First international tourists in six months touch down today on three flights from New Zealand as the government works on plan to repatriate Australians stranded overseas. Follow live
10.16pm BST
Sticking in Victoria for now, we are two days away from the much anticipated and extremely vague announcement of easing of restrictions.
If we were adhering to the roadmap released last month, that would mean that the two-hour exercise limit was lifted, there would be no set reason required to leave home, no limit on the distance you could travel, and you could have up to five visitors from another nominated household in your home. It would also mean outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people were permitted and a whole host of businesses – hairdressers, hospitality for outdoor dining, non-contact sports, etc – would be able to operate under a Covid-safe plan.
10.01pm BST
Nationals MP Damian Drum has been on Radio National talking to Hamish McDonald about the Shepparton outbreak.
Drum’s federal seat of Nicholls, named for Sir Doug, stretches from the Mitchell Shire just north of Melbourne all the way to the Murray River. So both the Shepparton cases and the Kilmore outbreak are in his patch.
We are staring at a disaster but at the moment we may have averted it. It’s still stuck at three… it feels like we have dodged an enormous bullet. But we know those numbers can change.
We can sit around all day and wonder about why it happened and should it have happened and, obviously it should not have. But we can also have this genuine conversation into the future about if you test positive to the virus and you sit down with contact tracers… my belief is you should hand over your phone and people should be able to check your location services just to see where you have been. A whole heap of people are going to be screaming and saying ‘my privacy rights’. I think the health of a community should be more important than your privacy rights.
People just get waved through, they don’t work through the evenings, there’s no rock solid border around Melbourne keeping people in Melbourne. I have nearly given up on that one because the premier is just not going to act with a hard permit system, he is just not.
Continue reading…First international tourists in six months touch down today on three flights from New Zealand as the government works on plan to repatriate Australians stranded overseas. Follow liveFull Australian Covid stats; Covid restrictions state by stateNSW cases map; Vic cases mapNSW hotspots list; Vic hotspots listSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus email 10.16pm BSTSticking in Victoria for now, we are two days away from the much anticipated and extremely vague announcement of easing of restrictions. If we were adhering to the roadmap released last month, that would mean that the two-hour exercise limit was lifted, there would be no set reason required to leave home, no limit on the distance you could travel, and you could have up to five visitors from another nominated household in your home. It would also mean outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people were permitted and a whole host of businesses – hairdressers, hospitality for outdoor dining, non-contact sports, etc – would be able to operate under a Covid-safe plan. 10.01pm BSTNationals MP Damian Drum has been on Radio National talking to Hamish McDonald about the Shepparton outbreak. Drum’s federal seat of Nicholls, named for Sir Doug, stretches from the Mitchell Shire just north of Melbourne all the way to the Murray River. So both the Shepparton cases and the Kilmore outbreak are in his patch. We are staring at a disaster but at the moment we may have averted it. It’s still stuck at three… it feels like we have dodged an enormous bullet. But we know those numbers can change.We can sit around all day and wonder about why it happened and should it have happened and, obviously it should not have. But we can also have this genuine conversation into the future about if you test positive to the virus and you sit down with contact tracers… my belief is you should hand over your phone and people should be able to check your location services just to see where you have been. A whole heap of people are going to be screaming and saying ‘my privacy rights’. I think the health of a community should be more important than your privacy rights.People just get waved through, they don’t work through the evenings, there’s no rock solid border around Melbourne keeping people in Melbourne. I have nearly given up on that one because the premier is just not going to act with a hard permit system, he is just not. Continue reading…