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With no economic benefit, NSW Premier says churches pose different risk to pubs
Places of worship may need to change their traditions for the NSW government to give them a green light to open to more worshippers, the Premier has said.
It comes as the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has put out a petition calling for churches to be able to celebrate mass with more than 10 parishioners from next week, after pubs were told they could open with 50 diners.
Speaking at her press conference this morning, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said religious congregations were being deliberately treated as differently to patrons in a pub, noting the state's focus has been on economic reopening.
"Unfortunately congregations have been a major reason for the spread of infections overseas and similarly here if you recall we had a number of examples in Ryde and elsewhere where congregations, unfortunately, were the reason for [transmission] occurring," she said.
The Premier added that changes to services would likely need to be put in place for places of worship to open for more people.
"For some practices, [social distancing] means changing practices that have been around for thousands, you know 2000 years," she said.
"Things will have to be done differently and that's what we're working [on] with organisations; to make sure we get it right."
JobKeeper may need to be extended: RBA governor
By Shane Wright
RBA governor Philip Lowe has warned not to wind-up the JobKeeper wage subsidy program too early, saying it may have to be extended or tapered to support the economy.
Giving evidence to the Senate committee overseeing the coronavirus response, Dr Lowe signalled the Morrison government would have to deliver fiscal support to the economy for years.
There have been ongoing concerns that the government's plan to end JobKeeper in September, along with the JobSeeker supplement, could weaken the economy.
Dr Lowe said much would depend on the state of the economy later in the year.
He said if the economy remained subdued, there was merit in extending JobKeeper, tapering it or extending it specifically for certain industries.
With interest rates at record lows, Dr Lowe said the economy would require government support for some time.
"It's going to be very important to keep the fiscal support going," he said.
"It's very important that we do not withdraw fiscal stimulus too early."
The RBA's aim is to get to full employment, generally considered to be an unemployment rate under 4.5 per cent, and to get inflation to between 2 and 3 per cent.
Dr Lowe said would be years before this was achieved, particularly the reduction in unemployment.
"I think it's going to be a long, drawn-out process," he said.
'I'm not going to pretend it's rosy', says NSW Premier on wage freeze
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said her government's plan to freeze public service wages for 12 months was a hard choice, stressing the economic conditions for NSW have been unprecedented.
"I can't remember a time in our state's history, or even if you go back to the history books, where you've had drought, with fire, flood, and a pandemic within a 12 month period," Ms Berejiklian told reporters this morning, adding that she wasn't going to "pretend it's rosy".
The government's plan, which is costed to save $3 billion by freezing pay increases on new public service wage agreements for their first 12 months of operation, is currently facing opposition from Labor and the crossbench in the upper house.
Faced with criticism that the wage freeze unfairly targeted lower-paid frontline workers such as nurses and teachers, Ms Berejiklian said it was "fairest" to have one standard policy across the whole of the public service, rather than drawing the line on who constituted a frontline worker and having bigger wage cuts for executives.
"Governments need to make decisions which are in the interest of our citizens and that's what we do," she said. "I didn't get elected Premier to make easy decisions."
She added that the government had "a number of options before" them to negotiate with the crossbench, but wanted these talks to occur in Parliament.
More than 100,000 people sign up for fee-free TAFE courses in NSW
More than 100,000 people have signed up for NSW TAFE's fee-free tafe courses, introduced in response to the pandemic.
Addressing the media this morning, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the bulk of sign-ups occurred during the height of the state's shutdown, with medical administration the most in demand course.
More than half of the places were taken by students in regional areas.
"It's encouraging to know that whilst we've had these restrictions in place and whilst for definitely during April we were housebound mostly people took up the opportunity 100,000 people have the opportunity to get a course online free of charge to them," she said.
"And we're encouraged by that because it shows that people are making the most of their time but also taking the opportunity to upskill to try further their careers or change their careers."
Premier announces one new case in NSW is 'ironically, a Queenslander'
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced there was one new case recorded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
Ms Berejiklian said the person, who is in hotel quarantine, is "ironically, a Queenslander", referencing the ongoing disagreement between the states over border closures.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously said she won't be lectured to by NSW, "a state that has the highest number of cases in Australia".
There were 9900 tests conducted during the reporting period.
WATCH: NSW Premier addresses the media
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee will provide an update on fee-free TAFE courses provided in response to the pandemic at 10.30am.
RBA governor warns of post-coronavirus 'shadow' over economy
By Shane Wright
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has warned of a post-coronavirus shadow over the economy while predicting further job losses across the country.
Giving evidence to the Senate committee charged with overseeing the coronavirus crisis, Dr Lowe said the past three months had been extraordinary which had required an unprecedented response.
The bank has taken official interest rates to a record low 0.25 per cent. It has bought more than $50 billion in state government bonds while it has also extended up to $90 billion to banks to pass on to small and medium sized businesses.
Dr Lowe said it appeared these elements were all working.
"The evidence so far is that our mid-March package is working as expected and it is helping build the necessary bridge to the recovery," he said.
"The shape and timing of that recovery depends not only on when restrictions are lifted, but also on the confidence that Australians have about their own health and their finances.
"With the national health outcomes better than earlier feared, it is possible that the economic downturn will not be severe as earlier thought. Much depends on how quickly confidence can be restored."
But Dr Lowe cautioned the post-virus economic outlook was still particularly difficult to forecast.
"Even as the recovery gets under way, there will still be a shadow cast by the pandemic," he said.
"As a country, we will need to turn our minds as to how to move out of this shadow. A reform agenda that makes Australia a great place for businesses to expand, invest, innovate and hire people would certainly help."
Dr Lowe noted the April jobs report which showed a near 600,000 drop in the number of jobs across the country and up to 750,000 people defined as in work who had done no hours of work.
He said it appeared the worst of the fall in employment was over but added jobs were likely to still drop.
He said his biggest concern were for those areas of the economy which went into the virus lockdown with a pipeline of work that had enabled them to continue operational. Those sectors, such as construction and professional services, were now at risk of losing jobs as other parts of the economy reopened.
WATCH: Senate inquiry kicks off with RBA governor
The Senate inquiry into the government's coronavirus response has kicked off again this morning with Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe taking questions.
Later today it will be Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chair Wayne Byres and Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair James Shipton in the (videoconference) hot seat.
Melbourne Uni college students ordered off campus for distancing breach
By Anna Prytz
Twenty-four University of Melbourne students have been ordered to leave campus for breaking social distancing rules.
Trinity College, a residential college at the Parkville university, confirmed it asked the students to leave after an unauthorised gathering on Monday which broke government and college-mandated physical distancing rules.
Students at the University of Melbourne's Trinity College have been ordered off campus.Credit:Joe Armao
The college said in a statement that students were aware adhering to these rules was a condition of living on campus.
"I am disappointed that some of our students did not observe the rules that are currently in place," Trinity College warden Professor Ken Hinchcliff said.
"These rules were introduced for their safety and that of our community."
Tip-offs from public bolstered Victoria's fines
By Anthony Colangelo
Police commissioner Graham Ashton says a spike in calls about people breaching social distancing rules was a major reason why Victoria fined almost 6000 people.
The number of fines in Victoria is almost three times greater than the number issued in Queensland and four times the number issued in NSW.
“It’s certainly a lot of fines, no doubt about that," he said.
“Most of those fines occurred during Easter and that was a period when people were really nervous about what was going on in the community and the Police Assistance Line was flooded with thousands of calls.
“Certainly I don’t know about the interstate experience in relation to how nervous the community were but certainly we got a lot of calls through.”
He said when police caught people committing non-coronavirus offences, officers would also issue them with social distancing breach fines. This added to the number being greater than other states he said.
Mr Ashton said nearly 400 fines have been overturned after a review.
“Some people say we are not doing enough, other people say we are doing too many,” he said.
“I think the fines have been valid.”
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2020-05-28 01:10:00Z
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