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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly (now) and Elias Visontay and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Eighty-four coronavirus deaths recorded; Morrison backs slow reopening for WA – as it happened

Labor Scott Morrison Victoria Canberra Australia New South Wales ACT Amanda Stoker United States Covid-19

The day that was – Friday 4 February

And that is it for Friday’s blog.

Before we go into the weekend, let’s recap the big stories from today:

  • The assistant attorney general discussed the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill ahead of the release of reports from two parliamentary inquiries into the government’s Religious Discrimination Bill.
  • Amanda Stoker said religious schools have the right to exercise beliefs “even if it might offend some others”.
  • Novak Djokovic said his detention in Australia was “unexpected to say the least”.
  • Anti-vaccination protesters gathered in Canberra.
  • NSW recorded 31 Covid deaths and 10,698 new cases, Victoria recorded 36 deaths and 11,240 cases, Tasmania had 570 cases, Queensland had 13 deaths and 6,857 cases, the ACT recorded one death and 449 cases, the NT reported 1,004 new Covid cases, WA recorded 18 new cases and SA reported three Covid deaths and 1,363 cases.
  • Police attempted to clear the ACT anti-vaccine protest camp.
  • The government sought Labor support to pass the religious bill unamended.
  • Victoria announced a $1.4bn funding package for the state’s health system.
  • The prime minister backed a slow reopening of Western Australia.

With that, it is time to put this blog to bed. We will be back tomorrow to go through Saturday’s news with you.

Updated

LGBTQ+ advocacy group Just.Equal Australia has also released a statement in relation to the release of the religious discrimination report, saying both major parties are ignoring the views of the Australian people.

Spokesperson Rodney Croome said:

A recent national poll by YouGov Galaxy found that 77% of Australians oppose special exemptions to allow harmful speech in the name of religion while 62% oppose religious schools being allowed to sack LGBT teachers.

Yet in the two parliamentary reports both major parties have either endorsed, or left the door open to, a federal Religious Discrimination Bill that would do exactly that.

Both reports gloss over the key problems with the Federal Bill, problems that have been raised by a wide array of legal experts, community organisations, professional bodies and state governments.

In their effort to chase the votes of the tiny number of Australians who want special legal privileges for religion, Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese have abandoned the vast majority of Australians who want equal treatment for all.

Updated

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has expressed its “extreme disappointment” that two parliamentary committees have failed to “adequately address any of the fundamental problems in the government’s proposed Religious Discrimination Bill 2021”.

PIAC policy manager Alastair Lawrie said:

The majority reports have not grappled with the serious problems created by the Bill’s extraordinary and excessive religious exceptions.

This includes exceptions that apply to a far broader range of organisations than any other Australian anti-discrimination law, and which adopt a far more lenient test to determine when discrimination will be permitted.

Amongst the biggest losers will be Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, agnostic and atheist workers in religious hospitals, housing, aged care and disability services, who will be able to be discriminated against on the basis of their faith.

Entrenching discrimination against workers from minority faiths is a perverse outcome from any Religious Discrimination Bill.

Updated

Chief executive of the ASRC, Kon Karapanagiotidis, tweeted this out earlier:

Updated

From AAP:

NSW music venues are in urgent need of funding, or lovers of a beer and a live band can expect to see more closures.

It was a “devastating blow” to hear this week that three Sydney music venues would close, said state Labor spokesman for music, John Graham, who also said there were additional venues on the brink.

Venue 505, The Lansdowne Hotel and Giant Dwarf announced this week they would close their live music operations.

“Our worry is we will lose these bits of the social infrastructure of the city when we get through to a better day,” Graham said.

“We will lose more venues, that’s the sad truth at the moment.”

Many live music venues have been under pressure for years, which operators have attributed in part to various government restrictions including the city’s now defunct lock-out laws, designed to curb alcohol-fuelled violence.

Updated

A second serving member of the SAS has told a court he saw an Australian soldier shoot an unarmed disabled man during a 2009 raid in Afghanistan.

The soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 14, said he saw an Australian soldier, wearing distinctive camouflage facepaint worn by the Roberts-Smith’s five-man patrol, throw an Afghan man to the ground.

“Then a soldier raised their Minimi F89 Para [machine gun] and fired an extended burst,” Person 14 said.

From AAP:

A specialist task force has been set up to ensure all recommendations from a landmark review into the toxic workplace culture at Parliament House are implemented.

The task force, chaired by a former public servant, Kerri Hartland, met for the first time on Thursday, and will oversee the implementation of all 28 recommendations from the Jenkins review.

The review was set up last year in the wake of allegations the former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins was raped in a ministerial office in 2019.

The review found one-in-three people working in Parliament House had been sexually harassed, with 11% reporting it.

About one quarter of workers told the review their harasser was a politician.

The Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, made 28 recommendations in the review, among them calls for gender diversity within parliament and setting up an independent complaints body.

The task force – made up of government, Labor and crossbench MPs – discussed delivering a statement of acknowledgement of the harms that have been caused in the parliamentary workplace.

However, it is not known when such a statement would be made.

Updated

Here are some more reactions to the PM trying his hand at hair washing:

A kleptomaniac parrot has become the latest contributor to New Zealand cinema, after stealing a GoPro camera and taking it on a sweeping tour of remote Fiordland.

Aotearoa’s native alpine parrot species, the kea, is known for its curious and mischievous nature – and for swiping wallets, jewellery, packed lunches, windscreen wipers and other valuables from unsuspecting tourists and visitors.

As debate rages about the religious discrimination bill, let’s remember a simple fact: under federal law, religious schools can already expel gay and transgender students for their sexuality and gender.

As Coalition attack lines have emphasised this week, this power comes from an exemption for religious educational institutions in the Sex Discrimination Act, including a version passed by the Labor government in 2013.

So once upon a time, there was bipartisan support for this.

Heads up! I have some First Dog for you – this week looking at the price of milk.

Updated

The number of serious incidents reported in early learning and childcare has jumped by 24% in the previous year, according to the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2022.

“Serious incidents” include death, trauma, illness, injury, emergency service attendance, and children locked in/out, unaccounted for or taken away.

Chief executive of Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five initiative, Jay Weatherill, said these figures reflect a sector in crisis.

The early learning and childcare sector has long faced workforce shortage issues, and now Covid-19 has made them worse.

Currently, 11% of long day care services hold a staffing waiver because of difficulty meeting staffing requirements.

We’ve got a situation where children’s safety is at risk, costs of early learning and childcare services are going up, many parents who want to work are being kept at home, and all while our economy is reeling from a global pandemic.

If we want Australia to build back better, we need to support parents back into the workforce by ensuring an affordable, safe environment for children to thrive in.

Updated

SA reports three COVID deaths, cases fall

From AAP:

South Australia has reported three Covid-19 deaths as the premier, Steven Marshall, promises to ease more health restrictions to get people back to work.

A man and a woman aged in their 80s and a woman in her 70s died.

There were also 1,363 new infections recorded on Friday, which was a decrease from the 1,538 detected a day earlier.

The number of active cases has also fallen from 18,308 on Thursday to 17,199, with 228 people in hospital.

This includes 15 people in intensive care and five people on ventilators.

Of those hospitalised, 124 people are fully vaccinated, 36 are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and 63 have an unknown vaccination status.

Updated

Victoria’s opposition has slammed the Andrews government’s $1.4bn funding boost for the state’s health system, saying it is an admission of failure and mismanagement over the past two years.

The funding includes $938m for public hospitals to help cover Covid-related costs, support dedicated frontline workers and continue surge payments for healthcare staff.

The opposition’s health spokeswoman, Georgie Crozier, says the announcement is “too little too late” for a healthcare system that has “fallen apart” under the Andrews government:

More spin won’t cut essential surgery wait times or get mothers and new babies the basic support services they deserve. Daniel Andrews has run Victoria’s health system as premier or health minister for 11 of the last 15 years – he has failed to act and must take responsibility.

We need a real plan, not more spin, to get our healthcare back on track and better managed to ensure it delivers the services that Victorians deserve.

Updated

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has also released a statement:

Labor welcomes the reports on the Government’s Religious Discrimination Bill and thanks the committees for their work.

As these inquiries have confirmed, this legislation raises a number of complex issues, and already we’ve seen the government indicate that changes to the legislation introduced by the Prime Minister are necessary.

Labor will now carefully consider these reports as Caucus finalises the party’s position on the legislation.

Updated

The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has called on the Morrison government to remove the controversial statements of belief clause from the religious discrimination bill.

Although Bragg signed onto the majority report with Labor and other Coalition senators on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee, his additional comments go much further than Labor in calling for further changes.

Bragg recommended:

  • The statement of belief clause be removed in its entirety; and
  • The Sex Discrimination Act should be amended to “end discrimination against students and teachers”.

“Unfortunately the Bill departs from orthodox anti-discrimination law by including a ‘statement of belief’ [clause],” Bragg said.

He attacked the clause for:

  • Giving preference to religion over other attributes;
  • Employer groups’ warning the clause would expose people to discrimination in the workplace;
  • Overriding of state law;
  • Constitutional issues; and
  • The question of costs – as simple state-based claims could be forced into federal courts by people raising a defence that allegedly discriminatory statements were statements of belief.

Bragg noted “deeply upsetting case studies” of teachers who were sacked for their sexuality.

Updated

In the second inquiry, by the Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee, Labor senators have also signed up to a joint report with the Coalition calling for the religious discrimination bills to be passed.

In this inquiry, both Labor and the Liberal senator Andrew Bragg made additional comments.

The recommendations of the report are:

  1. The government should consider constitutional concerns about the statement of belief clause and overriding states’ laws on hiring and firing practices; but
  2. Subject to the first recommendation, “the committee recommends the Senate passes the bills”

The constitutional concerns by Prof Anne Twomey related to the way the bill went about overriding state laws, but the committee also noted that Prof Nicholas Aroney has proposed amendments to drafting to overcome these.

So the committee is not saying these contentious sections of the bill should be removed, only reworded.

In their additional comments Labor senators said:

Labor senators wholeheartedly endorse the many laudable sentiments in the committee’s report, particularly about the need to protect people of faith from discrimination.

Labor senators also criticised the statements of belief and employment practices clauses, which it said were “complex, divisive and novel provisions”.

They concluded:

Labor supports the notion that the Commonwealth’s anti-discrimination framework should be expanded to ensure that Australians are not discriminated against on the basis of their religious beliefs or practices. In doing so, Labor has made clear that it is important that such an extension does not remove existing protections Australians already enjoy against other forms of discrimination.

Throughout the course of the committee’s inquiry, it became clear that whilst most of the measures contained in the bills were welcome and worthy of implementation in law, certain provisions are highly contentious. We accept the calls of certain key stakeholders for action, however it is important that the bills which do pass the Parliament are as well constructed as they can be.

Thus, we implore the government to work with the Opposition, crossbench and key stakeholders to address the concerns of submitters to this inquiry with a view to ensuring that the religious discrimination bills are fit for purpose.

Updated

The first of two inquiry reports into the religious discrimination bill has just landed, from the joint human rights committee.

As foreshadowed this morning, Labor members have joined the Coalition in agreeing to a report that calls for the parliament to pass the bill, if a series of changes are made.

Concerningly for LGBTQ+ advocates who wanted Labor to take a stronger stance against the bill, the changes are technical and do not address concerns about the statement of belief provision, and the provision overriding state laws limiting religious exemptions to hire and fire staff.

The Labor members made “additional comments” criticising these aspects of the bill. In them, they said “Labor members urge the government to work across the parliament – if not across the federation – to address the serious concerns that have been raised” about both the statement of belief clause and the employment clause.

But Labor members said there was a “legitimate concern” that both clauses were intended to address. The Greens issued a dissenting report – they want the bill blocked.

The Labor MPs and senators said:

There is consensus from many stakeholders, the Attorney-General’s Department, other members of this committee, and even the Prime Minister that the religious discrimination legislative package requires amendments before it can be passed.

The Australian Labor Party has a long history of fighting to prevent discrimination against people of faith. The legislation that Prime Minister Morrison introduced should unite our nation, not divide. Labor members urge the Government to work with Labor and the State and Territory governments to resolve the outstanding issues identified in these Additional Comments and in the majority report of this committee as a matter of urgency.

Updated

ACT police have arrested a man involved in Canberra’s anti-vaccine protests after allegedly finding a loaded rifle in his car. Officers moved in on the protest area at the National Library early on Friday morning to dismantle the unauthorised camp and push hundreds of demonstrators out of the area.

Police said they made no arrests over crowd behaviour, describing the operation as “peaceful”. However, a 44-year-old man was arrested at the area.

ACT police said in a statement:

A loaded modified rifle was located in his vehicle and he is expected to be charged with the possession of an illegal firearm.

... He will also face multiple traffic offences in relation to the roadworthiness of his vehicle.

Protesters were forced to leave the area, but most seem to have remained in Canberra, moving to new camping areas at a large park in Canberra’s north. Many hundreds of protesters are expected at a rally in Canberra on Saturday, with large numbers of extra demonstrators claiming in online groups they will arrive overnight and tomorrow.

Police have warned of “planned and unplanned events in the area”, advising Canberra residents that “traffic disruptions may continue to occur in the Parliamentary Triangle area in the coming days”.

Updated

The Transport Workers Union has today written to the prime minister demanding a wage subsidy for truck drivers who will experience loss of work due to the flooding on the Trans-Australian railway.

Thousands of West Australian truck drivers are expected to be out of work after 80% of food supplies into WA have been disrupted due to severe flooding on the only lifeline that connects WA to the rest of the country.

“The people of WA have been made involuntarily dependent on this rail line for 80% of our food and supplies and our truck drivers are dependent on this rail line for their employment” said TWU WA state secretary, Tim Dawson.

The livelihoods of truck drivers are at stake, at a time when there is a national shortage of truck drivers. Our members who own fleet and run their own businesses have mortgages to pay and truck repayments to meet. Costs don’t stop just because of flooding.

Updated

This morning we reported that Labor is set to join the Coalition in joint reports in two committee inquiries examining the religious discrimination bill.

The reports recommend the bill be considered for passage by parliament. This isn’t quite the same as unqualified support – because we understand there are some additional comments suggesting Labor will seek amendments, and the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, in particular, had constitutional concerns about the statement of belief provision and hiring and firing powers.

But the Greens aren’t happy, and want Labor to take a firmer stand.

Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said:

The Liberals’ division gives Labor the opportunity to join the Greens, block the bill and stop discrimination against LGBTQ+ kids.

It’s time for Labor to stop the double speak about this dangerous legislation. If they side with Scott Morrison they’re selling-out the LGBTQ+ community.

Moderate Liberals have been taking the fight to their leader, and Labor needs to join the Greens and back LGBTQ+ communities.

The Greens LGBTIQA+ spokesperson, Janet Rice, said:

Morrison’s bill is deeply unpopular with the vast majority of voters, and is so bigoted that even moderate Liberals are prepared to cross the floor. Increasing discrimination is at the heart of this bill.

Both Labor and the Liberals are deeply divided within their own ranks, yet both parties appear to be working in unison to pass this bill.

The Liberals are wedged, Labor are equivocating, and neither can get their own house in order to come up with a clear position on a bill that is a Trojan horse for hate.

Updated

Victoria’s teachers union has struck a new enterprise agreement with the state government, giving public school teachers a reduction in face-to-face learning hours and a 2% pay rise. From next year, teachers will have a 90 minute reduction of face-to-face learning time each week, allowing them more time to plan lessons.

The Australian Education Union’s Victoria branch said the government would also hire 2,000 more public school teachers. It comes after the state government last month unveiled a plan to create a pool of retired teachers and principals as fill-in staff as schools prepared for Omicron-related work shortages.

AEU Victoria branch president, Meredith Peace, said it was the first time in 30 years members had achieved a reduction in face-to-face teaching hours:

The one and a half hour decrease to be phased in during 2023 and 2024 will mean teachers have more time for preparation and planning for student learning within paid hours.

This is an historic agreement that will ultimately see our students receive greater support to achieve their full potential.

Victoria’s deputy premier and education minister, James Merlino said the state’s teachers had “given so much to school communities” during the pandemic.

When we support our school staff properly, Victorian kids see better education outcomes – this proposed deal will cement our state as the best place in the nation to work as a teacher, and the best place to send a child to school.

Updated

Northern Territory reports 1004 new Covid cases

From AAP:

The Northern Territory has reported 1004 new Covid-19 cases as hospitals cancel elective surgery to make room for more virus patients.

More infected Territorians were admitted to hospital overnight, bringing the total number of Covid-19 patients to 148 on Friday, up from 141 a day earlier.

NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, said 16 of those in hospital require oxygen and six “are really sick receiving acute care in an (intensive care unit)”.

These are the people we are seriously worried about.

Gunner said the number of infected patients in intensive care would rise over the next few days.

“For this reason in line with other jurisdictions we are pausing elective and day surgery in our hospitals to help our clinicians manage the current Covid cases and prepare for a potential increase in the next few weeks,” he said.

Gunner also called out “people, some with very loud voices, who would like you to think that every case of Covid is a catastrophe and everybody should be taken out of their home and put into a hospital”.

“Their heart is in the right place but a response like that would be the medical equivalent of panic buying.”

Updated

Well, this should be interesting:

From hairdressing to horses: a tale of two very different leaders and their media stunts.

Updated

There is an emergency level bushfire threatening lives and homes on Western Australia’s south coast.

The emergency warning is in place for parts of Shadforth in the shire of Denmark. The blaze started near the intersection of Bayview Rise and Mcleod Road.

The Department says there is a threat to lives and homes and firefighters are on the scene.

Updated

Former television host Andrew O’Keefe is now facing a drug charge as well as multiple counts of assault and choking, reports AAP.

O’Keefe was charged with possession of a prohibited drug when his assault case was briefly mentioned in Sydney’s central local court on Friday.

The former Seven Network presenter remains in custody as he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

Last Thursday, O’Keefe – already on bail for a separate alleged incident of assault – was charged with two counts of intentionally choking a person, three of common assault, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Police alleged O’Keefe grabbed a 38-year-old woman by her throat, pushed her to the ground, and punched and kicked her in a Sydney CBD unit.

But his lawyer said he acted in self-defence after the woman turned up at his Kent Street apartment uninvited and caused “substantial injuries” to O’Keefe during the fight.

A medical report tendered in court last Friday outlined the former Deal or No Deal host’s clinical depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and “severe” methamphetamine use disorder, among other conditions.

O’Keefe, 50, was ordered to appear by video link in court again next Friday.

• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. The crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. The National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline is at 1800 250 015; families and friends can seek help at Family Drug Support Australia at 1300 368 186. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Updated

With that, I’ll hand the blog over to my colleague Cait Kelly, whose capable hands will steer us through the next period of the day.

Prime minister backs slow reopening of Western Australia

In Melbourne, Morrison was also asked if his recent comments supporting Western Australia’s hard border were due to the popularity of the measures among voters in the state.

He denies this, saying:

I am backing that because the premier [Mark McGowan] believes that if he were to take that step at this point the Omicron variant would be of great risk of overwhelming the health system. I am pleased that in Western Australia the rate of booster doses is equivalent.

That was not the case before and this time they are keeping up on a booster doses. I think that is terrific. The Western Australian government is working to get themselves in a position where those borders can open and it is important to have a plan to do that because we want to see the country open again.

We have seen at the hospital system in Victoria and New South Wales and Queensland for that matter and South Australia, under a lot of pressure but they have been able to push through, and the Western Australian premier would need to be feeling as confident as at the other premiers have been.

Updated

Scott Morrison has asked the defence minister, Peter Dutton, to consider how the defence force can have a more involved role in the “crisis” unfolding across the aged care sector.

The prime minister said he had asked Dutton to work with the health minister, Greg Hunt, to progress plans to “see how the defence forces can further support” the sector.

Morrison described the situation in the sector as a “crisis”.

Updated

Morrison is asked if he intends to to pass an amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act at the same time as the religious discrimination bill.

He confirms it is his intention to do them both at the same time, and that it will happen before the federal election.

Updated

Morrison is asked why Richard Colbeck should remain as aged care minister.

He defends Colbeck, saying that he spoke to him today and that “even as recently as yesterday afternoon, [Colbeck] has been in constant contact with the aged care sector to understand their needs”.

Responding to calls for Colbeck’s resignation, Morrison said:

I understand those seeking to make political points about this.

Updated

Scott Morrison is speaking in Melbourne, where he is announcing a skills and jobs recovery program. While speaking about pandemic-related employment issues, Morrison makes special mention of aged care workforce shortages.

This is an incredibly complex and difficult challenge. Our aged care sector, as we move through this pandemic, has been the most vulnerable. Our most vulnerable Australians live in the aged care sector ... We have been through several waves of this pandemic now. As it has reached into our aged care sectors, we have seen the terrible results for those that have lost their lives.”

Morrison echoes messaging that many of the deaths in aged care are among residents with serious existing health issues:

Now it is true that one of the home truths of many aged care facilities, the people that are in care there, many of them are in end-of-life care. 61% of those that we have lost during the course of this pandemic were in end-of-life care, and palliative care ... They have had Covid when they have died.”

He adds:

As a government, we have been doing everything we possibly can to mitigate and prevent the terrible impacts of the pandemic in our aged care facilities. It has been a challenge all over the world. The rate of outbreaks in our aged care facilities that we are seeing here in Australia, Canada, 13 times greater.

The aged care workers now who can’t work [because they] have Covid, that was inevitable that we would see people contract Covid and that would prevent them from going to work. There are no easy solutions to this.

There are no simple answers. This is not a pandemic that does not have impacts. Anybody who want to suggest that, particularly for aged care, doesn’t understand this pandemic.”

Updated

Victoria announces $1.4bn funding package for state's health system

Here’s a breakdown of the $1.4bn package Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, has just announced:

  • $938m for public hospitals to help cover Covid-related costs, support dedicated frontline workers and continue surge payments for healthcare staff.
  • $161m for an extra 40m N95 masks, 30m surgical masks, 10m gowns and 10m face shields.
  • More than $30m for critical medicines and equipment used to treat patients including pulse oximeters, humidifiers and air purifiers.
  • $196m to expand the Covid Positive Pathways program, which helps people recover from the virus at home.
  • $21m to implement a state-wide virtual triage service, after a successful trial at Northern Hospital, which led to 87% of virtually assessed patients avoiding transportation to hospital.
  • Almost $8m to fund eight additional GP respiratory clinics and establish five urgent care centres.
  • $35m to extend Ambulance Victoria surge measures put in place last year, while the recruitment of 120 paramedics will be brought forward.
  • $11.5m to reduce the delay in discharging medically-well Covid-positive patients from hospital by improving patient transport across 13 sites.

Updated

Hundreds of protesters descended on Canberra this week in a noisy demonstration opposing vaccine mandates and to air a hodgepodge of other grievances.

In trucks and trailers, cars and campervans, the “convoy to Canberra” lobbed in the nation’s capital on Monday, taking loud protests to Parliament House and the National Press Club.

Hundreds have camped at unauthorised sites citywide. Police moved in on Friday morning to dismantle a main site, but warn that protesters could be in town at least a week.

With an “occupy Canberra” protest planned at Old Parliament House, and federal parliament returning next week, experts on conspiracy movements are concerned the rallies may shift in tone.

The protesters are armed with a grab bag of grievances around vaccinations, and seem to have equal disdain for all politicians. So who are they?

Read more:

Updated

The Reserve Bank of Australia has today released its quarterly statement on monetary policy. Given the RBA board meeting was on Tuesday, and the governor Philip Lowe’s National Press Club address a day later, the monetary tea leaves have already had a good poring over.

The main interest is the central bank has lifted its forecast for inflation, with the consumer price index expected to peak in the June quarter of this year at 3.75% before easing back to 3.25% by December. The previous forecast for “headline” inflation was 2.75% and 2.25%, respectively.

Perhaps that’s not a surprise, and if anything may be a little conservative since CPI for the December quarter “printed” at 3.5%.

The inflation measure that we should care more about is the “underlying” or “trimmed mean”, which is trimmed off its more volatile components. The RBA targets this measure to be between 2% to 3% over the medium term if it can.

Anyway, the RBA lifted its expectations for this gauge to be at 3.25% and 2.75% for the June and December quarters, respectively. That compares with the forecast in the November statement on monetary policy of 2.25% for both mid- and year-end quarters. At the end of 2021 it was running at 2.6%, or the fastest since mid-2014.

Should the RBA’s forecasts understate the economy’s strength and the resulting inflation by as much as they did in 2021, then we might expect the rise in the official cash interest rate to come sooner than the market (June-ish) or economists (August-ish) now predict.

In the RBA’s purple prose: “Upstream cost pressures in housing construction and durable goods are expected to push underlying inflation higher in the near term, but moderate over time.”

“There are, however, considerable uncertainties surrounding this outlook, not least because the effect of very low unemployment rates on wages and other prices is uncertain, given there is little recent historical experience to draw upon.” (Think, early 1970s.)

And how about those wage rises? “Most employers in the Bank’s liaison program are not anticipating wages growth to move beyond the 2% to 3% range this year.

It circles back to what we said yesterday: that on current settings wages are going to struggle to keep up with inflation in 2022 unless something else gives.

Updated

Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, has just announced a $1.4bn funding package for the state’s health system to help cope with the impact of Covid-19.

Foley said:

What this package recognises is that there is pressure right across our system. There is 24/7 pressure on our people who are those frontline health care paramedics, nurses and physicians, allied health professionals, pathology teams, our cooks, our executives. The entire public health system is under pressure day in, day out.

Foley also announced a plan to resume all elective surgeries. From Monday 7 February private hospitals and day procedure centres will be able to resume day surgery at up to 50% of normal levels.

He said two years into the pandemic, with hospitalisations beginning to decline, it was critical to allow the health system to continue.

Updated

With that, I shall hand you back over to the incredible Elias Visontay, who will be with you for the next little while.

See you!

Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has compared Western Australia’s ongoing border closure to the totalitarian state of North Korea.

Speaking on 3AW on Friday, Joyce lamented there wasn’t a plan in WA for when the state would welcome domestic travellers after the initial reopening date of 5 February was scrapped indefinitely last month.

Joyce told presenters Ross and Russel:

You can’t even travel around your own country … it’s starting to look like North Korea.

We thought we had a date for that border to be opened … but that was stepped back from, it’s disappointed tens of thousands of people that had booked to go to WA.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Two luxury cars owned by conwoman Melissa Caddick are set to be auctioned off, with liquidators saying they are continuing work on selling other assets that could help offset the millions of dollars stolen from her investors. Caddick went missing in November 2020 after authorities investigated whether she had used her financial services business to scam investors. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) later found she had swindled more than $23m from investors.

Human remains belonging to Caddick were found early last year, and police suspect she took her own life within hours of being confronted about the fraud.

Jones Partners, the liquidators appointed by the federal court to investigate Caddick’s personal and business assets and seek to return as much as possible to investors, said in a statement on Friday that a 2016 Audi R8 V10 and 2016 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 owned by Caddick would be auctioned on 21 February.

Bruce Gleeson, a principal at Jones Partners said it was also hoped properties at Dover Heights and Edgecliff, and Caddick’s share portfolio, would soon be sold. He said in a statement:

Significant work has been undertaken during December and January and we are taking legal steps to expedite the sale of these assets to progress being in a position to return monies to investors.

Updated

The ACT has recorded one Covid death and 449 cases

The ACT has recorded another Covid-related death, bringing the territory’s death toll for the pandemic to 27.

Another 449 new infections were also detected.

Updated

Ooft, I have to give it to Labor, this is a pretty sick burn.

National Covid-19 update

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 84 deaths from Covid 19:

ACT

  • Deaths: one
  • Cases: 449
  • In hospital: 65 (with one person in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 31
  • Cases: 10,698
  • In hospital: 2,494 (with 160 people in ICU)

NT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1004
  • In hospital: 148 (with 6 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 13
  • Cases: 6,857
  • In hospital: 732 (with 50 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 1,363
  • In hospital: 228 (with 15 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 570
  • In hospital: 13 (with two people in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 36
  • Cases: 11,240
  • In hospital: 707 (with 79 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 18 locally acquired, 14 travel-related

Updated

OK, looks like we will be getting a Covid update from the Victorian health minister in about 20 minutes.

Updated

Wozzahs, this drone footage of flood-damaged roads in SA is worth a watch.

It’s Weekly Beast time, party people! Get around it!

Updated

Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr John Gerrard, has given details on the state’s 13 Covid deaths.

Sadly we have 13 deaths to report today. One person in their 60s, three in that 70s, five in their 80s and four in their 90s. Two of these people were not vaccinated. Eight had received two doses of vaccine and only three had received a booster. Nine of these were aged care residents.

Updated

Miles says the Queensland government has procured 32.5 million rapid antigen tests with more than a million coming over the weekend.

It is more than a month is the prime minister declared the Australian government would not assist Australians to help get rapid antigen testing.

We are still experiencing a shortage of Rats in Queensland and Australia and it is driving many of the shortages right across the economy and grocery stores, in aged care, in other settings and the Queensland government has been working hard to ensure that we have the rapid antigen tests we need for the public, for our healthcare settings and importantly for school students going back to school next week and we have on older 32.5 million rapid antigen tests. 4.6 million have already been received.

There are some delays at the Sydney airport but we anticipate receiving 1.2 million over the next couple of days. That is 100 pallet loads of rapid antigen test.

Updated

Queensland records 13 Covid deaths and 6,857 new cases

Queensland has recorded 13 Covid-19 deaths in the latest reporting period.

Deputy premier Steven Miles says nine of these were patients in aged care.

The state also recorded 8,857 new infections.

Updated

Tasmania has recorded 570 new Covid cases

Tasmania has released its daily figures and has recorded no deaths and 570 new Cvodi infections.

There are still 13 people in hospital and two in the ICU.

We are just standing by now to hear from the Queensland leaders with their daily Covid numbers.

OK, Matilda Boseley here and I’m back from my cup of tea. Thanks so much Elias for keeping the blog safe for us all.

Updated

Government sought Labor support to wave religious bill through unamended

Yesterday, we reported that Scott Morrison wrote to Anthony Albanese on 1 December proposing an amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act preventing schools discriminating against LGBT students for their sexuality or gender.

We’ve now obtained the full correspondence and it reveals that – despite flagging this amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act – Morrison also sought Labor’s support to wave the religious discrimination bill through the lower house, unamended.

Morrison said:

Prior to the commencement of the debate I seek your agreement to ensure that these bills can be considered and passed, without further amendment, or change to the intended procedure, in a bipartisan way by the House before the end of this week.

So, the government wanted Labor to pass the religious package on the promise that in future the Sex Discrimination Act would be amended, possibly through Senate amendments, or possibly in the future only after the religious bills passed both houses.

Remember, the government’s biggest revolt on the religious bill is coming from its own backbench MPs in the lower house: from a quad of four demanding protections for students (Angie Bell, Fiona Martin, Katie Allen and Dave Sharma) and a trio who are still holding out over that and other concerns (Trent Zimmerman, Bridget Archer, Warren Entsch).

Labor support would have been handy, but was not forthcoming.

Albanese noted the joint human rights committee was due to report by 4 February and said: “The opposition believes both members and senators should be informed by the outcome of the inquiry before being asked to vote on the bills.”

That’s where we are now – waiting for two inquiries to report back this afternoon.

Guardian Australia understands the legal and constitutional affairs committee will call for the bill to be considered for passage, after constitutional concerns with the statements of belief and hiring and firing clauses are fixed. Labor and Liberal senator Andrew Bragg both made additional comments.

Updated

The majority of Australians would support restoring funding to the ABC, according to a new poll, after new figures showed funding has been cut by $526m since the Coalition’s first budget.

The poll of 1,000 voters conducted by the Australia Institute found that 52% want the $84m cut from the ABC in the last three years to be restored, more than double those who oppose it (25%).

Despite being elected after promising no cuts to the ABC and SBS, the Abbott government reduced funding to the ABC in the 2014 budget, with a further pause in the indexation of funding imposed in 2018 under Malcolm Turnbull.

There have been $526m in cuts to the ABC budget since 2014, with an ongoing reduction to base funding of $106m per year by 2021-22, the ABC has told Senate estimates in reply to questions on notice. In that time, the ABC has slashed 640 jobs, from 4,704 staff to 4,064.

In addition to staff cuts, the ABC’s savings have come from discontinuing the 7.45am radio news bulletin, reducing spending on independent production and discontinuing ABC Life.

Read more:

Western Australia’s food supply crisis is “the worst in living memory” with the state’s umbilical cord to the eastern states severed, not by Covid or border closure, but by extreme weather.

Flooding in South Australia has washed out more than 300km of the only rail line that brings food and supplies into WA from the east coast.

With border closures already isolating WA from the nation and the world, a one in 200-year weather event is squeezing inbound supplies, leaving many supermarket shelves bare.

Staples such as pasta, sugar, toilet paper, medicines, sanitary items, some meats and frozen foods are running low but fruit, vegetables and milk that are locally produced are less affected.

Major supermarket chains, including Coles and Woolworths, were forced on Thursday to introduce buying limits on some products and the Independent Food Distributors Australia chief executive, Richard Forbes, said the crisis could continue for up to six weeks.

Read more:

Updated

I’m going to pop out and make a cup of tea, but don’t worry, the wonderful Elias Visontay will look after you while I’m gone!

The New South Wales government will not seek to mandate booster shots for healthcare workers, despite calls from Victoria to change the definition of a fully vaccinated person to include a third dose.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) is currently preparing advice for national cabinet that is expected to recommend expanding the definition of full vaccination against Covid-19 to three shots.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has pushed hard for the change. Essential workers in that state have already been told they must get their third dose to continue working on site, and Andrews suggested last week the requirement may be expanded to people wishing to access hospitality venues.

You can read the full report below:

First Nations barrister Tony McAvoy SC and former law council president Fiona Mcleod SC have been appointed to the role of senior council assisting the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria.

McAvoy, a Wirdi man, is currently the acting Northern Territory treaty commissioner and also acted as senior council assisting the royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory and was acting commissioner of the NSW land and environment court.

McLeod is a former chair of the Victorian Bar Association and the Australian Bar Association and former president of the Law Council of Australia. She is also a member of the national co-design group on the national Indigenous voice to parliament.

The pair will advise the five commissioners on the strategy adopted for commission hearings and lead the cross-examination of key witnesses.

Yoorrook chair Prof Eleanor Bourke said:

In addressing the broad scope set out in our letters patent of investigating historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations people, it is vital we have a broad range of legal experience to pull from.

Mr McAvoy and Ms McLeod both bring a unique set of skills which will help the commission towards achieving truth and justice in Victoria and we are happy to have them on board as notable figures in the industry.

The commission’s interim report is due in June.

Updated

An update on the (slightly cursed) HMAS Adelaides work in Tonga, which is finally back on track after a Covid outbreak and a serious power during their journey.

Defence minister Peter Dutton says the military will be brought in if that’s what is required to alleviate pressure on the aged care sector, AAP reports.

But Dutton told the Nine Network that Australians needed to face the realities of the virulent Omicron variant but there was no limit on what the government was willing to spend to improve the situation.

You can’t argue on the one hand that people feel isolated and you want to allow loved ones in, which is the natural reaction, but then say, ‘We’re surprised when Omicron is introduced into aged-care facilities’.

It’s a witches’ brew. We need to face the realities of Omicron, the way in which it targets older people and the way in which we want older people in aged care facilities to see their loved ones and grandkids.

But Wayne Swan says the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities amounts to “lethal incompetence”.

The national Labor president and former treasurer backed calls for the aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck, to be sacked and for the government to better protect the vulnerable residents.

This just churns the stomach because there is lethal incompetence here.

We need an acknowledgement from the government that this crisis exists and real action will be taken.

The government has announced a new task force will look into aged care deaths – more than 560 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the Omicron wave – to gather more details.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said there was an enormous amount of distress and anger from Australians over how their loved ones in residential facilities are being treated.

We’ve got a situation now where one in four shifts aren’t being filled by those working in aged care because they’re not in a position to do that. I just find that so distressing.

Does that mean people are left in their rooms? Does that mean people are not being bathed?

Marles said it was “heartbreaking” and the government wasn’t focusing on what needed to be done.

The one thing that you hope is that when you’ve got a loved one in aged care, they’re being looked after in their most vulnerable moment and what we’re seeing here is that that’s just not happening.

Updated

Back to those Canberra protests for a moment:

Protesters in Canberra are now slowly filing out of their unauthorised camp site as police gradually move their line through the area. Some holdout stragglers are still standing firm and staring down police, but most are packing up and driving out – destination unknown.

From talking to a few protesters, there seems to be a fair bit of confusion in the campers and on their online groups after the camp got rumbled. Some are talking about new rally in Canberra today; some are looking for a new campsite (with police on loudspeakers recommending people try one of the city’s “family-friendly” legal campsites), while some plan to cruise the city all day blasting their horns in their vehicles.

Others are talking optimistically about further protests on Saturday, with further “convoy” demonstrators expected to arrive today and tomorrow.

Police officers remove equipment and ask protesters to move on at the makeshift camp next to the National Library in Canberra.
Police officers remove equipment and ask protesters to move on at the makeshift camp next to the National Library in Canberra. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Police officers as protesters are being moved on from the makeshift camp.
Police officers as protesters are being moved on from the makeshift camp. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

The assistant attorney general, Amanda Stoker, has muddied the waters about whether LGBTQ+ students will be protected at the same time as the religious discrimination bill potentially passes federal parliament.

Despite the prime minister, Scott Morrison, suggesting on Thursday amendments to protect LGBTQ+ students would be contained in the same set of bills, Stoker said on Friday the Sex Discrimination Act “shouldn’t be changed unless we know the final form of the religious discrimination bill”.

Stoker’s intervention comes ahead of the release of two inquiry reports.

Stakeholders think Labor will join the Coalition in joint reports for both, calling for the religious discrimination bills to be considered for passage through parliament, although Labor will also express concerns about hiring and firing powers and the contentious statements of belief clause.

You can read the full report below:

Experts have developed a Covid-19 vaccine status document for Australians going overseas, after a domestic version was slammed for being so flawed it could be forged within minutes, Marion Rae, from AAP reports.

Verizon Business Australia said on Friday it worked with the Australian Passport Office in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to develop the International Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate.

More than 1.3 million certificates have been downloaded in the first month as people look forward to travelling.

The international certificate features a QR (Quick Response) code, which is generated from vaccination information in the Australian Immunisation Register and the traveller’s passport details.

The digital signature provided by the QR code is a strong defence against fraud.

Each individual QR code is digitally signed to help protect against tampering and can be validated by most immigration authorities as well as at airline check-ins, Verizon said.

The new international certificate can capture your vaccine status, but it’s up to the individual traveller to meet the requirements of what “fully vaccinated” means at your destination.

National vaccination certificates can be found through Medicare Online via myGov, the Medicare Express Plus app or your My Health Record.

Tech expert Richard Nelson found a weakness last year in the Express Plus Medicare application’s national Covid-19 digital certificate.

But Services Australia insisted the certificate was robust enough.

Along with forgery by anti-vaxxers wanting fake credentials, identity theft remains a concern with cyber criminals here and abroad seeking access to your bank accounts.

Remember, no one legitimate will ask for your sign-in details, or watch you sign in, Scamwatch says.

“They were all saying she was coming home,” Bec Rees says. Her mother, Sue, had gone into hospital in Melbourne with a burst ear drum. She also had cancer.

Then she got Covid. She didn’t come home.

Sue Rees was 74, and when she died on 8 January she became one of more than 1,500 deaths reported in Australia in this latest surge of the global pandemic.

As Australia’s death toll grows, we know very little about who has died. Daily press conferences reveal the rising number, often accompanied by the disclaimer that those who died had “underlying conditions”.

You can read the rest of Tory Shepherd’s beautiful story about Sue Rees below:

Police attempt to clear ACT anti-vaccine protest camp

ACT police have moved in on a makeshift camp illegally set up by anti-vaccine protesters in Canberra, demanding demonstrators move on from their spot outside the National Library.

Hundreds of protesters had parked cars and camper vans, or set up tents and swags, on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin on Monday, ahead of a week-long series of rallies against vaccine mandates and Covid rules. Other protesters had a grab-bag of other grievances, from calling for the resignation of politicians, or supporting the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory and falsely claiming certain public officials were paedophiles.

The camp had set up portable toilets, communal cooking and eating facilities, and entertainment areas to play music and games.

Following an attempt to move campers on Wednesday, police had flagged further action on Friday morning. Around 7am, a large number of police – including some in riot gear – began broadcasting orders to leave on loudspeakers. At 8.30am, police began gradually advancing and dismantling structures like tents and shades.

Protesters with their own loudspeakers refused to leave, encouraging their supporters to “hold your ground”. But others began packing their sites and leaving in their vehicles. The majority of protesters made no attempts to leave, playing The Last Post and I Am Australian on their own PA systems.

“Protest peacefully. Do not give the police any reason to turn on us. We are not criminals,” one protester told supporters on a loudspeaker.

“Park the vehicles up somewhere else and get back here.”

Updated

Albanese seems to be happy with his interview on ABC news breakfast this morning as his media team have been busy clipping it out.

Here he is chatting about aged care if you wanted to see and hear his quotes to get the full picture.

In terms of hospitalisations, NSW now has 2,494 Covid positive people in hospital – that’s down 84 from yesterday – and 160 are in the ICU, the same number as yesterday.

Victoria’s hospitalisation number is down 45, with a total of 707 Covid positive people in wards. Seventy-nine of those are in the ICU, three less than yesterday.

Updated

Victoria records 36 Covid deaths and 11,240 new cases

Victoria has recorded more deaths and more cases than NSW today.

Sadly 36 Covid-19 positive people in the state have died in the latest reporting period and another 11,240 infections were detected.

You’ll recall that earlier this week we received the annual dump of donations data from the Australian Electoral Commission. It told us, among other things, that Anthony Pratt’s Pratt Holdings was the biggest political donor in the last year, tipping $1.3m into Liberal party coffers ahead of the 2022 election.

But there’s a lot the AEC’s data doesn’t tell us.

New analysis from the Centre for Public Integrity estimates that $68m in party income came from an unknown source in 2020-21. That’s almost 40% of total party income.

Experts call this “dark money”. It’s party income that we know about, due to the party’s reporting obligations, but cannot explain.

The analysis suggests that, since 1999, the Coalition has received $757.8m in dark money, while Labor has received $433.9m. Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson said:

This secrecy needs to stop. The last election set records for money raised and money hidden. Reform is needed now so that the funding of the coming election is transparent. Voters deserve to know who is funding our political parties now, not nine months after they vote. The commonwealth has the weakest donation laws in the country. Most states have a disclosure threshold of $1,000. The commonwealth’s disclosure threshold of $14,500 is out of line and leads to the transparency void into which almost $1.4bn has fallen since 1999.

Updated

NSW records 31 Covid deaths and 10,698 new cases

OK, here are the numbers. Thirty-one more Covid-19 positive people have died in NSW and the state recorded another 10,698 new cases.

Updated

Hmm, no Covid number released from NSW or Victoria yet. Stand by.

Anti-vaccination protesters gather in Canberra

Guardian reporter Josh Butler is down at the ACT National Libary where police are now attempting to move along a crowd of anti-vaccination protesters.

He will be bringing us all the updates here on the blog.

Updated

The principal of a Brisbane school that demanded families sign anti-gay and anti-trans enrolment contracts previously lobbied senators to allow employers “the right to discriminate” against homosexuals.

Citipointe Christian College principal Brian Mulheran, a Pentecostal pastor who has led the school for four years, does not hold teaching qualifications or registration, Guardian Australia can reveal.

While such qualifications are not required by principals in independent schools, a group of furious parents is now calling for Mulheran to be sacked over his attempt to introduce the contracts.

Mulheran released a statement on Thursday saying the school would withdraw demands that parents sign enrolment contracts that called homosexual acts “immoral” and “offensive to God”, and implied transgender students would not be recognised at the college.

You can read the full report below:

It’s now 8.30am (AEDT), which means ACT police have moved in on the anti-vax protesters lingering outside the national library. I’ll bring you some more updates from that situation as soon as possible.

Updated

Just going back to assistant attorney general Amanda Stokers’ comments about transgender children for the moment.

I think it’s worth revisiting this piece written by my colleague Josh Taylor analysing why medical treatment for transgender children, despite being cautious and evidence-based, has become a target in a rightwing culture war over gender.

Updated

Host Michael Rowland:

Before we go. Peter Dutton on 7.30 last night took a shot at you. He said that you’ve been in politics for a long time, you’ve been deputy prime minister, but he said you’ve never held a national security or economic portfolio and he argues you are ill-equipped to be prime minister. What do you say to that?

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese:

(Chuckles) Doesn’t that say it all about Peter Dutton and this government? He doesn’t think that minister for infrastructure for six years is an economic portfolio. Infrastructure drives the economy and drives productivity. It’s the key, one of the keys to driving productivity.

Look, I have been in politics for a while. I’ve been the deputy prime minister. I’ve been leader of the government in the House of Representatives for six years.

I chaired the parliamentary business committee. Every single piece of legislation that was debated in the parliament during the Rudd and Gillard years, I was responsible for putting through the House of Representatives. And I’ve been acting prime minister on two occasions.

Peter Dutton, of course, wanted to lead the Liberal party. I understand his disappointment. I understand he’s out there undermining the prime minister at the moment. And we see the chaos that’s there. It will be an interesting couple of weeks.

I’ll say that, Michael, when everyone gathers in parliament. There’ll be the little discussions in the corner. It’s all there, the disunity, for all to see, not just in the New South Wales branch, but in the caucus as well.

Updated

Albanese also called for the federal minister who sent the “psycho” texts to just come forward already. (He would love that, wouldn’t he!)

Well, it’s time for someone just to come forward and fess up as to who sent that text message. We know that one-half of the exchanges was Gladys Berejiklian.

And, for me, it wasn’t the personal abuse that is there and the character assessments. The most damning indictment of the prime minister was the premier of New South Wales at the time who was doing a job each and every day on the bushfire crisis, saying that the prime minister was more concerned about politics than he was about people at that time.

Updated

Now, we have heard from the government so it’s time we check in with the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese, who is still fuming about Morrison’s handling of the Covid aged care crisis.

(In case you missed it he yesterday called for the resignation of the aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck.)

Albanese has stated that he would support a wage increase for aged care workers but on ABC News Breakfast this morning he was asked to provide a figure that he feels would be reasonable.

I’ve been asked this and I give the same answer I gave yesterday. The government should put in a submission supporting a wage increase. That’s what we did when we were in government for social and community service workers. And that led to a substantial pay increase, which has led to retention in that workforce. If we don’t deal with the issue of wages, then we won’t be able to retain a workforce in the aged care sector. The other thing we need, of course, is we need more workers and more carers, but we need a nurse in every nursing home, 24/7. We used to call them nursing homes for a reason – because nurses were there. It’s extraordinary that we have these aged care facilities that can go for considerable periods of time without having a nurse right there when they’re needed.

Host Michael Rowland:

But not putting a figure on a proposed wage increase – isn’t the prime minister right when he says nobody knows how much it will cost the government, and therefore taxpayers?

Albanese:

No, the prime minister is not right. The prime minister is wrong. The prime minister is wrong by not supporting a nurse being in every nursing home.

The prime minister is wrong by not saying to the Fair Work Commission that he supports a wage increase for the aged care workforce.

The prime minister is wrong by not having 80,000 aged care residents get their booster shots.

The prime minister is wrong by not ensuring that every aged care worker and every aged care resident who needs one can get access to a rapid antigen test.

This is a crisis in the sector and this minister has failed before and he continues to fail. What do you have to do to lose your job under this Government?

If Richard Colbeck had any integrity, he would resign, but if the prime minister had any leadership, and wanted to actually show some instead of always going missing and always blaming someone else, he would sack this minister and put someone in charge who wants to do the job.

Updated

Novak Djokovic says detention in Australia 'unexpected to say the least'

Novak Djokovic has described his detention and deportation from Australia that prevented him from defending his Australian Open title as an “unfortunate event” – and thanked the Serbian president for his support, reports AAP.

The 11-day saga over Djokovic’s entry visa ended with the Serb being deported for failing to meet Australia’s strict Covid-19 vaccination requirements.

The top-ranked tennis star met with Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday and described the events in Australia as “unexpected to say the least”.

I wanted to meet with you today because, primarily as a citizen of Serbia, I felt a great need to thank you for the great support that you, as the president of Serbia, gave me, as well as all state institutions during the unfortunate events in Australia.

Although I was alone in detention, and faced with many problems and challenges, I wasn’t feeling lonely. I had huge support primarily from my family, all of the close people in my life, entire Serbian nation, many people with good intentions from the region and the world.

Djokovic did not speak about details of the events in Australia but promised to give his “version” later.

The tennis player’s meeting with the increasingly autocratic Vucic drew criticism from some of his fans in the Balkan country where he is generally considered an icon and a hero. The critics say Vucic used the event to boost his popularity ahead of general elections scheduled for April.

The meeting happened a day after Serbia’s state prosecutors rejected suggestions voiced by some western media that Djokovic used a fake positive test for Covid to try and enter Australia.

Updated

ACT police have given a group of anti-vaccination protesters located near the national library until 8.30 am to leave. It seems they are preparing to mount an operation to clear them out if they refuse to move on.

Oh wow. Stoker is now arguing that gender-affirming surgeries for transgender people don’t necessarily have the health benefits that people claim.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:

A major study of the health of transgender people in Australia last year found 43% of those surveyed had attempted suicide. That’s a staggering and shocking figure, minister.

The researchers said that only the only way to change this is to reduce discrimination to provide more mental health support. Do you accept that allowing discrimination on the basis of gender is a key factor behind those rates of self-harm?

Stoker:

I think that there are a lot of studies that have shocking figures in relation to people who are transgender. I share the concern for the well being of people in that situation. There’s also other information of that kind that says things like, you know, many of the medical procedures that we provide to try and help transgender people feel much more mentally healthy aren’t actually providing the improvements in health and well being that are so desirable.

Karvelas:

But a school that asks, for instance, for gender conforming, right? If you’re a trans kid that has an incredibly negative impact on your mental health. Do you agree with them?

Stoker:

I agree that if a trans kid is facing a whole lot of social and personal challenges and they need support. I also think that there are lots of different styles of school in our community and there are lots of schools that will support and encourage and give that child what they need. The real question is, do you really want to, you know, as a parent, send to a trans kid to a school that has really very traditional and disclosed upfront beliefs on this subject*. It’s matter for parental choice, and it’s about parents doing the right thing by their kids. And it is important that we maintain a whole range of different options in our education system, so that the different needs of all those families can be there.

I feel obliged to point out that there are vast swathes of medical research and studies that show there are significant health benefits of these procedures. For example, the 2o15 US transgender survey showed “a 42% reduction in psychological distress and a 44% reduction in suicidal ideation when compared with transgender and gender-diverse people who had not had gender-affirming surgery but wanted it”.

*Also just noting, it is incredibly common for children to come out as trans after already entering high school, so parents may not know this while making schooling decisions at age 11 or 12.

Updated

Stoker:

It’s very important we don’t inadvertently take more tools out of the box that is available to schools to be able to manage their affairs in accordance with their beliefs and to maintain standards of behaviour within their community that reflect what the parents of that environment want to see. It’s if you just take out section 38 Carte Blanche without having regard to all the other things that provision does, you could have a bunch of unintended consequences and we don’t want to see.

Amanda Stoker says religious schools have right to exercise beliefs 'even if it might offend some others'

Stoker says that the government intends to protect LGBT+ students from discrimination at religious schools, but says religious communities should be able to exercise their beliefs “even if it might offend some others in our community”.

Quite frankly, it’s not my decision alone. It’s a team effort. And we’re working through the ways that we can make [those protections] happen. We are trying to make it happen and I expect will make that happen, but I’m not going to I’m not going to sign it in blood for you, Patricia.

But the important thing here is that while we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing by these kids, we also acknowledge the fact that religious schools are the education choice for 1000s of Australian families. They have a right to exercise their genuinely held religious beliefs even if it might offend some others in our community.

And the reason they are prepared to put the kids in environments like religious schools, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, any range and others is because the tenants of that faith have value important to that family or they will the school culture that comes from it. I wouldn’t want to... stop that the ability to do that.

Updated

Assistant attorney general discusses Coalition's religious discrimination bill

Yesterday Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian school announced that it would withdraw its demand that families sign anti-gay and anti-trans enrolment contracts before the new school year.

Scott Morrison promised on Brisbane radio station B105.3 that his religious discrimination bill, designed to shield religious people from discrimination claims, will be accompanied by changes to stop schools discriminating against same-sex attracted and gender-diverse students.

I’ve been saying that for years, that’s always been my view,.

But the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, last year told Christian lobbyists the government supported exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act that let religious schools discriminate based on sexuality and gender identity.

So what’s the go? Well, the assistant attorney general, Amanda Stoker, is chatting to ABC RN now trying to clear the air. And, well, she isn’t really making anything less confusing.

Host Patricia Karvelas:

Can you clarify the prime minister’s comments yesterday? Will the government introduce changes to the Sex Discrimination Act next week to repeal the section [section 38] allowing religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students?

Stoker:

There is certainly a group of people in our community who are pushing for that and I can understand the enthusiasm for seeing that done quickly.

But, I would suggest the original plan to make sure that we legislate the religious discrimination act first, and then change section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act, which is the provision that was inserted by Mark Dreyfus under Labor to empower the kinds of behaviours we’re trying to correct here.

That provision shouldn’t be changed unless we know the final form of the religious discrimination bill. So it’s important that is integrated well, because if you change one, without knowing the final form of the religious discrimination act that emerges from the Senate, you could actually end up creating problems rather than solutions.

Ummm... OK?

Updated

When Gwen Kong lost her job in sales and account management in February 2020, she became one of the many women thrust into economic insecurity by the pandemic.

During the following 12 months and amid several lockdowns, she left a long-term relationship, moved in with a family member, and picked up some contract work but missed out on many opportunities, some because she was “too qualified”.

“It got to the stage where I took my CV to the supermarket and they just turned around and said, ‘What are we going to do with you?’” Kong said.

By the time Victoria was on to its fifth lockdown, her confidence had taken a hit.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

Good morning

Good morning everyone, it’s Matilda Boseley here and let’s kick off this lovely Friday with the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, having to go on TV and tell us that Scott Morrison is “not a psycho and not a fraud”. So safe to say it’s been a rocky start to the morning for the government.

In case you missed it, Ten news recently reported that a current serving cabinet minister texted the then New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, during the black summer bushfires saying that the prime minister was a “complete psycho”, and a bizarre game of Guess Who has ensued.

Joyce claimed that the content of the text messages wasn’t the problem, it was the fact that it was (in his opinion) intentionally leaked in order to cause harm to the government.

Well, I think the most important thing is with the text messages, is the fact that people write texts, God knows have been enough text messages written about Malcolm Turnbull whilst he was prime minister, but the fact that someone releases them, that is the issue. The fact that someone uses them to damage the government. That is the issue.

Because that’s done with malice. It is done with vengeance and it is done with the purpose of creating hurt and that’s really a question for the person who released them and their motivations and the context in which they decided to release the text messages.

He is not a psycho and not a fraud.

Joyce once again called for the mystery texter to come forwards and reveal themselves.

It is up to the person [to stand up] if they’ve – all you can do is say ‘a person who does something anonymously, who leaks something anonymously, who doesn’t stand behind it, is doing it for the purpose of malice and a personal grudge’. It is always not so much what is said – excuse me while I put my earpiece back in. It is always not so much what is said, it is the motivation of the person who did it. The Australian people aren’t stupid. They’ll say ‘Yeah, I could show you texts between brothers and sisters’ but we never expect you to show them to mum or dad.

And with that interesting start to the morning, why don’t we jump right into the day?

Updated

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