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Additional 500,000 Pfizer doses arrive from Singapore
By Broede Carmody
Here’s a shot of those Pfizer vaccines arriving in Sydney overnight, courtesy of photographer Gaye Gerard.
As previously reported, Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently secured a vaccine deal with Singapore. We get 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine now to boost our rollout and, in return, we will pay them back with the same amount later in the year.
Extra doses of Pfizer vaccine arriving at Sydney International Airport overnight. Credit:NewsWire
Australia’s reopening plan is cautious and careful, says Finance Minister
By Broede Carmody
Earlier this morning, we brought you some comments from former federal Labor treasurer Wayne Swan.
Mr Swan was suggesting that Labor premiers such as Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk are right to raise concerns about the modelling that underpins Australia’s reopening plan, and that his party could support the national plan and defend those premiers’ rights to ask questions at the same time.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham is doing the media rounds this morning. He told the Today show some leaders are misrepresenting what the national reopening plan actually says.
It doesn’t say open up at 70 per cent and nothing happens from there.
It says you take a cautious, careful, staged approach. We don’t want to encourage states to do things that are reckless at the 70 per cent mark.
We want to make sure everyone takes a careful approach. That’s why there are 70 per cent and 80 per cent thresholds in place. That’s why we are opening up to kids from 12 to 15 and to be able to get them vaccinated.
[The Queensland Premier] is, I think, focusing on the fear side, rather than on the factual, calm analysis that needs to be undertaken on educating the population.
COVID case closes school in Sydney’s south-west
By Sarah McPhee
Another school in Sydney’s south-west will be closed today after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.
NSW Education said Wiley Park Public School has been shut for cleaning and contact tracing.
“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate and follow the NSW health advice and protocols,” a spokesperson said.
Anyone who has been unwell or who develops symptoms of COVID-19 is asked to get tested.
Hampden Park Public School in Lakemba and Werrington Public School in the city’s west are closed for the same reason today, with the same advice given.
Merrylands Public School, Pitt Town Public School, Glebe Public School and Cambridge Park High School all closed immediately yesterday after positive cases in their school communities.
Ultimo Public School, Annandale North Public School, Fairfield West Public School, La Perouse Public School and Fort Street Public School will all reopen today for any child unable to learn from home, after students and staff identified as close contacts of cases were notified and asked to self-isolate for the required period, according to NSW Education.
Melbourne fertility clinic and childcare centre among Victoria’s latest exposure sites
By Rob Sharp
In case you missed it, a Melbourne fertility clinic and a childcare centre in Coburg are among Victoria’s latest tier-1 exposure sites.
In Victoria, tier 1 means anyone who visited the venues at the times listed is deemed a close contact of a coronavirus case and must immediately get tested and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of the test result.
The Department of Health says a positive COVID case visited the Number 1 Fertility clinic on Collins St between 8.00am and 6.30pm on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Kids on the Avenue Children’s Centre in Coburg is also listed as an exposure site from August 26 to August 29.
There are currently more than 1000 Victorian venues, transport routes, residential buildings and other places of interest listed as exposure sites.
View the full list here.
‘A lot of exaggeration’ when it comes to Doherty: Swan
By Broede Carmody
National Labor Party President Wayne Swan was speaking on Nine’s Today show a short while ago.
He was asked whether Anthony Albanese is stuck between a rock and a hard place. As you might recall, the majority of voters support the national reopening plan but some Labor leaders – such as Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk – have raised concerns when it comes to easing restrictions.
ALP President Wayne Swan says it’s possible for his party to both support the national reopening plan and raise concerns. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s the former federal treasurer’s take:
I think [Albanese] can [juggle both perspectives] and the reason is fairly simple.
There is a lot of exaggeration about what Doherty does say and doesn’t say.
With 80 per cent vaccination rates, for example - and we are still a long way from that - you will still have 40,000 infections per day. You will have 760 deaths a year.
The real question here is, what are the conditions in which we open up? When is it safe?
And of course there is a lot of spin put on Doherty. It is an important piece of work and I recommend people read it, but it doesn’t say what [Health Minister] Greg Hunt and the Prime Minister are saying it says.
Premier Palaszczuk, [WA] Premier [Mark] McGowan and Anthony Albanese and so on have got a very legitimate case to point out that if you open up the wrong way, if you open up too quickly, the risks are far higher.
NSW to scale down contact tracing, with smartphone alert for exposure sites
By Alexandra Smith and Lucy Cormack
The NSW government will significantly scale down its contact tracing as COVID-19 vaccination rates rise, instead relying on people being alerted via their smartphones when they have been at a venue of concern.
As the government continues to prepare for when it reaches its 70 per cent vaccination target, it also moved to reward south-western and western Sydney residents by ending the time restrictions on outdoor exercise.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has offered a relaxation of exercise restrictions on LGAs of concern.Credit:Kate Geraghty
The easing of the restriction for the 12 hotspot areas, which was seen as particularly punitive for communities who often live in high density, comes amid increasing concerns that Sydney was becoming a divided city.
The 9pm curfew is also under review. It was implemented to help police ensure mainly young men were not leaving their homes in the evenings, but it has adversely impacted shift workers.
Call for sweeteners to speed sprint to 70 per cent jab target
By Farrah Tomazin
Financial incentives, travel inducements and shock ads are among the measures that could be used to drive up vaccination rates and help Australia out of its cycle of coronavirus lockdowns, doctors and other health authorities say.
Experts and GPs have suggested a number of initiatives could be used to encourage more people to get jabbed and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
Victoria has started opening drive-through clinics in areas with lower vaccination rates, such as Melton in Melbourne’s west.Credit:Paul Jeffers
The urgency to boost vaccination rates received fresh impetus this week after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced his state would be under harsh lockdown restrictions until at least until 70 per cent of eligible people had their first dose.
NSW, meanwhile, passed the 7 million COVID-19 vaccines mark on Wednesday, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealing on Thursday that 70 per cent of residents aged 16 and over had now received one dose of the vaccine.
Read the full story here.
Biden directs White House lawyers to fight strict Texas abortion law
US President Joe Biden says he is launching a “whole-of-government effort” to combat a strict new Texas abortion law after an overnight Supreme Court decision let it stand.
Biden, a Democrat and a Catholic, called the law that bans any abortion after six weeks an “unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights”.
Abortion rights supporters gather to protest the Texas law in front of Edinburg City Hall in Edinburg, Texas. Credit:AP
The President says the White House will look at what measures can be taken through federal agencies to ensure women in the southern state have “access to safe and legal abortions”.
More on this story here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
By Broede Carmody
Good morning and thanks for your company.
It’s Friday, September 3. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.
- Playgrounds are reopening in Victoria today as part of the state’s shift away from a near-COVID zero approach. The time between AstraZeneca doses has now been slashed from 12 to six weeks amid a renewed push for people to be vaccinated. There were 176 new cases of coronavirus in Victoria yesterday.
- NSW plans to scale down its contract tracing efforts as vaccination rates rise, with people alerted via their smartphones – instead of a phone call – when they’ve been to an exposure site. Meanwhile, residents in Sydney’s local government areas of concern may now exercise outside for an unlimited amount of time (but the nightly curfew remains in place). There were 1288 cases of coronavirus reported in NSW yesterday and the state’s death toll from the current outbreak stands at 107.
- Queensland is on high alert after a COVID-positive truckie was in the community for five days. In good news, a family of five who recently snuck into the Sunshine State from Melbourne have tested negative to coronavirus. And Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk continues to cop criticism for raising concerns about COVID-19 and children (despite no coronavirus vaccines having been approved for under-12s anywhere in the world).
- Half a million doses of Pfizer arrived at Sydney airport last night from Singapore as part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s latest vaccine deal. Nationally, just over 60 per cent of Australians adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Around 36.4 per cent of us are fully vaccinated.
- In overseas news, New Zealand recorded 49 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday and Auckland remains in lockdown. And the east coast of the United States has been ravaged by winds and flash flooding, with the New York City Fire Department having to rescue people trapped in the city’s famous subway.
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2021-09-02 21:36:24Z
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