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Labor calls for ‘comprehensive jobs plan’
By Rachael Dexter
“We’ve been saying for some time that the deterioration of the economy warrants the government having a look at the JobKeeper changes that they made only a couple of weeks ago [and] they’ve done that now,” said Mr Chalmers said on ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program this morning.
“It’s a step in the right directions but we still have some concerns that other elements of the JobKeeper changes are still in place and that they might come at the worst time for a lot of these workers and businesses.
“And we still remained concerned that a lot of people are still left out of jobkeeper [such as] casual workers, people in aviation, arts and entertainment.”
The changes to JobKeeper announced last night have been costed at around $15 billion, after the government conceded the economy is in worse state than what was anticipated.Mr Chalmers said the federal government should use the opportunity to look at all its COVID-19 economic programs, not solely JobKeeper.
“Changing one part of the eligibility for one program is not a comprehensive jobs plan,” he said.
“We really desperately need a jobs plan from the government.”
When asked what a jobs plan would look like, the shadow treasurer pointed to longer term measures than JobKeeper and JobSeeker such as investing in social housing, energy policy and skills and training.
Facebook employees to work from home until July, get $1380 for home offices
Facebook will allow employees to work from home until July 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak and will give them $US1000 ($1380) for home office needs, a spokeswoman for the social media giant said on Thursday (US time).
The company joins other big technology firms that have taken similar steps recently.
Facebook will allow employees to work from home until July 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreakCredit:AP
Late in July, Alphabet's Google said it would allow employees who do not need to be in the office to work from home until the end of June 2021, while Twitter had proposed remote work indefinitely for some of its employees.
"Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021", a Facebook spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
"In addition, we are giving employees an additional [US] $1000 for home office needs."
Reuters
Sydney council wants greater powers to enforce COVID rules
By Lucy Rickard
Khal Asfour, mayor of Sydney’s Canterbury Bankstown council, wants the government to give councils more powers to enforce COVID rules in their local areas.
Mr Asfour told the Today show that the council was working hard to educate its residents on social distancing and practicing proper hygiene but said they could be doing more.
“As a council we're working really hard. We're trying our best, but it's really hard for councils across NSW. We don't have any powers,” he said.
“We can't tell people to move on. We can't fine people. We can't shut businesses down because of COVID-related issues. That's a matter for the police and we're working with the police to make sure that any trouble, any signs of people disobeying the health order ... and making sure that the law is put on them, because we don't want this to grow.”
Yesterday, a number of venues in the city’s south-west were put on alert after a man in his 20s, who was a close contact of a person in the Mounties Club cluster, visited three Sydney venues while infectious.
On August 1, the man visited Penrith Plaza between 10.30 and noon, Master Hot Pot in Canley Vale between 1pm and 2pm and BBQ City Buffet in Bankstown between 7pm and 8.30pm.
“It is a massive blow. It's a big challenge, this pandemic. We can't be complacent. We need to not drop our guard and we're doing the best we can,” Mr Asfour said.
“I'd like some more powers because we want people to stay safe, and there are pockets of people everywhere, unfortunately, not listening to the public health order … and we need to make sure that they can't do that.
“We can't shut businesses down if they're not having the right practices in place. So if the government wants to give councils more powers in NSW, yeah, we'll take them but they gotta back it up with resources.”
Thumbs down for hydroxychloroquine from government virus taskforce
By Liam Mannix
Hydroxychloroquine should not be used to treat or prevent coronavirus, the federal government’s official COVID-19 evidence taskforce has recommended.
The strong recommendations, made on the basis of multiple studies of thousands of people, should largely bring to an end the strange, twisting saga of a little-known rheumatoid arthritis drug that shot to fame as a supposed miracle cure for COVID-19.
US President Donald Trump told reporters that he was taking zinc and hydroxychloroquine on May 18. Credit:AP
US President Donald Trump called hydroxychloroquine a "game changer" in March and said he had been taking it. In April, mining magnate Clive Palmer donated nearly 33 million doses of the drug to help fight the virus in Australia, calling it the "best hope" for patients with COVID-19.
But since then, the tide of scientific opinion has turned against the drug. Most major Australian hydroxychloroquine trials have now shut down.
PM needs to take responsibility: Labor
By Lucy Rickard
Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles has defended the actions of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews through the pandemic, telling the Today show that he wants to see the same leadership from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“Daniel Andrews is governing through the most appalling of circumstances, but he's standing up every day. He's taking the heat,” Mr Marles said.
Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles has defended the actions of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews through the pandemic.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“He established a judicial inquiry into the situation here almost instantaneously and he's made this clear that at the end of the day he will take responsibility as the Premier of Victoria.
“Now, that's leadership, and in a really tough time, and what we hear from the Federal Government is - I think we've heard it this morning - is a pretty clear attempt to say "this is all Victoria's problems, it's got nothing to do with us."
“I don't hear the Prime Minister standing up every day and taking the kind of responsibility that we're seeing being taken by Daniel Andrews in relation to aged care, for example. This disease has got in there, and we should be hearing from the Prime Minister in similar terms.”
'No excuse' for Souths coach COVID breach: NRL boss
NRL boss Peter V'landys has said there was "no excuse" for Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett visiting a restaurant while under the league's biosecurity restrictions, claiming he would have known the rules.
Mr Bennett has been placed on a 14-day "COVID hold" after admitting he had visited a restaurant in Leichhardt, in Sydney's inner west, with his wife multiple times on Thursday.
Biosecurity breaches: Wayne Bennett and Paul Vaughan.Credit:Getty
"He knows the rules, we have education days ... the one rule they're all aware of is that they can't be going out to restaurants and cafes," Mr V'landys told 2GB on Friday.
Dragons player Paul Vaughn has been dealt the same punishment after visiting an Illawarra cafe on Thursday morning.
"The majority of our players have been conscientious and done the right thing, so it's unfair on them," Mr V'landys said.
Earlier in the program, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he supported the suspensions, and he expected the Souths coach would feel similarly about the need to adhere to restrictions.
"The rules are there to protect everybody, and importantly so that the NRL can keep functioning," he said. "I'm sure Wayne [Bennett] would agree."
Asked about the future of Victoria's spring racing carnival, Mr V'landys, who is chief executive of Racing NSW, said he was hopeful that events such as the Melbourne Cup would be able to occur in Victoria later this year.
Changes to make life 'easier' for Queensland-NSW border residents
By Matt Dennien
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young says holders of the new cross-border passes will be able to travel between the state and NSW for “any reason” as authorities work to finalise new conditions ahead of tougher restrictions this weekend.
From 1am Saturday, the Queensland-NSW road border will go to a hard closure as the southern state and the ACT are declared COVID-19 hotspots, allowing only freight workers and those living in to-be-identified communities through.
Dr Young said she expected the new system, set to go online today, should make things easier for residents with less “competition” to get through.
“Once we get the rush through, it might be a little bit easier for them,” she told ABC Radio Brisbane.
And though police will still be monitoring checkpoints, particularly in the busy Gold Coast region, she said those carrying the new X-category passes will in most cases be let through without having to justify their travel for essential reasons.
Dr Young flagged a return to some normality for aged care home visits from Monday pending any increase in new cases over the next three days, though restrictions barring workers from moving between centres would likely remain.
The centres were locked down across Brisbane’s south and west after fears of a cluster linked to two women who returned from Melbourne.
Government had no choice but to expand JobKeeper: Dutton
By Lucy Rickard
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was on the Today show a short time ago, saying the government had no choice but to expand the JobKeeper scheme.
“Nobody really picked the failings around the hotel quarantine arrangements in Victoria,” Mr Dutton said.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“It hasn't happened in other states and it's resulted in this consequence now, and so from a federal government perspective, how can we help Victoria? Those businesses that had reopened, that re-employed, re-stocked and are now re-closing can't be left hanging. I think we've made the right decision and we'll adjust it if needed as circumstances change.”
Mr Dutton said the Victorian lockdown was a devastating blow to the state’s small businesses.
“You just have to feel for these businesses, small businesses ... they've put money back into restock. They've re-employed staff. They've reopened and now they have to close and this really is a devastating blow.
“I hope that the Victorian government now is able to calibrate with some of the arrangements that they've put in place, because for distribution centres, for workers in abattoirs, etc., there was great difficulty. We just have to help the Victorian government as best we can and help people get out of this dire situation.”
PM expects people from outside Victoria will benefit from JobKeeper changes
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says people from outside of Victoria will benefit from changes to Victoria announced today.
As reported this morning, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is set reverse the tougher eligibility rules announced less than three weeks ago to ensure more companies can qualify for the payment, which drops to $1200 a fortnight from September.
The change is principally to support Victorian businesses, as the state endures tough coronavirus restrictions for the next five weeks.
"The JobKeeper program is there when the virus hits, and it's hit hard in Victoria," Mr Morrison told 2GB this morning, although eligibility would not be geographically restricted.
"There will be some additional people across the country who will have access to it in other states and territories."
Mr Morrison said the federal government had been working to "keep a pilot light on" in the Victorian economy this week, introducing childcare support and a disaster payment to assist through the state's tough shutdown.
"We've done a lot of work this week to ensure the measures were as balanced as they should be," he said.
The Prime Minister said it was "hard to say" if the state's cases would drop next week, although he was hopeful the restrictions would be effective.
Three thousand in Newcastle in self-isolation due to family cluster: Mayor
By Rachael Dexter
Newcastle Mayor Nuatali Nelmes has said the confirmation that three members of the same family in Newcastle have now tested positive for COVID-19 has raised the prospect that the second wave has now reached NSW’s second largest city.
Last night, NSW health issued a warning after a man in his 20s tested positive to coronavirus yesterday morning. The man is a close contact of the Newcastle teenager and man announced the previous day.
Cr Nelmes told Radio National’s Breakfast program the city was now on high alert after the man visited a number of venues over the weekend.
As a result the following list of venues was published, with anyone who may have attended them at the same time asked to immediately isolate and get tested:
- Bennett Hotel, Hamilton – Friday 31 July, from 5.30pm to 10.00pm
- Bar 88, Wests New Lambton – Sunday 2 August, from 5.00pm to 7.15pm
- Sydney Junction Hotel, Hamilton – Saturday 1 August, from 11pm midnight to 1.15am Sunday 2 August
- Greenroof Bar and Restaurant, Hamilton – Friday 31 July, from 10.30pm to 12.15 midnight
- Sushi Revolution, Hamilton on Saturday 1 August, from 12 noon to 12.45pm
- Queens Wharf Hotel – Saturday 1 August from 9.30pm to 11.00pm
- McDonald Jones Stadium – Sunday 2 August, 7:30pm to end of game, Newcastle Jets match
“We had a similar incident earlier in the week where we had a tradesperson working in Newcastle from Sydney and they had tested positive and been to, over three day, maybe four or five venues as well,” Cr Nelmes said.
The Mayor also said about three thousand students and their families deemed possible contacts through the two teenagers' schools.
She said health authorities were still searching for the source of the original infections in the city. Newcastle residents are now being recommended to wear face coverings and to stop to all non-essential travel to and from Newcastle from Sydney.
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2020-08-06 22:26:00Z
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