Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 380,000 and there are more than 6.4 million known cases of infection, according to Johns Hopkins University
- A 53-year-old man who died in Bali late on Tuesday night may be the first Australian to perish of coronavirus in Indonesia
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said 25,000-30,000 homes or renovations are expected to be completed by the end of this year as part of the $688 million HomeBuilder program
- A total of 10 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Australia today - eight in Victoria and two in New South Wales.
- Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight COVID-19 resulted in too many deaths
Latest updates
Aussie expat family stranded in Airbnb for 10 weeks after COVID-19 travel ban
By Dana McCauley
Sophie Smith has been stranded in an Airbnb holiday rental property in Melbourne's Surrey Hills with her wife and three children for 10 weeks after flying to Australia to visit her dying father just before the border closed in March.
She is one of thousands trying to leave the country at a time when COVID-19 restrictions make this impossible in all but exceptional circumstances, with official data showing more than 10,000 people have lodged requests for permission to leave or enter Australia since the travel ban began.
Sophie Smith with her children Will, 4, Charlie, 6, and Lucy, 2.Credit:Penny Stephens
The family, normally based in Phuket in Thailand where the children go to school, faces uncertainty over whether they will be able to continue their expat life as they await the outcome of a request for an exemption from the Home Affairs department.
"I'm lucky the school doesn't go back until August," said Ms Smith, who works at an international school in Thailand.
"I came in from Phuket in March just as everything was shutting down. My dad had prostate cancer and he passed away ... The silver lining was I got to spend five weeks with him."
Reader reactions: Will you apply for a HomeBuilder grant?
Earlier today we put the question to readers about their interest in accessing the HomeBuilder grants and here are a selection of those reactions:
"My wife and I wanted to, but we earn just over the $200k income threshold. We are in the middle of getting quotes for a major extension, where the design phase started prior to COVID, with an expected value around $450k. We are really hesitant to start the job, as we feel it is a gamble in the current climate. A little boost would have helped." - Steve
"According to the application criteria I am illegible to apply as I’m a owner builder. As a owner builder we also need the services of bricklayers, carpenters etc and would put more money back into the economy rather than a licensed builder." - Clive
"Arguably one of this government's worst calls, although there is plenty of competition for that. Giving money to people to do something they were going to anyway just drives up the price." - Anonymous
Marvel Stadium tenant clubs anticipate home game revenue
By Peter Ryan
Tenant clubs at Marvel Stadium expect to receive home game payments in 2020 on terms similar to that struck between the AFL, the MCG and their tenant clubs.
St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Essendon and Carlton have deals to play home games at Marvel Stadium, with their contractual arrangements entitling them to receive revenue for home games played at the venue.
The AFL is working on a deal with Marvel Stadium and tenant clubs. Credit:Darrian Trainor
However, with COVID-19 restrictions meaning large crowds are banned from attending matches for the foreseeable future, and given a range of varied contractual obligations across the industry, the AFL have been working through what the deal might look like for the clubs in 2020.
On Wednesday, the AFL informed the tenant clubs they will receive payments for each home game, including the games played at the venue in round one without crowds when Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne were the home teams.
Morrison defends HomeBuilder, says it will stop 30,000 projects being lost
By Roy Ward
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended his government’s $680 million HomeBuilder package after strong criticism today.
Mr Morrison said the program would allow families to renovate their homes and provide a stream of work for tradespeople and connected industries.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But some have said the program was criticised by apartment builders and also by the Builders Collective of Australia lobby group who said it would have little impact on the work schedule of builders.
Mr Morrison told A Current Affair on Thursday night people would help many people.
“If you can't afford to go and build a new house and your kids are growing up and they need room, the option you have is to renovate your house,” Mr Morrison said.
“The average loan taken in Australia in the first three months of this year for those renovations was $164,000.
“That's what people do when they can't knock down the house and build another one or if they can't build a new home which can cost about $350,000.
"This program is all about getting 20,000 to 30,000 new starts on jobs and renovations to generate jobs in the residential building industry and support apprentices. It is about the jobs.”
Mr Morrison said his government estimated 20,000 people would access the scheme and they would be observing the uptake closely.
The Prime Minister also defended his government after being asked whether they would mess up these numbers after making significant costing errors in their JobKeeper program.
“We will see. These are estimates and uncertain times,” Mr Morrison said.
“We hope the people who may have pulled back from projects will feel more confident and we have added a lot of feedback today from the building industry who have received this very warmly.
“We understood that we are going to have a 30,000 drop off in the number of new home starts at the back end of this year so the program is very tightly constrained to try to get those projects [working].”
Drug developed by University of WA company to be used in global trial
A drug developed by The University of Western Australia’s spinout company Dimerix will be used in a global trial to treat patients who have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome as a result of COVID-19.
The drug, known as DMX-200, was chosen as part of the Randomised, Embedded, Multifactorial Adaptive Platform trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) program, which is endorsed by the World Health Organisation.
The study plans to include more than 7000 patients from over 200 study sites across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.Credit:Shutterstock.com
REMAP-CAP is an international platform trial run by a network of leading experts, institutions, and research groups. The program is studying a number of interventions to treat people hospitalised with proven or suspected COVID-19, in ICU and non-ICU settings.
The overall REMAP-CAP study plans to include more than 7000 patients from over 200 study sites across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
'Victim of the economics': Axed North coach not bitter
By Daniel Cherny
Scott Gowans had "no inkling whatsoever" that he would be axed as North Melbourne's AFLW coach but harbours no animosity towards the Kangaroos, saying their decision makes sense from a business perspective.
Gowans was informed on Thursday morning via a Zoom meeting with North's football department chief Brady Rawlings and football operations manager Laura Kane that the club would not be renewing his contract - despite him leading the Kangaroos to 11 wins from 14 matches across the club's first two AFLW seasons.
Scott Gowans has been let go as North coach.Credit:Jason South
North won six of their seven matches this year and were among the last four teams standing when the season was abandoned because of COVID-19.
However, the Roos announced on Thursday that Gowans would be replaced in his role by 1996 AFL premiership player Darren Crocker.
Crocker, who has had three stints as a caretaker coach for North's AFL team, will serve across both the men's and women's football departments at Arden Street. He will fill dual positions as AFL pro scout and AFLW senior coach.
Overseas students generate record income for NSW unis ... then COVID-19 hit
By Natassia Chrysanthos
Overseas students were generating more income for NSW universities than government grants for the first time last year, before the coronavirus pandemic cut international enrolments by more than 13 per cent.
Chinese, Indian and Nepalese students alone brought in $2.4 billion for the state's 10 universities, which was close to the total income raised by domestic students fees, according to a 2019 audit.
The annual Auditor-General's report found universities were suffering from the consequences of an over-reliance on international student revenue. The Auditor-General had foreshadowed the dangers of this income stream for tertiary institutions in previous reports.
Universities Australia this week revealed the country's universities could lose $16 billion between now and 2023, under new modelling which considered the sustained effect of COVID-19 on finances.
Eight thousand fewer students than expected were enrolled in semester one this year across NSW universities, according to the audit. Overseas student enrolments had sunk 13.8 per cent below expectations and domestic student enrolments were 2.4 per cent lower.
Four European countries forge coronavirus vaccine alliance
Berlin: Germany and three other European Union states are forging a new alliance aimed at securing access to coronavirus vaccines, once developed, and making sure they are distributed fairly around the world, business daily Handelsblatt reported.
Handelsblatt quoted German Health Minister Jens Spahn and his colleagues from France, Italy and the Netherlands as writing in a letter to the EU Commission it had seen that access to vaccines is "one of the most urgent issues that the European Union has to address at present".
Germany's health minister Jens Spahn.Credit:Bloomberg
Therefore, a core group of member states had joined up to "achieve the fastest and best possible outcome in negotiations with key players in the pharmaceutical industry".
The four, acting on Berlin's initiative, want to prevent the EU from losing out to the United States and China in the race for a coronavirus vaccine, the paper reported.
Efforts by US President Donald Trump to gain first access to vaccine candidates in return for billions of dollars invested in pharmaceutical companies are viewed with suspicion in Europe, the outlet added.
The United States has secured almost a third of the first 1 billion doses planned for AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine by pledging up to $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion), as world powers scramble for medicines to get their economies back to work.
Handelsblatt cited government sources as saying Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands were talking to several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, about government research funds and purchase guarantees.
Europe must build up a "market power" in order to survive in the struggle for vaccines, Handelsblatt cited government sources in Berlin as saying.
The four were also talking to Britain, Norway, Singapore and Japan about possible cooperation.
Reuters
Queensland, Tasmania intervene in Palmer's challenge to WA border closures
By Michaela Whitbourn and Georgina Mitchell
Queensland and Tasmania have intervened in businessman and former politician Clive Palmer's High Court challenge to Western Australia's border restrictions, which is expected to be heard as early as the first week of July.
Mr Palmer lodged documents in the High Court on May 25 to challenge Western Australia's border restrictions on constitutional grounds, while One Nation leader and Queensland senator Pauline Hanson is supporting a similar challenge to her home state's border controls.
Clive Palmer at a previous Queensland Nickel court hearing.Credit:Jono Searle/AAP
Mr Palmer subsequently added Queensland's border restrictions to his case. It is not yet clear if the dispute will be resolved before border restrictions are relaxed.
Black Lives Matter rally carries real health risks, Sutton warns
By Ashleigh McMillan and Timna Jacks
UPDATED: Victoria's top health official has warned that a planned protest against police brutality "carries real risks" to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tens of thousands of people have signed up to attend the march in Melbourne this Saturday over Aboriginal deaths in custody, following the explosion of unrest over the police killing of black man George Floyd in the United States.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on Thursday afternoon urged Victorians to find other ways to show support for the Black Lives Matter cause.
Professor Brett Sutton, Victoria's Chief Health Officer.Credit:Eddie Jim
"As Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, my concern is always about protecting the health of all Victorians," Professor Sutton said in a statement.
"I know there are many people wanting to protest in person this week and show their support. Unfortunately now is not the time for thousands of people to gather together, putting your and others’ health at risk."
He said vulnerable people were most likely to fall seriously ill if infected with COVID-19.
"We are still in the middle of a pandemic and this protest carries real risks for all Victorians, particularly those in vulnerable groups," he said.
"The restrictions are there to save lives. I urge everyone to consider other ways to show support."
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