Covid cases and deaths grow in eastern states
Earlier this week, the chief health officer, Prof Paul Kelly, said he believed Australia was in the middle of this latest Covid wave.
In NSW, case numbers continue to grow. There were 27,809 people diagnosed with Covid-19 this week, which is a 40% increase from the week before.
The state is reporting 39 people died from Covid this week in NSW. Last week, 22 people died.
NSW Health is recommending people wear masks indoors in public places and on public transport, but there is no mandate.
There is a similar story in Victoria, where cases have increased by 22% in a week, with hospital admissions also increasing, and 46 deaths. Last week, 41 people died.
Again, there is no mask mandate. A fifth vaccine dose has not been recommended by Atagi.
Earlier this week, the health minister, Mark Butler, said the advice from the expert panel was:
Atagi has considered international evidence as well as the local data around vaccination numbers as well as case numbers in the pandemic and decided not to recommend a fifth dose or a third booster, if you like, at this point in time. They have said that they anticipate new booster recommendations being made in early 2023 in preparation for the southern hemisphere winter.
The Pfizer booster designed for Omicron has been approved for Australia (Moderna was already approved) and will be available from about 12 December.
Key events
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And on Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Xi Jingping, Simon Birmingham says:
We very much welcome the meeting and it’s good thing that it has occurred. Dialogue is always far preferable to stand off, and it was always entirely counterproductive of China to close off the avenues of ministerial dialogue with Australia. It’s important that the new government has maintained the policy settings and strategic settings of the Coalition government in relation to foreign investment, security of critical infrastructure, protection of our democracy in terms of foreign interference laws and the like. These were all difficult decisions, along with many other difficult decisions taken by the Coalition that saw China’s reaction.
Australia has, however, shown a consistency and an intent to make sure that we do safeguard our interests. That’s ultimately seeing China come back to the table in terms of being willing to have discussions. That’s welcome. Of course, the ultimate test of these discussions between Prime Minister Albanese and the new Australian Government and the Chinese Government will be outcomes and whether we see a removal of the attempted economic coercion in terms of the trade sanctions against Australia, whether we see fairer treatment in relation to Australians detained in China, particularly of course Dr. Young and Cheng Lei, and of course also whether we can see China improve in terms of the way it engages in our region, in the world and the influence they are seeking to use in ways that are sometimes of concern.
After the long standing bipartisanship on diplomacy and foreign affairs became a little shaky in the last months of the Morrison government (when the former prime minister began questioning Labor’s commitment to national security for political reasons) things are back on track.
The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, has walked a line of pointing out where policy could be improved, or highlighting issues he believes the government should be focussing on, without undermining the overall mission.
The parties of government are once again on the same page when it comes to national security and the message they are sending the world.
That means there is even some praise.
Asked about whether or not the release of Australian academic Sean Turnnel was just part of a wider political prisoner release by the junta on Sky News, Birmigham says he thinks that is “unfair”
The consistency of effort that Australia has applied over the 650 days of Sean Turnnel’s unfair and unjustified incarceration has been one that I think has helped in terms of ensuring that he is part of this release on Myanmar’s National Day.
Yes, he’s one of a number of others and of course we shouldn’t forget that there are thousands of others still unfairly detained in Myanmar and that there is enormous abuse of human rights and oppression of individuals across Myanmar as well as the suppression of democracy in Myanmar occurring.
And so we need to maintain a very strong and consistent stance in relation to those matters.
But in terms of Professor Turnell, firstly, we welcome his release. We very much welcome his return home.
We know that means a lot to his family and loved ones. I think we should acknowledge that Australia’s diplomatic core, foreign ministers, both Penny Wong and before her, Marise Payne, have applied a consistency of effort. And have enjoyed strong support from other ASEAN nations and many others to continually make sure his case was high on the agenda in terms of any dialogue with the ruling junta in Myanmar and that that has now seen his release as part of this group of releases they’ve undertaken and that’s very welcome.
And has just been pointed out to me, the UK parliament haven’t passed the free trade agreement yet either
The UK government has been busy with other things. Like finding a leader.
Nationals disappointed UK free trade deal not starting until 2023
The Nationals’ Kevin Hogan is very annoyed the Australia-UK free trade deal won’t be starting this year.
This year, which has 44 days left in it.
The shadow minister for trade and tourism said:
The prime minister’s announcement that the critical trade deal with the UK won’t start this year is a blow to Australian exporters.
Where has the trade minister been? Where has the prime minister been? Securing a 2022 start was worth burning plenty of frequent flyer miles to shepherd the UK side through.
(I think we know where the prime minister has been.)
The joint committee looking at the UK-AU free trade deal only just reported back yesterday. You can read that here.
Given the parliamentary schedule for the last two weeks though, anything other than what is already on the agenda is likely to get a look in, until next year.
Elias Visontay
Qantas will go to the high court over outsourcing workers
The high court will re-examine whether Qantas unlawfully outsourced almost 1,700 ground handlers, as the airline’s last-ditch attempt to avoid a potentially hefty compensation bill progresses.
On Friday, high court justices Jacqueline Gleeson, Stephen Gageler and Jayne Jagot granted Qantas’s application for special leave to appeal against the decision upheld by the federal court in relation to the 2020 outsourcing decision.
The federal court had earlier ruled Qantas’s outsourcing of the workers was in part driven by a desire to avoid industrial action.
You can read more about the case here:
‘Change of government’ needed to reset China relations – Bishop
On Anthony Albanese’s meeting with China president Xi Jingping, Julie Bishop says:
I think it was always going to be a matter of a change of government. I think China was waiting for there to be different personalities, different faces and it would not have mattered who it was to an extent, they had to be a change of government for China to reset the relationship.
It was significant that prime minister Albanese was able to secure a meeting. It has been over six years since a minister or Australian officials have been granted an audience in Beijing.
So it was important and I certainly pay tribute to prime minister Albanese and his team for securing the meeting.
The fact that the meeting was held at all is a breakthrough, but now of course we will see whether anything changes.
We have been in the diplomatic deep freeze with China for some six years and so the thawing of the relationship is good news, particularly for Australian exporters because they has been this unofficial ban on certain Australian produce and products for some time.
Julie Bishop says she hopes verdict gives some answers to MH17 victims’ families
Julie Bishop, who was the Liberal foreign minister when MH17 was shot down, is speaking to ABC News about the guilty verdict of three Russian separatists.
She says she has remained in touch with many of the Australian families:
In fact this morning I’d made contact with the Maslin family – three beautiful little Western Australians and their father [killed] while the parents stayed in Amsterdam.
One of the most heartbreaking phone calls I can ever imagine making when I spoke to that family after this tragedy.
I have continued to be in contact with them. In fact, I meet family members from places all around Australia from time to time. People come up to me and say my cousin, my aunt, one of my friends there was aboard MH17. So I am sure it will be an incident with stays with many people for the rest of their life.
I hope this verdict overnight give some answers to those who have been suffering so much for such a long time.
Bishop is also asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and says:
I hope there could be a ceasefire but at present I see no backing down on the part of Russia. President Putin seems determined to take Ukrainian territory as a buffer, he claims, against Nato. It is absolutely not necessary. It is part of his plan to restore the former Soviet Union, not all of it but some of the Soviet Union, to its former glory.
Peter Dutton says resources tax would risk investment in mining sector
Looks like opposition have found their line when it comes to the government’s attempts to lower energy prices. A temporary price cap is being considered, as well as a super profits tax. We should have an answer soon.
But Peter Dutton, speaking to the Nine network this morning, thinks the solution is to open up more gas fields. Australia has plenty of gas – it is just not being made available to the domestic market (on the east coast).
I think the government is on the cusp of introducing a new tax, which ultimately is just going to be passed on to consumers. It’ll risk investment into the mining sector. At the moment we need more gas into the system – that’s the solution.
That has the greatest ability, like any market, if you’re introducing more supply to bring prices down, but the government is against that and in the budget, they say on their own numbers, after two years of Labor being in power, that prices will go up by 56% and your gas bills will go up by 44%, and that’s in contrast to what they heard the prime minister say before the election, where he promised on 97 occasions that your power bill would come down by $275.
He’s never mentioned it since the election, so I think there are always sort of thought bubbles out there at the moment.
But that’s cold comfort for families and for small businesses who just can’t afford to pay for their ever increasing electricity bills.
Parliamentary budget office projects personal income tax to make up 54% of total tax receipts in 10 years
The parliamentary budget office (PBO) has released a report looking at trends in Australian personal income tax.
And I know this won’t come as a surprise to most – but Australian governments have an over-reliance on income tax, compared to other taxes, and we have one of the highest personal tax to GDP ratios in the OECD – fourth highest, according to the PBO, at 11.6%
The Australian government relied on personal tax for more than 50% of its revenue between the early 1970s up until the introduction of the GST in 2000-01 (Figure 2), when the share fell below 50%, not only because of the new tax but because personal taxes were cut.
Since then, the share of tax receipts from individuals has been trending back towards pre-GST levels.
This is mostly due to bracket creep, which occurs when rising incomes cause individuals to pay an increasing proportion of their income in tax, even though tax settings may not have changed.
The PBO projects personal income tax to make up to nearly 54% of total tax receipts by 2032-33, higher than at any time since the introduction of the GST, and close to the average between 1973 and 1974 to 1999-2000.
If only there was something else to tax, other than people’s labour. Like I don’t know – profits?
Major flooding in NSW not expected to ease until next week
AAP has an update on the New South Wales flood situation – with the SES warning it is not going to be resolved anytime soon:
Evacuations and sandbagging are continuing across inland NSW as concerned emergency services brace for more rain over flooded catchments.
Major flooding will continue along several major river systems on Friday, including the Lachlan, Darling and Murrumbidgee rivers, affecting towns including Forbes, Condobolin, Bourke and Hay.
“We still have a widespread, significant emergency response across western and southern NSW,” SES Ch Supt Ashley Sullivan told ABC News.
Particularly concerning is we are watching a weather system over the weekend where we may see some additional rainfall and strong winds over western and southern NSW.
The SES conducted five flood rescues across the central west region in the 24 hours to Friday morning, in addition to 244 calls for assistance.
With some rivers in flood for the past six months and repeated major floods recently, Sullivan said interstate and international help was on hand to relieve fatigued SES personnel.
This flooding at this rate is anticipated to be around right through Christmas … and right into the new year.
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, on Friday will meet evacuees and emergency services in Eugowra after flooding devastated the central west town.
Police continue searching for Ljubisa “Les” Vugec, 85, and a man in his 20s – both feared dead – after flooding swept through the town on Monday.
Downstream, Condobolin and Euabalong are bracing for the worst after the Lachlan River rose beyond records set there in 1952.
Euabalong is forecast to reach 7.7 metres over the weekend, Condobolin could top 7.6 metres on Monday and further rises later in the week are possible, the weather bureau says.
About 1,000 Forbes residents are subject to evacuation orders for the second time in as many weeks as the regional centre’s CBD was again flooded.
The prolonged major flooding isn’t expected to cease until early next week.
Major flooding is also occurring around Hay as the Murrumbidgee River remains high.
Mildura and Boundary Bend are also on alert, as the Murray River and surrounding tributaries remain swollen.
The outback town of Bourke will also be a cause of concern, with the weather bureau predicting the Darling River’s peak around Monday could match the level set in September 1998 floods.
