of Australia forecasts projecting the economy will grow by 5.5 per cent by 2022.
Unemployment is also on track to drop by 2.4 per cent by the end of 2023, the lowest rate since August 2008.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison arriving at this morning’s Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast. Credit:Paul Jeffers
Addressing the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia had done the hard yards during the pandemic.
“Especially here in Victoria and especially those running small and medium-sized businesses,†he said.
“You’ve had to endure what no one else in this country’s had to endure ... recovery renewal is everywhere to see here.â€
He said the biggest challenges for Australia’s economy were US-China relations in the Pacific region, changes to supply chains and the transformation of the economy as the world adapts to climate change.
Federal MP and Labor’s spokesman for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, appeared on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning.
He was asked to respond to the Government’s new low emissions technology fund. It’s hoped the $1 billion fund will drive investment in Australian companies developing new technology to help the federal government in its push to slash greenhouse gas pollution and decarbonise the economy by 2050.
Shadow Minsiter for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s what Mr Bowen had to say:
Our objections have been the diversion of money for [existing] renewable energy into other technologies.
The Government’s spin says this is new money. This is all about politics.
Just two weeks ago the Prime Minister said he didn’t need any new policies.... it was all based on existing policy and technology. Because of political pressure, we’re seeing a policy a day. All this comes after Glasgow because the Government’s feeling the pressure.
We have opposed a diversion of renewable energy funding to carbon capture and storage [in the past]. If this is genuinely new money, we’ll look at it in that light.
My position on carbon capture and storage remains the same. I’m a pragmatist. The Government puts too much [faith] in it [and] it’s an excuse not to reduce emissions.
If it can play a role in some sectors, fine. There’s no evidence it will ever play a role in coal. Can it play a role in some other areas? Hopefully.
Australia’s top immunisation advisers will wait on safety data from at least several hundred thousand young children in the US who will be vaccinated in coming weeks before giving the go-ahead for the jab in 5- to 11-year-olds, with experts stressing risks to unvaccinated children in schools are low.
A trial of Pfizer’s paediatric COVID-19 vaccine in 1500 children was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The trial found the vaccine was safe and effective.
ATAGI co-chair Allen Cheng said the group would wait for real-world data before making a decision on vaccination in children under 12.Credit:Joe Armao
But with low cases and high rates of adult vaccination coverage, Australia will wait to see how the vaccine plays out in reality before approving the shot, with a larger sample size needed to determine the risk of very rare complications, such as the heart condition myocarditis.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention independent panel unanimously recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 last week, after it was granted emergency use authorisation by the FDA. The first children received the vaccine on November 3.
More on this story here.
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