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New business tax to fund mental health in Victoria
By Annika Smethurst
More than 9000 Victorian businesses will be slugged with a new tax to help the state government deliver a multibillion dollar boost to mental health that Treasurer Tim Pallas described as generational reform.
The high-taxing budget will see businesses with payrolls of more than $10 million hit with a 0.5 per cent levy from 2022, which is expected to raise $843 million a year over the next four years. Larger businesses with a payroll bill higher than $100 million will pay an additional 0.5 per cent on the share of wages paid in Victoria.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas at the 2021 state budget lockup.Credit:Joe Armao
The government justified its hit to businesses claiming big businesses had “continued to profit through the pandemic, pocketing taxpayer subsidies along the way”.
Confirmed link between nurse’s blood clots and AstraZeneca vaccine
By Felicity Caldwell
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has confirmed a link between a Queensland nurse’s blood clots and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Ellie Peacock, 18, received her first dose of the vaccine on March 31, about a week before updated advice recommended people younger than 50 not receive AstraZeneca because of concerns over clotting.
Ellie Peacock developed blood clots weeks after receiving her AstraZeneca dose.Credit:Ellie Peacock/ Facebook
The TGA confirmed the link with the AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday, saying the information reported met the criteria for confirmed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
But it said the case remained under investigation as there were ongoing clinical investigations, including consideration of other medical conditions.
The Queensland case was among six new reports of blood clots and low blood platelets assessed as TTS and likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The others were a 57-year-old woman from Victoria and a 53-year-old man from South Australia.
Watch live: Victorian Treasurer’s budget speech
By Broede Carmody
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas is giving his budget speech.
The Andrews government is expected to implement new taxes and provide a path back to budget surplus. Watch live below.
No ‘hard and fast rule’ on herd immunity: PM
By Broede Carmody
At his press conference in Victoria this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked what percentage of the Australian population needed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to ensure herd immunity.
“There’s no hard and fast rule on that,” Mr Morrison said. “Overseas what we’ve been seeing is that many populations [are] levelling out at about the 60 per cent mark. But medical opinion differs on those issues.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Melbourne on Wednesday.Credit:Wayne Taylor
The comments come after my colleague David Crowe revealed almost a third of surveyed adult Australians are hesitant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, with side-effects topping the list of people’s concerns.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she would like to see 5 million or so people in her state vaccinated before international borders are reopened (equivalent to the overwhelming majority of the adult population). The state is expected to hit 1 million COVID-19 jabs later today.
Mr Morrison said Australia’s top medical experts will continue to examine the medical evidence in regards to herd immunity. In the meantime, the PM said his focus was on “vulnerable populations”.
“If you’re over 70, our priority is to ensure that you’re vaccinated. Have a chat to your doctor and they’ll be able to talk you through any of the questions and any of the issues.”
The morning’s headlines at a glance
By Michaela Whitbourn
If you are just joining us now, here’s what you need to know:
- Political press conferences have been dominated by talk of a “vaccine passport” to allow fully-vaccinated Australians to sidestep state-based restrictions such as closed borders. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he looks forward to discussing the idea with state and territory leaders, some of whom seem less-than-keen. He says there is “nothing new” about the concept and “it’s been around for some time”.
- NSW is on track to hit one million COVID-19 vaccinations later today, with 998,049 shots administered so far. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said about 5 million of the state’s 6 million adults would need to be fully vaccinated (so, 10 million shots) to consider reopening international borders.
- The Victorian government has handed down its 2021-22 state budget. You can follow live updates in our dedicated blog here.
- The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in April despite the end of $90 billion wage subsidy scheme JobKeeper at the end of the previous month. But 13 million fewer hours were worked as the participation rate fell to 66 per cent from 66.3 per cent the month before.
This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the live blog. My colleague Broede Carmody will keep you informed of the afternoon’s news and analysis.
Australia’s new defence against coronavirus variants
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned in recent days that the greatest threat to Australians’ health is the growing number of COVID-19 strains.
What are we doing about these new variants? Science reporter Liam Mannix has a fascinating story today on the Australian lab screening the growing tide of mutant viruses that reach Australia’s borders.
Stuart Turville, Associate Professor at the Kirby Institute, suiting up in PPE equipment in the first chamber of the lab.Credit:James Brickwood
Under ultra-secure conditions at the University of NSW’s Kirby Institute, just south of Sydney’s CBD, a team of scientists is working industriously. The lab’s head, Associate Professor Stuart Turville, just finished work on B.1.617.1, the first Indian variant to raise concern.
“It’s evasive. But not as evasive as the South African variant,” he said. The second Indian variant, B.1.617.2, is growing in cells right now. “On Monday, we’ll know.”
Thanks to a little bit of luck and a lot of excellent science, it is hoped that this lab – originally built to study HIV but rapidly upgraded to deal with COVID-19 – will become Australia’s variant sentinel.
Virgin boss walks back ‘some may die’ comments
By Stuart Layt
Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka has walked back comments she made earlier this week about opening the nation’s international borders even if “some people may die”.
Ms Hrdlicka made the initial comments at the QUT Business Leaders Forum in Brisbane on Monday, saying that as long as there was sufficient rollout of the vaccine and as long as vulnerable people were protected, then the borders should be reopened and Australia needed to learn to live with the virus.
Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in Brisbane on Thursday.Credit:Stuart Layt
“It will make us sick but won’t put us into hospital. Some people may die but it will be way smaller than the flu,” she told business leaders.
On Thursday, following several days of condemnation and backlash from political circles and the public, Ms Hrdlicka fronted an announcement of new jobs and flights as part of the airline’s domestic rollout.
She addressed the controversy around her comments, saying the public perception of them did not match her intention.
“I absolutely understand my words, taken in isolation, were hurtful to some people,” she said. “If I had my time again I would maybe choose my words a bit differently.”
Ms Hrdlicka said she stood by her call for a sensible approach to reopening borders, protecting vulnerable people but also allowing businesses to access international markets again.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who also attended the announcement in Brisbane, said he accepted Ms Hrdlicka’s explanation.
“She has clarified her comments today, and that’s good,” he said. “I know that [the Commonwealth] has followed the best possible medical advice all the way through the pandemic.”
Jobless queue shrank after JobKeeper withdrawn, but fewer hours worked
By Jennifer Duke
The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in April despite the end of $90 billion wage subsidy scheme JobKeeper at the end of the previous month.
While the jobless rate improved there were 30,600 fewer employed workers in April than the month before, Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday morning shows.
The jobless rate dropped 0.2 percentage points down from 5.7 per cent in March when the federal government’s JobKeeper program finished. The number of employed Australians fell to 13,040,400 over the month and 756,200 were unemployed. In March there were 13,071,000 people in the workforce and 789,900 unemployed.
The participation rate fell to 66 per cent from 66.3 per cent the month before with 13 million fewer hours worked over the month. The ABS attributes the fall in hours to seasonal factors and not the end of federal government schemes with more people taking an Easter break.
Queue outside Burwood Centrelink in May.Credit:Louise Kennerley
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the decline in joblessness was the sixth consecutive improvement and the end of JobKeeper hadn’t had a discernible impact on employment over the month, with no significant changes in the indicators nor any major flows out of employment.
“The youth unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since the Global Financial Crisis, reflecting a strong increase in employment for young men, following a number of increases for young women in recent months,” Mr Jarvis said. The underemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 7.8 per cent.
“Some of the 31,000 fall in employment may relate to the end of JobKeeper, but it could also reflect usual month-to-month variation in the labour market and some larger than usual seasonal changes similar to those we saw earlier in the year,” he said.
Inquiry into Federal Parliament’s workplace culture seeks submissions
By Katina Curtis
Anyone who works at Federal Parliament in any capacity can now make a submission to the Human Right Commission’s inquiry into its workplace culture.
The review by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins was sparked after former ministerial staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House in March 2019.
“We want to hear from anyone who works within the Parliament or electorate offices, in any role. This doesn’t just mean politicians and their staff, though we obviously encourage them to contribute,” Ms Jenkins said on Thursday.
Written submissions will be accepted until July 31. The commission will also be doing confidential interviews with people in June and July.
Ms Jenkins will give her findings and recommendations to the government in November, with an interim report expected in July.
PM says vaccine passport plan isn’t ‘dead in the water’
By Broede Carmody
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was speaking at a press conference in Melbourne a short while ago and was asked whether his vaccine passport idea was “dead in the water”.
The plan, flagged yesterday, would see Australians avoid state border closures if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But the idea has received a frosty reception from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, on Tuesday.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Mr Morrison said a vaccine passport is something Australians would support and he looked forward to discussing it with state and territory leaders.
“States and territories, I suspect, will continue from time to time to make decisions which would see lockdowns - hopefully in just contained areas - put in place.”
If a Victorian resident had been fully vaccinated and were in another state, for example, they would be able to “return home to Victoria and not be kept out of their home”.
Mr Morrison said he understood that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian would prefer to have no restrictions on cross-border travel whatsoever, but her job was to make decisions for NSW, not Queensland or Victoria.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she opposes state border closures.Credit:Kate Geraghty
“Other premiers, whether it’s here in Victoria, Queensland, WA or other places, I’m sure will continue to exercise judgements that they believe to be in the best interests of their states. It’s a practical proposal.”
The Queensland-NSW border was closed in March 2020 for the first time in more than 100 years due to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Victoria also put in place border restrictions with NSW, but locals who lived and worked on different sides of the Murray River were able to travel during the height of Victoria’s COVID-infections if they were eligible for a permit (for example, if they worked at a hospital).
Ms Berejiklian said at a press conference at the same time as Mr Morrison’s appearance that “no doubt NSW seems to have a different view to the rest of the country”.
She said “the notion of having borders between states is a ridiculous one to me” and “it has been since day one”.
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2021-05-20 03:13:33Z
CBMipQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL2F1c3RyYWxpYS1uZXdzLWxpdmUtaGVyZC1pbW11bml0eS1hdC1yaXNrLW92ZXItY292aWQtdmFjY2luZS1zdHJhdGVneS1pc3JhZWwtcGFsZXN0aW5lLWNvbmZsaWN0LWRlYXRoLXRvbGwtcmlzZXMtMjAyMTA1MjAtcDU3dGZ2Lmh0bWzSAaUBaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuc21oLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9hdXN0cmFsaWEtbmV3cy1saXZlLWhlcmQtaW1tdW5pdHktYXQtcmlzay1vdmVyLWNvdmlkLXZhY2NpbmUtc3RyYXRlZ3ktaXNyYWVsLXBhbGVzdGluZS1jb25mbGljdC1kZWF0aC10b2xsLXJpc2VzLTIwMjEwNTIwLXA1N3Rmdi5odG1s
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