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Morrison and Biden speak about COVID-19 and emissions in first call
By David Crowe
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and United States President-elect Joe Biden have spoken about how Australia tackled the COVID-19 pandemic and also the importance of carbon emissions reduction technology.
Amid doubts over the transfer of power from President Donald Trump, Mr Morrison and Mr Biden had a phone call on Thursday morning where they discussed the US-Australia alliance and defence ties.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison: "There are no greater friends and no greater allies than Australia and the US."
Mr Morrison cited the defence relationship between Australia and the US and the anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty next year as reasons for confidence about the strength of the ties between the two countries.
"The President-elect was very interested in Australia's success here and what Australia could contribute from our lessons and ... the way that we have managed the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic dimensions of that as well," Mr Morrison told reporters.
Joe Biden selects long-time aide Ron Klain as chief of staff
Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden has selected long-time aide Ron Klain, who played a leading role during the economic and public health crises of the Obama administration, as his White House chief of staff, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Biden offered Klain the top job this week and he has accepted, the people said.
Klain will manage the incoming White House through a pandemic that is surging across the country, once again filling hospital beds and threatening the economy.
Biden has said bringing the coronavirus outbreak under control will be his top priority.
Ron Klain has reportedly been named Joe Biden's chief of staff. Credit: Andrew Walker/Getty Images
White House chief of staff has long been one of the most powerful jobs in Washington. The person is the gatekeeper for the president, deciding who gets to speak with him and who doesn't, and is often one of the last advisers in the room before major decisions.
Bloomberg
Texas becomes first state to top one million coronavirus infections
By Farrah Tomazin
Texas has become the first US state to surpass one million coronavirus infections, with mobile morgues and makeshift hospitals being used to cope with an alarming spike in cases.
One week since the presidential election, COVID-19 continues to soar in America, with cases topping 100,000 for seven consecutive days and hospitalisations reaching all-time high across the country.
A residential neighbourhood in El Paso, Texas, the state's worst hotspot. Credit:Bloomberg
According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, Texas - the most populous US state after California - has now become the first in America to record more than 1 million known coronavirus cases.
In the border city of El Paso, the health system is so overwhelmed that tents are being set up in hospital parking lots, a convention centre has been set up as a temporary overflow hospital, and mobile morgues have been brought in to store dead bodies.
Andrews flags vaccine distribution as national cabinet topic
By Mathew Dunckley
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged that the distribution of a vaccine could be on the agenda for tomorrow's national cabinet meeting.
"We were already doing a whole lot of planning work about how we will actually provide the injections of millions and millions of people to our health departments during that work," he said.
Mr Andrews said news that a vaccine with 90 per cent efficacy could be available in March was "fantastic".
He said the state's roadmap for restrictions was not predicated on the presence of a vaccine.
"The assumption has to be that it'll turn up when it turns up what we can't necessarily factor that in because nothing is certain," he said.
"It could be though in a month's time ...then we can be more certain about how many doses will be here, how effective it is, when and how long it'll take to manufacture, how long it will take to actually administer. I don't think we're quite at that point yet,"
Andrews yet to nominate a return date for office workers
By Mathew Dunckley
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was asked when office workers might head back to their desks in the CBD and elsewhere and declined to nominate a date.
Victorians are still told to work from home if they can.
"That's very frustrating but I can't give you a date, but hopefully we'll be able to provide some further updates and, hopefully, a sense of a time, perhaps, when we might have an answer on the 22nd." he said.
"We're well on track to be able to make all those changes we foreshadowed very recently on the 22nd, and hopefully talk a little bit more about what the rest of November, and what the run up to that over normal Christmas looks like and if we can, with any certainty speak about 2021.
"We'll just have to see how things, how things go. The most important thing here is that we've got to have, as we've always done enough data so that we've got the most complete picture, and that when we, when we make assumptions."
Mr Andrews said the two week spacing of restriction windbacks was linked to the life cycle of the virus.
"Even 13 days of zero cases is not the same as a vaccine. This thing we're assuming lurking out there, smouldering if you will, and we need to make sure that we're vigilant," he said.
Government's youth hiring subsidy passes after One Nation backflip
By Katina Curtis
A key plank of the government's plans to recover from the recession has passed but not without a parliamentary fight as One Nation backflipped on protections for the jobs of older workers.
Senate amendments to the JobMaker scheme that pays employers who hire new staff aged under 35 years were added to the bill on Tuesday with the backing of Labor, the Greens, One Nation and independent senators Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick. But they were rejected in the lower house on Wednesday morning before One Nation's Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts helped the government dump them in the Senate.
Senator Pauline Hanson backflipped on amendments to the JobMaker scheme to help the government pass the legislation.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The $4 billion program applies to new hires made from the day after the budget, October 7, and over the next year, although payments won't be made until February.
Under the plan, employers would receive $200 a week if they hire someone aged between 16 and 29, and $100 a week for those aged 30 to 35. The new employees must be additional to the existing staff numbers and the total payroll must increase.
But Labor argues it would allow businesses to sack people aged over 35 and take on two younger workers in their place.
Mental health boost will benefit tens of thousands of people: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the changes would benefit tens of thousands of people.
He said improving the system would benefit not only individuals with mental health issues but their families and employers and society more broadly.
"When the system is designed to only really be there when someone's in absolute crisis that's not a good system," he said.
Mr Andrews said changes to the system would draw heavily on the input from people who have lived experience of it.
Pandemic, broken system are "twin wicked challenges"
By Mathew Dunckley
Deputy Premier James Merlino, who is also Victoria's Minister for Mental Health, said the new funding was the start of a response to the challenges in the mental health system.
"So, we have got the twin wicked challenge of a mental health system that is broken and this year dealing with the impact of a global pandemic and all the stress and isolation, being apart from loved ones and the impact on people's mental health," he said.
"So now, more than ever, we need to invest in reform in a mental health system."
Mr Merlino said the government did not want to wait until the state's royal commission into mental health provided its final report in February.
"We aren't going to wait, and we can't wait. This is a massive mental health budget, and a down payment, if you like, as we prepare for the final report of the royal commission next year," he said.
Andrews announced $868 million funding boost for mental health
By Kate Lahey
Premier Daniel Andrews has announced a funding boost for mental health.
The 2020/21 Budget will include $868 million for mental health services and support.
The money will fund a rollout of the interim recommendations from the Royal Commission into Mental Health, including $492 million for 120 mental health beds in Geelong, Epping, Sunshine and Melbourne.
Almost $19 million will provide 35 acute treatment beds for public mental health patients on private health services.
Deputy Premier James Merlino said Victoria was dealing with a "twin wicked problem" of a chronically broken mental health system, and the added strain of the coronavirus pandemic this year.
The Budget also provides $21 million to expand the Hospital Outreach Post-Suicidal Engagement service.
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2020-11-12 01:49:00Z
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