Latest updates
Victorian outbreak hits recovery as RBA says rates steady for three years
By Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke
The Victorian coronavirus outbreak will set back Australia's economic recovery, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has warned, saying it is unlikely the economy will start growing until the final three months of the year.
Dr Lowe, giving evidence to the House of Representative's Economics Committee, has also revealed inflation is unlikely to get back to the RBA's target band of 2 to 3 per cent for at least three years, signalling no change in official interest rates for a similar period of time.
The government and RBA had, before the outbreak in Victoria, been expecting a lift in the September quarter after a deep fall in activity through the June quarter.
RBA governor Philip Lowe has told a parliament inquiry that the Victorian virus outbreak has set back the national economic recovery.Credit:AP
Dr Lowe said the June quarter was likely to show the economy shrinking by 7 per cent, the largest contraction in "many decades". The events in Victoria now meant it was unlikely the economy would recover sharply.
"We expect the (Victoria) outbreak will reduce GDP growth in the September quarter by at least 2 percentage points. This will broadly offset the recovery that has been taking place in most other parts of the country," he said.
"As a result, we are now not expecting a lift in economic growth until the December quarter."
Melbourne cancels spring fashion week
By Melissa Singer
Lord Mayor Sally Capp has finally confirmed that Melbourne Fashion Week will not be going ahead as planned in September.
"We’re reviewing our plans for the event and looking at other ways to support Melbourne’s fashion, design and retail sector later this year when have more clarity on restrictions," Cr Capp said.
A model wearing Forever New (centre) walks in a pop-up runway at Melbourne Fashion Week in September 2019.Credit:Getty Images
Organisers are looking at moving elements of the event online and staging physical events once it's safe to do so.
Melbourne Fashion Week's primary goal is to support fashion in the city centre which has been hit hard by coronavirus.
The City of Melbourne is offering relief grants for traders that have been most affected by the downturn in trade.
“We normally have up to a million people coming into the city each day," Cr Capp said.
Reports earlier this week showed pedestrian traffic in the CBD was down by 90 per cent on usual numbers.
Royal Melbourne Hospital confirms ward closures
By Rachael Dexter
A rehabilitation and aged care facility run by Victoria's Royal Melbourne Hospital has confirmed it has moved positive COVID-19 patients out of the facility to different wards.
In a statement released by the hospital this morning, a spokeswoman said the vulnerable patients have been moved to wards that are better suited to deal with COVID-19.
"To better support our COVID positive patients on the campus, we have transitioned these patients to two wards that will allow for better infection prevention measures," she said.
"These wards are more contemporary in their design and better suited for supporting patients during this pandemic."
The spokeswoman also confirmed that some elderly patients that had recovered from the virus had been moved back to their original residential facilities.
The campus has been a site of a major outbreak of the virus, with 123 cases of COVID-19 linked to the facility as of Wednesday.
UK imposes 14-day quarantine on arrivals from France
The United Kingdom will impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France on Saturday because COVID-19 infection rates there are too high, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday.
The government, wary of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, also added the Netherlands, Malta and three other countries to its quarantine list. Spain and Belgium have already been added in recent weeks.
"Data shows we need to remove France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks & Caicos & Aruba from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors to keep infection rates DOWN," Shapps said on Twitter.
"If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days."
The French Foreign Ministry gave no immediate reaction.
France reported more than 2,500 new COVID-19 infections for the second day in a row on Thursday, levels last seen in mid-April when the country was in the middle of one of Europe's strictest lockdowns.
The reimposition of quarantine conditions is hitting Britons' favourite holiday destinations in the middle of summer and as the travel industry fights for survival.
Reuters
Queensland records two new cases, not in the community
By Lucy Stone
Queensland has recorded two new cases of coronavirus, one a returned traveller from Sydney in hotel quarantine and the other a person on a cargo ship off the coast.
In total Queensland has just eight active cases remaining across the state, while borders remain closed to NSW and Victoria.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged people to maintain good hygiene and arrange testing if unwell.
On Thursday she warned the borders would remain closed "as long as necessary" while community transmission remained in other states.
"Our borders will remain closed for as long as the risk remains," she said.
Cautious optimism despite Victoria recording 372 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths
By Rachael Dexter
Victoria has recorded 372 new coronavirus cases and a further 14 deaths, with epidemiologists cautiously optimistic the state's second wave of infections has turned a corner.
It comes after the state recorded 278 new cases on Thursday – its lowest number of infections in weeks and less than half the record total of 725 notched up last Wednesday.
"I am 100 per cent convinced we are well past the peak and are heading down quite quickly," said Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics at the University of South Australia.
"If you look at the trend over the past week, it seems to be unmistakable – it’s going down," he said.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases has dropped from a peak of 575 almost two weeks ago to 310 on Thursday.
David Littleproud says PM will raise border closures at national cabinet
By Marissa Calligeros
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says the Prime Minister will raise the issue of state border closures with the national cabinet.
It follows revelations a three-year-old girl with cancer will have to travel hundreds of kilometres for treatment after being barred from South Australia.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"In far western Victoria there's a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who's got cancer. She's actually wearing a colostomy bag and has lost part of her spine and was getting chemotherapy in Adelaide," MR Littleproud told Radio National this morning.
"Now because of the closure, she's unable to get chemo in Adelaide and has now been pushed away. Her family are going to have to take her hundreds upon hundreds of kilometres away to get treatment.
"This isn't just about pressures we're going to have on our food supply and animal welfare, this is a real human toll. We're just asking our Premiers to inject themselves and lead on compassionate human grounds as well."
Mr Littleproud said hard state border closures were having dire impacts on regional Australians, as well as food supply chains, farmers and animal welfare.
"That's exactly what the Prime Minister will escalate [at national cabinet], but ultimately this comes down to every single state's sovereignty and our constitution protects that and rightfully so," he said.
"The Prime Minister is himself going to escalate this because he sees the gravity of the situation that's coming before us. He's going to inject himself and ask the Premiers in each state to inject themselves together and understand each other's borders."
Mr Littleproud praised the Goondiwindi Shire Council on the Queensland/NSW border which erected electronic gates at the border crossing and gave people in NSW a pin code so that only they could get through the gates.
"Those are practical solutions that can be done ... I think the gates cost around $20,000 and you don't need anyone at the border."
Victoria records 14 deaths, 372 new cases on Friday
Victoria has recorded 14 deaths and 372 new cases on Friday.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services have released today's numbers and they aren't too pretty.
More details will be revealed later today.
Our charts below have been updated with the latest figures.
Littleproud denies his department failed to co-operate with Ruby Princess inquiry
By Marissa Calligeros
"From my understanding, this officer within my department would not be able to be afforded Commonwealth legal representation, they would have to have their own," he said.
It has emerged that a biosecurity officer with the Department of Agriculture spoke with the port agent of Carnival Cruises on the gangway of the Ruby Princess when it docked and the biosecurity officer was told some passengers had been tested for influenza and 11 were in isolation.
"All information that the inquiry requested with respect to that information ... was provided in much detail," Mr Littleproud said.
"[The] federal agricultural agency only looks after plants and animals, they don't look after human health, and that's always been the convention. State governments hold the responsibility of human health."
Dutton criticises 'childish' Palaszczuk over borders
By Mary Ward
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has criticised his home state's premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, amid rumours the Queensland leader is set to tighten border restrictions further.
"When you get a Premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk making announcements about border closures when Gladys Berejiklian is doing a press conference and she is caught out, the question is asked of her and she knows nothing about it, she hadn't been contacted by Queensland you would imagine she would be a bit miffed," Mr Dutton told Today, referencing the most recent tightening of Queensland's border which saw the whole of NSW and ACT declared hotspot areas.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"I think it is childish. There is a growing mood here in Queensland at the moment of people who say 'if the doctors are saying close the borders or put in place this regime, fair enough', but there is a lot of politics being played in Queensland at the moment."
Asked about the federal government's involvement in the Ruby Princess bungle, ahead of the findings of the inquiry into the incident being handed down today, the Home Affairs Minister said he believed the responsibility for infection control was on the states.
"I don't employ a doctor or nurse at the airport, at ports," he said.
"That is the responsibility of the Victorian health department or the Queensland health department, the NSW health department: it is nothing to do with the Australian Border Force."
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2020-08-14 00:19:00Z
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