Summary
- Victoria’s five-day, hard lockdown has ended and greater Melbourne is no longer considered a COVID hotspot. Residents are now free to travel more than five kilometres from their homes and the four reasons for leaving home have been revoked, but some restrictions on public and private gatherings remain.
- State health and hospital pages have been swept up in Facebook’s mass ban of news publishers in Australia, a move which risks undermining public health messaging ahead of the coronavirus vaccine rollout which begins next week.
- Victoria has recorded no new local COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, although one new case has emerged in hotel quarantine. NSW has achieved its 32nd day in a row without a local case, while Queensland has recorded its 42nd straight day of zero cases.
- Debate rages among scientists over whether a nebuliser really was the source of Victoria’s Holiday Inn outbreak, as the Andrews government has suggested. Meanwhile, the man blamed for spreading the virus by using the nebuliser is pushing for an independent review of his case.
- Visit our new vaccine tracker, which shows how many people around the world have been vaccinated so far and which countries are leading the charge.
Watch live: Australian vaccine update
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy are addressing the media about Australia’s vaccine rollout.
You can watch their press conference live, below:
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Why were health and hospital Facebook pages caught up in media ban?
Facebook has blamed the government’s definition of “news content” in the media bargaining code for deleting the pages of health and emergency services today, including the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
However, the tech giant says it will reinstate any pages that have been “inadvertently” swept up in the media bans.
“Government pages should not be impacted by today’s announcement,” Facebook said in a statement.
“The actions we’re taking are focused on restricting publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.
“As the law does not provide clear guidance on the definition of news content, we have taken a broad definition in order to respect the law as drafted.”
Why today?
Because the government’s media bargaining code was passed by the House yesterday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
“Well, they saw the passage through the House of Representatives of the legislation yesterday,” he said.
“It hasn’t gone through the Senate. They saw the passage of the legislation through the House of Representatives.
“And they interpreted some of the provisions in a specific way. Now, they’ve clearly made public their concerns about the code as it stands.
“We will work through some of their issues, as we did over the weekend with the Prime Minister with Google. And we were able to provide some clarifications and some technical amendments which we moved through the Parliament this morning with bipartisan support. So, let’s see where it goes.
“But Facebook is in no doubt that we’re committed to the code, but also we would like to see them here in Australia. But I think their actions today were unnecessary and wrong.”
‘Facebook was wrong’: Frydenberg hits out at tech giant
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s press conference quickly turned from the topic of jobs to Facebook.
“In respect to Facebook’s actions today, Facebook was wrong,” he said, referring to the social media giant’s decision to ban media outlets from the platform.
State health and emergency services have also been inadvertently caught up in the ban, with Facebook blaming the government’s definition of “news content” in its proposed media bargaining code.
“Facebook’s actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed, and they will damage its reputation here in Australia,” the Treasurer said.
“Their decision to block Australians’ access to government sites – be they about support through the pandemic, mental health, emergency services, the Bureau of Meteorology – were completely unrelated to the media code which is yet to pass through the Senate.
“But what today’s events do confirm for all Australians is the immense market power of these media digital giants. These digital giants loom very, very large in our economy and on the digital landscape. The Morrison government remains absolutely committed to legislating and implementing the code.”
Unemployment rate drops to 6.4 per cent
Speaking of jobs, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has spruiked the latest employment figures at his press conference in Canberra.
“The jobs numbers are in for January and they’re good news for Australia,” he said.
The unemployment rate has fallen to 6.4 per cent from 6.6 per cent. There has been a net increase of more than 29,000 full-time jobs, Mr Frydenberg said.
“We’ve seen around 350,000 jobs created in the last four months. We’ve seen the under-employment rate fall to 8.1 per cent – the lowest level since 2014.”
Unemployment figures by state
- Tasmania: 5.9 per cent
- New South Wales: 6 per cent
- Western Australia: 6.2 per cent
- Victoria: 6.3 per cent
- Queensland: 7 per cent
- South Australia: 7.1 per cent
“Yes, JobKeeper is coming to an end in March but the Australian labour market will continue to be resilient as we taper off those payments and move to other support across the rest of the economy,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Below are the key figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Seasonally adjusted estimates for January 2021:
- Unemployment rate decreased to 6.4 per cent
- Participation rate decreased to 66.1 per cent
- Employment increased to 12,939,900.
- Employment to population ratio increased to 61.9 per cent
- Under-employment rate decreased to 8.1 per cent
- Monthly hours worked decreased by 86 million hours.
‘Happy to be here’: Job-hunter hits the pavement in Melbourne’s CBD
By Chloe Booker
Carla Garro was in Melbourne’s CBD looking for work this morning after losing her job as a jeweller at the beginning of the pandemic last year.
“It’s been pretty stressful. It’s been a difficult year,” she said.
However Ms Garro, aged in her 30s, was feeling positive about returning to the city after lockdown.
Carla Garro was in the CBD looking for work on Thursday morning.Credit:Scott McNaughton / The Age
“I’m happy to be here and out and about. I’m not feeling concerned about the virus any more like I was last year,” she said.
Lynette Agnew, wearing a surgical mask, travelled from Northcote into the city to have a look around.
“Because of the lockdown, I wasn’t able to see anyone. I couldn’t get out of my unit for a few days,” she said.
Lynette Agnew travelled into the city from Northcote on Thursday morning to have a look around.Credit:Chloe Booker
Ms Agnew said her spirits had been lifted after being able to see other people and go shopping.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” she said.
Watch live: Treasurer, Communications Minister speak on Facebook bans
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher are speaking on Facebook’s media bans, which have affected key health services across the country today just days out from Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout.
You can watch their press conference live, below:
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy are due to a hold a press conference about the vaccine rollout at 1.15pm AEDT. We will bring that to you live, so do stay with us.
Masks won’t deter customers, says Melbourne cafe worker
Now let’s look back to Melbourne’s CBD, where reporter Chloe Booker spoke to people heading back to shops, cafes and offices this morning after the state’s five-day lockdown.
Grace Forde knows the changing face of the city more than most after working at chocolatier Koko Black’s Swanston Street coffee stand throughout the pandemic.
She said it was eerily quiet when she arrived at work on Monday during the state’s ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown.
Cafe stand worker Grace Forde.Credit:Scott McNaughton
“It was pretty dead, we didn’t really have any customers,” she said.
“It’s way busier [today]. Even when I got here at 8.30am, there were a lot more people on the street.”
Ms Forde’s manager Joey Kinerman, who spoke to The Age from inside Koko Black’s Collins Street store, said he wasn’t worried about masks remaining mandatory inside shops and didn’t believe it would impact their business.
“It doesn’t make a difference for us,” he said.
“The virus has always been bubbling away before we’ve known [about an outbreak]. It’s always safer for us to have it on all the time, just in case.”
‘Deeply unethical’: Melbourne hospitals hit by Facebook ban
By Liam Mannix
Organisations including Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital and Eating Disorders Victoria have seen their Facebook pages wiped clear as the social media giant’s news ban causes chaos across the country.
Facebook’s unexpected decision to ban publishers and users from sharing or viewing any news articles on its platform, in response to the Morrison government’s proposed media bargaining laws, has hit a range of non-news sites too.
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital have been stripped of all their content.
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Facebook page has been stripped of content.Credit:Getty Images
Facebook pages for the Burnet Institute and the Medical Journal of Australia, as well as literary journals Overland and Meanjin, also appear to be affected.
In an emailed statement, Burnet director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb said: “Any sudden change to quality health information flow at any time, but most especially in the midst of a health crisis, is deeply unethical and damaging.
“It should be met with the sustained contempt it deserves.”
‘Australians’ health is at risk’: Facebook ban hits health pages days before COVID-19 vaccine rollout
By Rachel Clun
As we mentioned earlier, state health and hospital pages have been swept up in Facebook’s mass ban of news publishers in Australia, a move which risks undermining public health messaging ahead of the coronavirus vaccine rollout which begins next week.
Health experts said even if those pages were restored, banning news publications at such a critical time was irresponsible and dangerous behaviour.
Queensland Health and ACT Health’s Facebook pages have been banned, while NSW Health and Victoria Health’s pages remain active.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the bans needed to be rectified straight away.
“I am deeply and profoundly concerned that Facebook would block access to health, COVID or vaccine-related vital public information. This must be addressed immediately,” he said.
Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid said it was a huge issue just days out from a the start of a national vaccine program.
“We are extremely concerned about Facebook using its market power to bully the Australian government, and in doing so putting the health of Australians at risk,” he said.
The official government health pages for Queensland, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania were all blocked, while the federal Department of Health page remained active.
Hospitals were also affected by the ban, including Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital.
University of Sydney vaccine expert Professor Julie Leask said the timing of Facebook’s mass blocking “couldn’t be worse”.
“Three days before our COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Australians using Facebook as their primary source of news can no longer get access to credible information about vaccination from news organisations and some government and public health organisation pages,” she said.
“This is the very time we rely on people accessing vaccine information easily, from their preferred platform.”
No new cases in Queensland for 42nd day
By Felicity Caldwell
There have been no new COVID cases recorded in Queensland for the 42nd consecutive day, after 9572 people were tested over the past 24 hours.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland was still waiting for the first vaccines to arrive before 100 shots were given to front-line workers on the Gold Coast on Monday.
“But what’s really important is a really thorough communications campaign,” she said. “It is absolutely vital that everybody knows the plan for the rollout and who is doing what.
“Of course the GPs need to know what the federal government’s plans are.”
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2021-02-18 02:12:00Z
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