Building commission to be gutted, fatal fire, and concern over monkeypox
That’s where we’ll leave our coverage for the day.
Thanks for following along. Here’s what we learned on this Sunday, 24 July.
- the health department says Australia has recorded 44 monkeypox cases and recognises “the concern in the gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men community about this virus and we are working across governments to respond”. It comes after the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox to be a global pubic health emergency overnight
- the federal government has pledged to strip the Australian Building and Construction Commission of its powers in coming days. Labor wants to scrap the watchdog altogether. Tony Burke, the employment minister, said the ABCC will be stripped of powers to the bare legal minimum in coming days. Parliament is due to sit for the first time since the election this week.
- Australia recorded an additional 36 deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, including 14 in NSW and 12 in Victoria.
- The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he will meet with the new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, within days, saying her appointment reaffirmed the strength of the alliance between the two nations.
- Three people died after a horrific fire in south-west Sydney overnight, including a 10-year-old boy. Emergency services found two women – a 60-year-old and a 40-year-old – dead at the scene and pulled the 10-year-old boy from the blaze, at Hinchinbrook in south-west Sydney.
- Anthony Albanese says the government will not close the border with Indonesia as it battles an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
The children have taken over in Canberra.
Family day at The Lodge. pic.twitter.com/D0YqkmK6Ti
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 24, 2022
Australia records 44 cases of monkeypox
Just another update on monkeypox.
The most recent data we have shows there have been 44 cases in Australia.
That data is current as of Saturday, 23 July, and has been provided by the health department.
The state and territory breakdown of cases is as follows:
- NSW - 24
- Vic - 16
- ACT - 2
- QLD - 1
- SA - 1
The vast majority of the 44 cases have been acquired overseas. A small number have been acquired locally.
Australian government 'recognises concern' over monkeypox following WHO declaration
The department of health has just issued a statement on the monkeypox outbreak, which was declared as a global public health emergency by the World Health Organisation overnight.
The department said:
The Australian Government recognises the concern in the gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men community about this virus and we are working across governments to respond.
The Department of Health and Aged Care’s National Incident Centre has been activated and is working closely with the states and territories, through the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and its subcommittees, to coordinate a national response to monkeypox.
On 23 July 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and provided recommendations to countries to respond.
Australia has been implementing an enhanced nationally coordinated response since May 2022, and has already progressed activities to address the WHO recommendations.
As with any infectious disease, state and territory Public Health Units are responsible for patient management and clinical support, as well as implementing any transmission prevention and control measures, such as isolation.
National expert groups have developed guidelines for monkeypox treatment and vaccination; infection prevention and control; and case and contact management. This is available here Monkeypox (MPX) | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
In addition, on 1 June 2022, ‘monkeypox virus infection’ was listed for an initial 6 months on the National Notifiable Diseases List (NNDL) to enable better reporting and data sharing.
The Department of Health and Aged care is working closely with peak bodies and organisations to improve awareness and encourage people at risk and health professionals to be aware and alert to the symptoms.
An MPX vaccine (ACAM2000®) and a treatment are available in the National Medical Stockpile. State and Territory Governments can access these treatments on a request by the Chief Health Officer or their delegate. The Australian Government will continue work with the states and territories to investigate all options to manage any monkeypox outbreaks within Australia, such as emerging treatments and vaccines.
Updated
Survey: one in three apartment buyers seeing builder go broke
Apartment buyers are demanding a shake-up in insurance protection from broke builders who leave them high and dry.
A survey by industry body Australian Apartment Advocacy of 1,100 apartment buyers from around the country shows one in three had seen their original builder go broke in the past 12 months.
This left many stranded with no builder warranty or insurance to fix defects.
Under current legislation and regulations in most states, if an apartment owners’ builder goes bankrupt they only get assistance if their complex is three storeys or below.
Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 50% of apartment owners live in buildings four storeys or higher.
Australian Apartment Advocacy head Samantha Reece said the report, released on Sunday, showed buyers were understandably furious.
She called on state governments around the country to act.
– From AAP
Updated
Traditional owners say they are being ‘railroaded’ over WA rock art site
Traditional custodians behind a push to halt construction of a fertiliser plant on the Burrup peninsula that would require the removal of Indigenous rock art say they have been given just three days to respond to a 180-page document.
Construction work on the $4.5bn urea plant planned by multinational company Perdaman has been paused for 30 days while the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, considers a request to intervene to protect ancient petroglyphs.
At least three sites of significance would need to be relocated as part of construction of the plant at the heavy industry hub on Western Australia’s north-west coast.
However, in a statement released on on Sunday, Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, and Josie Alec, a Kuruma Mardudhunera woman from the group Save our Songlines, said the Department of Environment was “railroading” traditional owners:
We received an email from the department on a Saturday night without any prior notice demanding we respond to hundreds of pages of submissions within 72 hours across the weekend.
We are traditional custodians, not a big industry multinational with a team of corporate lawyers.
This feels like just more railroading of traditional custodians without proper consultation or free, prior and informed consent. Given the minister’s public comments this week, we had hoped for better, but yet again our Indigenous voices are being silenced.
We again renew our invitation to the minister to visit Murujuga to understand our cultural heritage while she considers her decision.
Updated
Unions welcome winding down building commission
More unions have welcomed Labor’s plan to strip the Australian Building and Construction Commission of much of its power within days.
The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, announced on Sunday that the powers of the ABCC would be stripped back to the “bare legal minimum” from Tuesday. Labor is still pushing to abolish the ABCC entirely later this year.
According to AAP, CFMEU spokesman Dave Noonan said the building code, enforced by the ABCC, was the “last of a series of anti-union policies enacted by successive Liberal governments”.
The code as enforced by the ABCC has failed to address the big issues confronting the industry such as workplace fatalities and injuries, wage theft and the exploitation of visa workers.
The Electrical Trades Union national secretary, Michael Wright, said scrapping the building code was a “no-brainer”.
Updated
Smoke-alarm call after fatal Sydney house fire
NSW Fire and Rescue has released a statement about the horrific fire in Sydney’s south-west that killed three people this morning.
They’ve used it to reiterate that smoke alarms save lives.
Nearly 50% of the homes impacted by fire this winter have not had a working smoke alarm.
We are asking all residents to take action and to check their smoke alarms today, and if you have questions about what’s required, contact your local fire station.
Three people, including a child, have died and three others have been seriously injured in a house fire in Sydney’s south-west this morning.
Shortly after 5.30am, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) responded to a property well alight at the intersection of Rottnest Avenue and Nicol Place in Hinchinbrook.
Upon arrival, firefighters immediately began attacking the flames.
FRNSW crews used ladders to access the upper level of the two-storey home, forcing entry in extreme fire conditions and pulling a number of people to safety.
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated all six occupants at the scene. Two women – believed to be aged in their 40s and 60s – were pronounced dead at the scene.
Four others were transported to hospital, where one of them, a 10-year-old boy, died late this morning. The other patients included a man in his 40s, who remains in a critical condition, and two women in their 30s and 60s who are in stable conditions.
Two firefighters were also treated for injuries as a result of their actions fighting the fire. One had sustained a minor electric shock, while another had fallen from the upper level of the home.
FRNSW investigators are on-scene, assisting NSW police forensic officers in determining the cause and origin of the fire.
FRNSW has responded to more than 500 residential fires since 1 June.
Tragically, 13 people have lost their lives in fires so far this winter – nine more fire fatalities than all of last winter.
Fifty fire-related injuries have also been reported.
Superintendent Adam Dewberry from FRNSW said: “Smoke alarms save lives.”
Nearly 50% of the homes impacted by fire this winter have not had a working smoke alarm.
We are asking all residents to take action and to check their smoke alarms today, and if you have questions about what’s required, contact your local fire station.
Updated
Perrottet on Barilaro inquiry
Sticking with the NSW premier for a moment. He has told reporters that any document relevant to the inquiry into John Barilaro’s appointment to a lucrative New York trade post should be provided as soon as possible.
Speaking in Japan, Dominic Perrottet was asked about the use of standing order 52, which upper house MPs are using to compel the state government to hand over documents about the affair.
According to AAP, he said:
My view is that any document [to the inquiry] that should be legally provided needs to be provided as quickly as possible.
Dates are set and they should be met.
There’s a whole lot of SO-52 [standing orders] that have been issued and my expectation is they should be complied with.
Updated
Perrottet repeats call for Warragamba dam to be raised
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, once again called for the Warragamba dam to be raised during a visit to a world-leading flood mitigation facility in Japan.
Wrapping up the first leg of his 10-day Asian trade tour on Sunday, Perrottet visited the Ryu-Q Kan facility, one of the world’s biggest underground drainage channels, on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Located 50m below ground, the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel acts as a mammoth water-storage tank to protect Tokyo from flooding during Japan’s monsoon rains.
Completed in 2006 at a cost of more than $2bn, its 177m-long underground surge tank has a capacity of 2.5 gigalitres.
It collects overflowing water from four rivers and makes controlled, safe releases to the Edo River.
In comparison, the Warragamba Dam in western Sydney can hold some 515 gigalitres per day.
Perrottet praised the engineering effort as “world-leading” but said a similar facility in Sydney would need to be 400 times the size of the underground drain to deal with floods on the scale of those that recently ravaged the state.
The premier said raising the walls of the Warragamba Dam would cost about $1.6bn and he called on the federal government to fund half of the proposed work.
Raising the Warragamba Dam will provide incredible support to reduce flooding downstream. We know that to be true.
However, some experts don’t believe the proposed five-year project will fully solve Sydney’s flood problems.
Other suggestions include improving flood evacuation routes for communities and moving people off flood-prone land through government land buybacks.
Asked about flood plain buybacks, Perrottet would not rule anything out, saying: “Everything is on the table.”
Updated
Insurance Council welcomes NSW opposition’s flood-proofing plan
The Insurance Council Australia chief, Andrew Hall, has welcomed $225m plan by New South Wales Labor to flood proof western Sydney.
The Western Sydney Floods Resilience Plan announced on Sunday by the Labor opposition leader, Chris Minns, includes $24m for new levees at Peachtree Creek, McGraths Hill and Pitt Town.
Today’s announcement by New South Wales Labor is a welcome first step and shows that political stakeholders are heeding the resilience message insurers have been giving over a long period.
New South Wales is the highest-taxing state in the country when it comes to insurance, which drives down adequate coverage at a time and in a state where we need it most.
In the lead-up to next March’s state election, the Insurance Council and insurers are calling on all parties to commit to abolishing this retrograde impost.
The February-March 2022 floods caused $4.8b in insured losses – half of which were in NSW – making the event the most costly flood ever.
Updated
ACTU welcomes stripping of building commission's powers
The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, has welcomed the Labor government’s decision to wind down the Australian Building Construction and Commission.
The employment and workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, announced on Sunday that the Albanese government would strip the ABCC of its powers and hand its oversight to other regulators.
McManus said the ABCC and requirements under the building code introduced by the Coalition were “anti-worker, onerous and non-sensical”, calling it a “relic” of the “divisive years” under the Turnbull government that lead to an infamous double dissolution election.
We welcome the removal of the anti-worker aspects of the building code as the first and important steps to the Albanese government implementing their election commitment to abolish the ABCC and its underpinning legislation.
The code was one of the ideological projects of the previous government, who spent nearly a decade attacking unions and suppressing wages.
Instead of acting to address important issues like increasing the number of permanent jobs by stopping excessive casualisation or fixing our broken bargaining laws so workers could get pay rises, they spent their time undermining workers’ rights.
It stopped progress on apprenticeships and skills in the construction industry and did nothing to address safety or wage theft. Taxpayers’ money was wasted on banning the Eureka flag and policing union posters on noticeboards.
Updated
National Covid summary
Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia on Sunday, as the country records an additional 36 deaths from Covid-19:
ACT
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 712
- In hospital: 155 (with one person in ICU)
NSW
- Deaths: 14
- Cases: 12,820
- In hospital: 2,260 (with 56 people in ICU)
Northern Territory
- Deaths: n/a
- Cases: 355
- In hospital: 71 (with no people in ICU)
Queensland
- Deaths: 0
- Cases: 5,804
- In hospital: 1042 (with 19 people in ICU)
South Australia
- Deaths: 1
- Cases: 3,340
- In hospital: 374 (with one person in ICU)
Tasmania
- Deaths: 2
- Cases: 1,155
- In hospital: 174 (with three people in ICU)
Victoria
- Deaths: 12
- Cases: 9,501
- In hospital: 849 (with 27 people in ICU)
Western Australia
- Deaths: 7
- Cases: 4,356
- In hospital: 437 (with 23 people in ICU)
Updated
Northern Territory reports no new Covid deaths
The Northern Territory reported 355 new Covid cases overnight, including 71 people in hospital and no one in intensive care.
Updated
Australian health experts 'optimistic' about containing monkeypox outbreak
Australian experts are optimistic about Australia’s ability to deal with the global monkeypox outbreak.
The World Health Organisation overnight declared monkeypox as a global emergency, saying the outbreak has now expanded to more than 70 countries. The declaration is the highest level of alert possible from the WHO. Australian health authorities are yet to speak publicly following the WHO’s announcement.
The disease was first reported in Australia on 20 May and dozens of cases have since been reported across the country. Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics at the University of South Australia, said Australia was well-placed to deal with the monkeypox outbreak.
For 30 or 40 years now [health authorities] been working with our gay communities because of HIV. They’ve got close contacts into that community and good messaging in that community and good relationships in that community. And that is the community by and large that’s being affected by monkeypox. So I like to be optimistic and think that because we have such good links into these communities, we can contain it.
Esterman said monkeypox was far easier to contain than Covid, because monkeypox sufferers were only able to spread the disease when they were experiencing symptoms.
So because of that, because it takes a while for you to actually start getting symptoms, when you get them, they’re obvious, you’re not actually infectious until you get symptoms, it means that it’s comparatively easy for us to detect cases, to isolate them do contact tracing, and do ring-fencing around their close contacts and give vaccines to all the close contacts.
Updated
South Australia records one new Covid death
One person with Covid-19 has died in South Australia overnight, with the state recording 3,340 new cases on Sunday morning, 374 people in hospital and 12 in ICU.
South Australian COVID-19 update 24/07/22.
— SA Health (@SAHealth) July 24, 2022
For more information, go to https://t.co/XkVcAlWPSN pic.twitter.com/W9GSkbhtuE
Updated
PM to meet with new US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet with the new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, within days, saying her appointment reaffirmed the strength of the alliance between the two nations.
Kennedy, the daughter of assassinated US president John F Kennedy, arrived in Australia last week, following her appointment earlier this year.
During an appearance on Sky News on Sunday, Albanese said Kennedy’s appointment was a “very positive development”, and that he would meet the “significant figure” on Wednesday.
President Biden said to me ... how important an appointment like this is. And I think Australians should be proud of that fact.
The US alliance is our most important relationship and having ambassador Kennedy here is appropriate given the status of our relationship.
Kennedy will also meet with the governor general, David Hurley, this week.
Albanese also said he had been invited to visit the White House and was in discussions on the timing of that trip.
I look forward to visiting the White House and I look forward to welcoming President Biden here to Australia.
Biden to due to visit Australia in 2023 for the next Quad leaders’ summit.
– From AAP
Updated
Western Australia records seven Covid deaths
Seven people with Covid-19 have died in Western Australia overnight, with the state recording 4,356 new cases on Sunday morning, 437 people in hospital and 23 in ICU.
Media statement: COVID-19 update 24 July 2022 https://t.co/O7CzlYIsNU
— WA Health (@WAHealth) July 24, 2022
Updated
South Australia ambulance workers’ pay rise to be back paid
Just to follow up on the announcement from South Australia that ambulance workers will get a 10% pay rise backdated to December 2018, a reader asked whether the cumulative 2.5% increase will be back paid or applied going forward.
@RoyceRk2 Looking for clarification on SA Ambulance payrise - backdated to December 2018. I realise that it's a cumulative rise of 2.5% for every year, but do they get backpay of the difference going back, or is this just going forward?
— Matthew "Smiffy" Smith Wears N99 (@smiffy) July 24, 2022
I checked with the office of the SA health and wellbeing minister, Chris Picton, who confirmed that the 2.5% would be back paid and applied “for the next few years”.
Updated
Three dead after Sydney house fire overnight
A 10-year-old boy is the third person to die following a house fire in Sydney overnight.
In an update on Sunday afternoon, authorities said first responders found two women – a 60-year-old and a 40-year-old – dead at the scene and pulled the 10-year-old boy from the blaze, at Hinchinbrook in south-west Sydney.
The child was taken to Westmead Children’s hospital in critical condition but later died from his injuries.
Eight people, including two firefighters, were taken to hospital.
They included a man in his 40s, who was also taken to Concord Hospital, where is was currently in critical condition. Another woman in her late 30s was taken to Liverpool Hospital and was in a stable condition.
NSW police are investigating the matter and will make a report to the coroner.
Fire and Rescue NSW deputy commissioner Megan Stiffler said it was a “tragic start to our winter fire safety campaign” and there had been 500 house fires in New South Wales since 1 June.
We have lost 13 lives due to home fires this year and that is nine more than the whole of the winter season last year.
Nearly 50% of all of those house fires didn’t have working smoke alarms. I cannot stress how important it is for people to hear this message.
Stiffler said two firefighters were injured during the incident, with one falling 6m while trying to enter the property and another experiencing a small electric shock while trying to enter through a window.
The spirits of our crews are rightly devastated.
Dominic Carr from New South Wales ambulance said the blaze was “very, very intense”.
We had resources including critical care paramedics, doctors and dental care paramedics on scene as well, helping to monitor, stabilise patients and transport them to various hospitals.
Updated
PM says border with Indonesia will not be closed amid foot-and-mouth threat
Anthony Albanese says the government will not close the border with Indonesia as that country battles an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
In an appearance on Sky News on Sunday, the prime minister said existing biosecurity measures to control the spread of the disease were the “strongest ever measures introduced by an Australian government”.
Albanese said:
It’s important to note that Australia is foot and mouth disease free, that our products continue to be available to the world.
He said the nation’s farming bodies backed his government on not banning flights, which would have a “severe” impact on the economy and trade.
You don’t do that by just jumping to a position that the former government never, ever implemented.
No coalition government has implemented that strong measures that we have announced and put in place during this current current issue as it’s been rolled out.
Travellers would be directed to comply with biosecurity measures, including removing their shoes or walking over sanitation mats, and be questioned by officers.
It’s the first time the Biosecurity Act powers have been used in Australia.
The Coalition has called for the border to close, and has criticised the speed of the government’s reaction.
The disease is highly contagious and affects cattle, sheep, goats, camelids, deer and pigs.
The virus is carried by live animals and can present in meat and dairy products, soil, bones, untreated hides, vehicles and equipment used with farm animals.
Updated
Two killed in Sydney house fire
Two people have died following a house fire in the south-western Sydney suburb of Hinchinbrook, AAP reports.
Emergency services were called to a home on Rottnest Avenue about 5.40am on Sunday.
Six people including a child were evacuated from the property and treated by paramedics.
Two people died at the scene, with both yet to be formally identified.
The child was transported to Westmead Children’s Hospital in a serious condition.
Officers from Liverpool Police established a crime scene, which will be examined by specialist forensic police.
An investigation is under way and the cause is yet to be determined.
Reports will be prepared for the coroner.
Updated
SA ambulance workers agree to 10% pay rise deal
South Australian ambulance workers will get a 10% pay rise after endorsing a state government wage deal.
The Labor administration says 97% of SA ambulance employees backed its offer to lift wages by 2.5% a year, backdated to December 2018.
The deal also includes reforms to rosters, afternoon shift arrangements and allowances.
The industrial relations and public sector minister, Kyam Maher, said the payrise couldn’t come at a better time for paramedics and other SA Ambulance staff.
Settling this agreement so quickly shows the Malinauskas government’s commitment to bargaining in good faith to reach an outcome for the tireless paramedics who keep South Australia safe.
The health minister, Chris Picton, said it would be the first pay rise ambulance workers had received in four years, including the entire term of the previous government and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was the longest gap between pay increases for any public sector workforce, he added.
After what was undoubtably an appalling situation that saw SA’s ambos not receive a pay rise for over four years, [it] has finally been fixed.
We made a commitment to the future of our ambulance service and we have delivered a crucial pay rise to ambos within months of being sworn in.
-from AAP.
Updated
More than 1,000 students to join Victorian hospitals to fill gaps
Almost 30 Victorian hospitals will receive an influx of nursing and midwifery students in a bid to plug critical workforce gaps.
The Victorian government has revealed that the 29 hospitals – in metropolitan and regional areas – will receive more than 1,000 undergraduate and midwifery students.
The Andrews government allocated more than $65m in its state budget in May for the student workforce. The registered students in their second and third years will assist with tasks like feeding and showering patients under the supervision of registered nurses.
The premier, Daniel Andrews, said the program had already deployed 3,000 students to hospitals and had received positive feedback.
Our nurses, hospitals and universities all agree this student employment model is making a real difference, giving our experienced nurses extra support and giving our students the experience to deliver the best possible care.
Updated
No new Covid deaths in ACT
No people with Covid-19 have died in the ACT overnight, with the territory recording 712 new cases on Sunday morning, 155 people in hospital and one person in ICU.
ACT COVID-19 update – 24 July 2022
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 24, 2022
🦠COVID-19 case numbers
▪ New cases today: 712 (366 PCR and 346 RAT)
▪ Active cases: 6,118 (3,435 PCR and 2,683 RAT)
▪ Total cases since March 2020: 184,854 (110,056 PCR and 74,798 RAT) pic.twitter.com/63ZQeodSc8
🏥COVID-19 hospital numbers
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) July 24, 2022
▪In hospital: 155
▪In ICU: 1
▪Ventilated: 0
▪Lives lost: 0
▪Total lives lost since March 2020: 89
COVID-19 vaccination data is reported weekly on Fridays. Visit https://t.co/qRDoepyJkh for more detail including age breakdown of case numbers
Updated
Aged care sector calls for more protection amid Covid surge
Aged care providers are calling for urgent action to protect residents and staff from a winter Covid-19 wave that is hitting more than a third of the country’s facilities.
The Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) said 6,000 residents and 3,400 staff were infected in 1,013 facilities as of Thursday.
The association’s interim chief executive, Paul Sadler, said 10-15% of staff were already isolating or quarantining at home, and the coming weeks would put intense pressure on aged care residents and workers.
ACCPA is concerned that anywhere up to two-thirds of aged care homes could be affected by active outbreaks over coming weeks.
The increased availability in surge workforce, including the Australian defence force, over the past week has been welcome, but there is still a shortfall.
The reality is we can’t leave older people without adequate levels of care for too long.
Sadler said 2,301 residents had died this year, including 114 in the past week.
He called for more support for a surge workforce, including ADF personnel, until at least September.
– From AAP
Updated
Victoria extends free RAT access for people with disability
The Victorian government will extend access to free rapid antigen tests for people with a disability.
The Andrews government announced on Sunday that Victorians with a disability could continue to access 20 free RATs per visit from state-run testing centres until the end of September.
The disability minister, Colin Brooks, said the extension would ensure Victorians with a disability were protected during the winter period:
Early detection of Covid-19 helps protect people from serious illness by ensuring earlier diagnosis and treatment – and this is especially so for the most vulnerable in our community, who experience its effects more harshly.
Updated
No new Covid deaths in Queensland
No people with Covid-19 have died in Queensland overnight, with the state recording 5,804 new cases on Sunday morning, 1,042 people in hospital and 19 in ICU.
Today we have recorded 5,804 new COVID-19 cases.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealth) July 24, 2022
Death numbers are not reported on Saturday and Sunday.
Full details➡️ https://t.co/rKHIwrGADi pic.twitter.com/pDebxfyKUh
Updated
Move to WA, Mark McGowan urges
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has pointed to rising inflation on the east coast to make his pitch for people to head west.
McGowan released the results of a report by Deloitte Access Economics that found Perth was the most affordable of four major capital cities thanks to the availability of affordable housing and low mortgage repayments.
The report, commission by WA Department of Treasury, compared Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Bunbury with other regional centres to inform the government’s plan to “attract and retrain skilled workers to the state”.
In presenting the report, McGowan said it showed Western Australia was “the most affordable and successful place to live.”
Western Australians enjoy some of the highest median household incomes in the country, and most affordable cost of living, particularly for housing and mortgage repayments, and other day-to-day expenditures.
Throughout the pandemic, thousands of people have moved west, incentivised by our safe handling of the pandemic, the economic opportunities on offer and our great lifestyle.
Not only do we have one of the best performing economies but also significantly lower living costs than other major Australian cities.
It found the average Perth household spend $16,30 a week on goods and services, including household costs.
This figure was 24% lower than Sydney ($2,134), 19% lower than Brisbane ($2,002) and 10% lower than Melbourne ($1,805).
Wages were also high, with those in Perth earning a median household income of $2,027 a week compared with $2,146 in Sydney, $1,958 in Melbourne and $1,962 in Brisbane.
The situation is a change from the middle of past decade, when the iron ore boom and the six-figure salaries it promised caused a price surge across Perth.
Updated
Inflation could hit 6% this week – economists
Australia could reach an inflation rate of about 6% as early as this week, as households continue to absorb higher fuel, food and housing costs, AAP reports.
The cost of living has been rising all year, leading to an annual rate of 5.1% in the March quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed in April.
But the survey for the June quarter, due on Wednesday, could show prices have risen enough to take the annual rate to the peak forecast by the central bank much earlier than expected.
In May, the Reserve Bank of Australia forecast the consumer price index to reach 5.5% in the June quarter.
It also predicted the index to hit 6% by the end of December, before falling in 2023.
That peak may have been reached much earlier than predicted, if the expectations of financial market economists are anything to go by.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia economists expect inflation to rise by 1.9% in the quarter, for an annual rate of 6.2%.
That would be the highest annual number since the December quarter in 1990 – or in more than 31 years.
St George Bank senior economist Jarek Kowcza says price pressures definitely continued to heat up in the quarter, when the cost of an iceberg lettuce peaked at an eye-watering $10.
We expect an annual headline inflation rate starting with a ‘6’.
Economists agree that whatever the outcome, the RBA will lift its 1.35% cash interest rate in August, for the fourth time in as many months.
The RBA began raising the cash interest rate from an all-time low of 0.1% in May.
Updated
Tasmania records two Covid deaths
Two people with Covid-19 have died in Tasmania overnight, with the state recording 1,155 new cases on Sunday morning, 174 people in hospital and three in ICU.
24 Jul 2022
— COVID Tasmania (@CovidTasmania) July 24, 2022
Sadly another 2 reported deaths
Reported cases ⬇️
see tablet for daily stats pic.twitter.com/pVmrPaQK96
Updated
MP Dai Le wants more done to help households with bills
The Independent MP for Fowler, Dai Le, said health and cost of living pressures would be among her priorities as parliament was set to resume.
Le spoke to the ABC this morning saying she wanted the government to extend the cut to fuel excise and do more assist households struggling to pay bills.
That’s something that I will be fighting for, for our community – the high cost of living – to make sure that with interest rates rising, food prices rising, and rentals and housing affordability. It’s just not within reach of many families here in Fowler any more.
Le said she might not be a teal independent but climate change was still “very important” for voters of her electorate.
I just want to make sure that it also takes into consideration the cost of living and the security of the electricity load for our communities, as well as for the rest of Australia. We need to ensure that we access affordable electricity prices and having access to that in times of crisis.
Updated
Key event
What the Labor government’s agenda looks like
Australia’s 47th parliament formally opens on Tuesday, marking the first time Anthony Albanese will stand up in the House of Representatives as the nation’s prime minister.
The new parliament will look very different to the last. Labor will have 76 members on the floor of the chamber, while the Coalition’s numbers have shrunk to just 58. The crossbench will be the largest in history, with 16 MPs, including four Greens.
It will also be a more diverse parliament, and one with more women. About 40% of the new parliament is female after 58 women were elected to the lower house, including 19 new MPs, while at least a dozen newly elected MPs come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
As Albanese, his senior ministers and Labor’s 17 new MPs find their feet after the election held just 63 days ago, the Guardian’s chief political correspondent, Sarah Martin, outlines what the new government’s agenda looks like.
Updated
Here is the clip of Tony Burke answering the question from ABC Insiders host David Speers about whether the party will move to ban Dorothy Dixers from parliament.
It looks like Dorothy Dixers are here to stay...@Tony_Burke sets out the agenda of the 47th Parliament as manager of Government Business #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/h0kyxhItjY
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) July 23, 2022
Labor to scrap ABCC – Burke
Tony Burke has announced Labor will make good on its election promise to scrap the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) during his appearance this morning on ABC Insiders.
The federal employment and workplace relations minister said the ABCC had overstepped its authority by investigating union members for the flags they fly or the stickers they put on their helmets.
.@Tony_Burke explains the government's decision to scrap powers of the building watchdog #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/nAeWvtqk3T
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) July 23, 2022
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Burke on Labor’s climate legislation
The final question for Burke is on the negotiations over the government’s climate legislation.
He says:
What I can give you are the three principles that Chris Bowen is using in the negotiations. The first is that will be implementing our promises. The second that negotiations are happening in good faith. And the third thing to remember, particularly with the announcement being made today, is under the safeguards mechanism all the large polluters are now on a trajectory towards net zero by 2050.
On the safeguards mechanism:
We took to the election the safeguards mechanism. I’m referring to the announcement from the Greens you asked about today – [it] needs to be seen in the light of the safeguards mechanism, has all the large polluters on a trajectory to net zero by 2050.
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Government will change parliament’s standing orders – Burke
Burke is also asked about parliament, which begins sitting again from Tuesday. He has previously described parliament business as a “farce” and is asked how the new government will fix that.
Burke says the government will change standing orders and the culture of government.
We got to the point where 15 seconds into a question ministers had had enough talking about their own policy, and were just sledging for the rest of the question. Ministers and governments determine the respect they are willing to show for the parliament. We ended up getting to the point where ministers in the previous government were delivering speeches on the wrong bill because they weren’t even responsible for their own legislation.
But will the government ban the use of Dorothy Dixers?
The questions from our own side, will you judge what they are like when you watch them? And I expect what will happen is people will think it is not what some would regard as the ideal. Some will think it’s going to certainly be a hell of a lot better than where we were. We are not going to create a situation where the government agenda isn’t part of question time. Of course it will be. We will not create a situation where the opposition and crossbench are the only people to determine what the issues of the day are.
Which sounds like a long way of saying “no”.
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Building commission powers will be pared back to ‘legal minimum’ – Burke
Labor has wanted to repeal the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) but Burke now offers some detail on what the government will now do: cut its powers back to the “bare legal minimum”.
Burke:
As of Tuesday, the ABCC and its powers will be pulled back to the bare legal minimum. So a lot of what it’s been doing can appropriately be done by another regulator. Some of it goes to health and safety regulators, some of it goes to the fair work ombudsman. And some of the things that the ABCC’s been doing, which I just think have been ridiculous rules, are gone all together.
Burke said the commission had been more interested in targeting unions and had been investigating workers for the “sticker someone is told to put on their helmet” and what flags are flown on site.
Those sorts of initials should never be something for an official government regulator to waste taxpayers’ money on.
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Burke says he does not want to impose minimum hours on gig economy workers as this would “undo” the technology.
I don’t want to destroy the technology. OK, so part of the technology involves flexibility and a lot of the workers in the gig economy, for example, do want the sort of flexibility that’s there. What they don’t want is a situation where the rates of pay are so appallingly low that we become a country where you have to rely on tips to be able to make ends meet.
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Gig economy should have ‘minimum standards’ – Burke
Speers asks whether gig economies should have a minimum wage.
Burke:
They should all have minimum standards. Now, for example, for some gig work it’s actually effectively on five-minute shirts rather than three or four hour minimum shifts. So how you calculate what a reasonable minimum is when you’re on a much shorter shift may in fact be an amount higher than the minimum wage.
Somebody delivering a pizza on the back of a bike where they have no control over how much they are paid, that person is not a small business person, and they need minimum standards.
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Burke on casual work
Will the government seek to change the definition of casual work?
Burke:
I’m much more interested in how we can promote secure work and get more people into secure jobs than just redefining everything about casual employment. There is some aspects of the casual worker definition that do need to be brought up to date, and there can occasionally be some leave entitlements that are appropriate but I don’t want to just legislate everybody.
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Burke is asked to define what a secure job is. Burke begins by talking about the Fair Work Act.
If you go through the objectives of the Fair Work Act, flexibility is there, security isn’t. And I think security needs to be there as well. Examples of security, obviously full-time and part time work where your hours are guaranteed, where you have leave entitlements they are examples of secure work.
Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke
Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.
If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.
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Burke points to overseas factors in Australian inflation
Burke says the government is working hard to put upward pressure on real wages. He says “a lot of the inflation story is overseas” - these are things like supply chain shocks, high cost of shipping, and threats from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - but acknowledges “some of it is domestic as well”.
When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.
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Burke outlines plan to tackle cost of living
Employment and workplace relations minister Tony Burke says the government has a three-step plan to deal with cost of living: 1) get wages moving; 2) “get rid of loopholes that are actually causing wages to go backwards; and 3) “is to do with bargaining”.
We need to make sure that we are not just getting wages moving, but at the moment we have a system that allows them to go backwards in a whole lot of ways.
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The employment and workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, will be appearing on ABC Insiders this morning – and it is anticipated he will have news.
We will bring you the latest as it happens.
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Victoria records 12 Covid deaths
Twelve people with Covid-19 have died in Victoria overnight, with the state recording 9,501 new cases on Sunday morning, 849 people in hospital, 27 in ICU and seven on ventilation.
We thank everyone who got vaccinated and tested yesterday.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 23, 2022
Our thoughts are with those in hospital, and the families of people who have lost their lives.
More data soon: https://t.co/eUcG51fFhA pic.twitter.com/Lpvv9ybTgt
3 doses (16+): 69%
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) July 23, 2022
2 doses (12+): 94.7%
Doses total: 6,311,144
Hospital: 849
ICU: 27
Ventilated: 7
Lives lost: 12
New cases: 9,501 (Rapid antigen test cases: 6,889, PCR test cases: 2,612)
PCR tests: 14,645
Active cases (all): 71,392
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NSW records 14 Covid deaths
Fourteen people with Covid-19 have died in New South Wales overnight, with the state recording 12,820 new cases on Sunday morning, 2,260 people in hospital and 56 in ICU.
COVID-19 update – Sunday 24 July 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 23, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
- 96.8% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 95.3% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/fi2faZV28E
- 68.8% of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine*
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 23, 2022
- 82.5% of people aged 12-15 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 78.9% of people aged 12-15 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 49.8% of people aged 5-11 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 2,260 hospitalisations
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 23, 2022
- 56 people in ICU
- 14 lives lost
- 12,820 positive tests: 6,291 RAT & 6,529 PCR
*Includes both immunocompromised people who have received a third dose and all eligible people who have received a booster.
More info: https://t.co/stL6XYAdUs
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Australian activist Drew Pavlou arrested in Britain
Australian activist Drew Pavlou has been arrested in the UK over a false “bomb threat” delivered to the Chinese embassy in London, which he claims came from a fake email address designed to frame him.
Pavlou said the “absurd” email claimed he would blow up the embassy over Beijing’s oppression of its Uyghur Muslim minority, but that it was confected by the embassy in order to have him arrested.
Pavlou said he held a “small peaceful human rights protest” carrying a Uyghur flag outside the Chinese embassy in central London. In retaliation, he alleged, the embassy reported him to police as a suspected “terrorist”.
The fake email allegedly said: “This is Drew Pavlou, you have until 12pm to stop the Uyghur genocide or I blow up the embassy with a bomb. Regards, Drew.”
Pavlou, a longstanding and vociferous critic of Beijing’s oppression of China’s Uyghur minority, said the email was allegedly sent from an account: drewpavlou99@protonmail.me.
For more on this developing situation, read the full story from the Guardian’s Ben Doherty.
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Monkeypox declaration means world must ‘take this seriously’
The Doherty Institute director, Prof Sharon Lewis, spoke to the ABC this morning on the World Health Organisation declaring monkeypox a global health emergency.
She said:
The WHO making this declaration is a sign to all countries that they need to take this seriously and we need some level of global coordination in order to eliminate the rise. There’s now 16,000 monkeypox infections in over 70 countries. By making this declaration, it’s not saying everyone is now at high risk of monkeypox, or that monkeypox is a very dangerous disease.
Prof Lewis said the group most affected by the disease were men who have sex with men and that public health messaging was important to ensure people took precautions to prevent the spread of the disease.
She also said there were monkeypox vaccines and treatments, but “not every country has access to those”.
They haven’t been wound up at scale in many countries. It is happening in Europe and the US. And some of those other interventions will be needed. But the most important thing is messaging to affected communities: how to recognise it; how to avoid it; and what to do if you think you’ve got it.
Updated
Monkeypox declared a global health emergency
The global monkeypox outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – the strongest call to action the agency can make.
It is the seventh time such a declaration has been made since 2009, the most recent being for Covid-19, which was given the same label by the WHO in 2020, and follows a meeting of a committee of experts on Thursday.
A public health emergency of international concern – or PHEIC – is defined by the WHO’s international health regulations as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”.
The UN health agency said the term implied the situation was serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected, that it carried implications for public health beyond national borders, and that it might require immediate international attention.
For the latest on the announcement, read the full report from the Observer.
Updated
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.
The World Health Organisation has issued the strongest call to action on the global monkeypox outbreak after declaring a public health emergency. It is the seventh time such a declaration has been made since 2009, with the last being for Covid-19. A case of monkeypox was detected in the Northern Territory on Thursday, with the first case reported in May. There have been 41 cases reported nationally.
There is speculation that inflation could rise to 6% in the coming week, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics expected to release its latest cost of living data on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of Australia forecasts the consumer price index to reach 5.5% in the June quarter but economists from the Commonwealth Bank are expecting an increase of 1.9%.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2, where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started ...
