Australia news LIVE Sydneys lockdown extended as COVID-19 cases soar in NSW Victoria records eight new local cases

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Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young and Health Minister Yvette D’Ath are due to provide the state’s coronavirus update from 9.30am AEST.

There were no new cases in the Sunshine State yesterday but authorities remain on high alert after a NSW man crossed the border despite being a close contact of a coronavirus case.

Watch live below.

Queensland has reported one new community case of COVID-19 and 19 infections in a cargo ship which has entered the state’s waters.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said new, locally acquired case is a man who lives in Western Australia but left quarantine on July 17 and all his tests across those 14 days were negative.

He had been staying at the Roma Street City Backpackers in Brisbane before becoming unwell and getting tested on Monday. He is deemed to have been infectious in the community since July 22 with contact tracing now under way.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young said nineteen members of the bulk carrier Sanyu entered Torres Strait waters from the Philippines on Monday, asking for a pilot and disclosing there were “a lot of sick people” on the ship.

Maritime Safety Queensland is now working with the ship, expected to arrive near Weipa today, to maintain safety before crew members can be brought to COVID-19 facilities in Brisbane.

Dr Young said the situations marked the 13th incursion of the virus into the state in six weeks and urged residents to stay vigilant, get tested if symptomatic, and vaccinated it available.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the state because as we can see, the backpackers, when we follow up with all of them, could have gone anywhere in the state,” Dr Young said.

Melburnians exited lockdown on Wednesday with trepidation, but optimism, with many taking the opportunity to sit down for breakfast as cafes threw their doors open to welcome back their regulars.

The eased restrictions allowed Northcote local Christopher Ong and three-year-old daughter Ava to share a croissant at High Street cafe Bicycle Thieves before they started their day.

Christopher Ong and daughter Ava, 3, enjoy a coffee at Northcote cafe Bicycle Thieves as Melbourne emerges from its latest lockdown.Credit:Chris Hopkins

“Now that lockdown’s over it’s almost like daddy-daughter time. We spend half an hour in the morning colouring before she goes to school,” he said.

“During lockdown we would go to the park, just walk around, it gets freezing, it’s wet and it’s cold, so this is good. I just hope that one day it can be somewhat permanent.”

It’s been almost two weeks since Sydney’s construction ban came into effect and Blacktown labourer Siale Fekitoa is itching to get back to work.

“It’s been tough being cooped up and not being able to provide for my family,” he said.

“If you can’t work you can’t pay the rent, we have Centrelink but it’s not enough.”

Construction worker Soale Fekitoa with his wife Lili-Ane at their western Sydney apartment. Credit:Louise Kennerley

While some construction is set to resume on Saturday, it’s expected people in affected west and south-west local government areas, including Blacktown, will be excluded from the industry reopening.

“That’s going to be a downer, I’ll be depressed to be honest [if I can’t go back to work], not being able to get out and work hard and provide for the wife and kids,” Mr Fekitoa said.

He supports the need for the lockdown as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, but is struggling to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

One positive from the lockdown has been spending more time with his wife and si-year-old daughter.

“But she misses being at school among her classmates and teachers.”

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded eight new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and zero in hotel quarantine. The Victorian Department of Health says all new cases are linked to current outbreaks and were isolating during their infectious period.

Those numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 35,862 coronavirus tests.

Strong winds and severe weather battered Victoria last night, downing hundreds of trees and damaging dozens of buildings.

The State Emergency Service received 412 requests for help between 7pm Tuesday and 7am Wednesday, mostly in metropolitan Melbourne. Severe weather warnings remain in place across much of the state.

Last night more than 10,000 AusNet customers were without power.

Read the full story here.

A member of the country’s vaccine advisory body says the group’s advice about the AstraZeneca jab has not changed while urging young people in Greater Sydney to get the jab as the city faces a “lengthy” lockdown.

Over the weekend, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation said adults of all ages in Sydney should consider getting any vaccine that is available, including AstraZeneca.

A health worker administers a jab of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Credit:AP

Kristine McCartney, the director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance and ATAGI member, says this is not a change in advice.

“The initial advice of ATAGI back on April 8, the third line actually said AstraZeneca remains a strong option when the benefits outweigh the risks,” she said on ABC radio.

“A lot of this has been around messaging. When we had no COVID there was a strong focus on the negative aspects of the safety of the vaccines for what is actually an extremely rare risk.

“It’s really critical that people [in Greater Sydney] step up for vaccination now.”

Tax cuts to start in 2024 will cost the federal budget more than $184 billion by early next decade, new independent analysis shows, as the International Monetary Fund urges all governments to start rebuilding their fiscal buffers by making their tax systems more progressive.

The analysis, carried out by the Parliamentary Budget Office after a request from the Australian Greens, shows the top fifth of the nation’s taxpayers will get $138.2 billion of tax relief between 2024-25 and 2031-32.

The stage three tax cuts, now supported by the Coalition and Labor, will cost $184 billion by 2031-32.Credit:Gabriele Charotte

Labor, after a bruising internal debate, this week agreed to keep the government’s third stage of tax cuts, which were announced in 2019 when the federal government was expecting ongoing budget surpluses through to and beyond the 2030s.

Read more here.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce a four-week extension of the lockdown today as the state banks on young people in Sydney’s west taking up the AstraZeneca vaccine to stem surging case numbers.

About 8000 under-40s have come forward for the AstraZeneca jab in the past week as the state government gives the go-ahead for young people to access the vaccine without a GP appointment.

A marquee outside Priceline at Cabramatta is offering information to the local community about AstraZeneca shots available inside.Credit:Dean Sewell

By Friday, adults of any age will be able to book an AstraZeneca vaccine at NSW Health clinics, including the mass vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park, and at about 450 pharmacies across NSW from next week.

Previously only over-40s could book after the state government expressed a preference for younger people to receive AstraZeneca following a GP consultation, in line with national health advice regarding an extremely rare blood clotting condition.

Read the full story here.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has done the breakfast television rounds this morning to defend the federal government’s current disaster payments scheme.

As readers of this blog will know, federal Labor, unions and some small businesses have been calling for last year’s JobKeeper program to be reinstated. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has also joined that push.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But Mr Birmingham has told Seven’s Sunrise that JobKeeper worked well as a nationwide scheme but lockdowns are now much more state and city-based.

“The new COVID disaster payment we have put in place is able to be tailored and targeted to the specific region,” he said.

“It is now helping hundreds of thousands of people across Sydney and it is able to be targeted but it also has a broader reach, it is available to, for example, casual employees who may not have been permanent casuals. So that provides a real lift.

“I think it is actually proving to be a more adaptable and effective support for the long-term in these targeted lockdowns.”

Mr Birmingham says the federal government will make an announcement about “further assistance” later today. So stay tuned for that.

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