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The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay(now) and Justine Landis-Hanley (earlier)

Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron as nation records at least 47 virus deaths – as it happened

Scott Morrison Australia New South Wales Labor Bega Dominic Perrottet Mark McGowan Ukraine United States Omicron
Construction workers are seen working at the Roma Street Station on the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane
Construction workers are seen working at the Roma Street Station on the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane. The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the January labour force report on Thursday. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

What happened – Sunday 13 February, 2022

With that, we’ll wrap up the live news blog for today.

Here were the day’s main news developments:

  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has ordered the evacuation of the Australian embassy in Kyiv, warning the situation in Ukraine has reached a dangerous stage.
  • The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has labelled his government’s byelection results “disappointing across the board” after earlier vowing to win back voters who handed Labor the seat of Bega in Saturday’s byelection.
  • There were 47 Covid deaths announced across Australia on Sunday, as Western Australia’s premier Mark McGowan warned that Covid rules could tighten further.
  • Shoes, women’s fashion and stationery are just some of the goods Australian shoppers face difficulty finding on shelves as an international shipping crisis sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic shows little sign of abating.
  • Olympian Jemima Montag has broken a longstanding Australian record in the 20km walk.

Thanks for following along. Have a great evening.

Updated

Ken Wyatt marks anniversary of Stolen Generations apology

Updated

The expansion of McDonald’s over the next two years will see a big push into regional Australia, which experts say bodes well for local economies but not their population’s health.

Of 100 new McDonald’s Australia restaurants set to open in the next two years, about a third will be opening in regional and remote areas.

Cameron Newlands, a senior director of the restaurant group, said growth in population as well as investment from government and business in regional areas was driving where they would open.

“Anywhere north of 5,000 [people] is something we’d consider,” Newlands said. “But other characteristics like traffic flow, tourism and growth potential are just as important.”

But the move could be controversial in towns that have battled to keep the fast-food giant out of their backyards. Tecoma, on the edge of Melbourne, fought unsuccessfully to stop a McDonald’s development and Tamworth council faced controversy when it approved its fourth Mcdonald’s outlet in a town that suffers high rates of obesity.

Megan Belot, the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, said the expansion was not a positive outcome for rural patients who already have an increased risk of obesity.

“It’s nice to think that there’s going to be more jobs and opportunities for our younger people to work in a place like McDonald’s, but realistically we don’t need fast food in our smaller rural communities,” Belot said.

Read more:

An aerial photo of the anti-vaccine mandate protesters in Canberra.

Police have ordered them to leave the Canberra showgrounds by today. This image was taken at about 12.30pm today.

A reduced number of anti-vaccination mandate protesters are seen camped at the Canberra showgrounds on Sunday.
A reduced number of anti-vaccination mandate protesters are seen camped at the Canberra showgrounds on Sunday. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

Updated

David Littleproud tests positive for Covid-19

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud says he has tested positive for Covid, on the eve of federal parliament returning on Monday.

Littleproud tweeted that he got a PCR test after he “woke up feeling unwell”, which returned a positive result.

“I have had vaccinations and a booster and will now comply with ACT health orders,” he said on Sunday afternoon.

Updated

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has labelled his government’s byelection results “disappointing across the board” after earlier vowing to win back voters who handed Labor the seat of Bega in Saturday’s byelection.

As early counts showed the government had suffered double-digit swings in two of four Super Saturday byelections, the government has resigned itself to losing Bega for the first time since the seat was created in 1988.

By midday on Sunday, with 25% of the vote counted, Labor’s candidate Michael Holland had picked up a 14% swing which will see the opposition win the seat barring an overwhelming shift back to the Liberal government when postal votes are counted.

At a press conference on Sunday, Perrottet did not seek to sugarcoat the loss, calling it “particularly disappointing” while adding that byelections were traditionally difficult for incumbent governments.

He said:

There is certainly messages for us to look at in terms of what we are doing on the ground.

In addition to that, I think ultimately when you are in a pandemic you are going to make decisions from that time to time will be unpopular. Our job as a government is to take our state through and we are doing that.

Every seat is different. But obviously Bega was particularly disappointing yesterday.”

Read more:

I’m about to finish up for today, so I’m going to hand over the blog once again to Elias Visontay who will continue to bring you the news into the evening.

Thanks so much for keeping me company today!

Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron

Some uncertainty remains among economists around this week’s key labour force figures for January due to the impact of the Omicron Covid-19 variant on activity, the AAP reports.

The jobs market has been making a strong rebound from last year’s Delta strain lockdowns, which has seen the unemployment rate tumble to a 13-year low of 4.2%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia and the federal government are both predicting the jobless rate to fall below 4% this year, a level not seen in some 50 years.

However, economists don’t expect that to happen just yet.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the January labour force report on Thursday.

It’s uncertain whether people gave up looking for work in despair over another virus outbreak, particularly such a highly infectious variant as Omicron.

So even if the January employment numbers are more subdued, a fall in the participation rate – those in work or seeking employment – could actually see another drop in the jobless rate.

Economists’ forecasts centre on the unemployment rate nudging down to 4.1%, although expectations range from 4% to 4.4%.

Predictions for employment point to a flat or unchanged result, but again forecasts range from a 60,000 fall to a 59,000 rise.

Updated

I reported on WA’s Covid-19 case numbers earlier (68 cases, at least 38 of which are locally acquired). But here is the official post with today’s figures. We can see that there are currently no patients in hospital with the virus.

Updated

Further to my earlier post, here is the South Australia Covid-19 update today.

Senator Bridget McKenzie and minister for the environment Sussan Ley have released a joint press release announcing that the Liberal and Nationals government has allocated another $50m from the emergency response fund (ERF) to continue to protect communities from the effects of natural disaster.

According to the release, the new Coastal and Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program is aimed at reducing the often devastating impacts on local communities of natural disasters and coastal hazards, such as storm surges and coastal inundation.

In the statement, Ley acknowledged the impact that climate change is having on increasing the risk of coastal storm surges, flooding and associated coastal inundation.

“As climate change heightens the risk of such events, we are taking action to strengthen the resilience of our coastal environments and reduce the impacts on communities, property owners, local tourism economies and native species,” she said.

Updated

South Australia records two new Covid deaths and 1,165 cases

The AAP reports that two women in South Australia, both in their 80s, tragically died after testing positive for Covid-19.

There are 211 people with Covid receiving hospital treatment, including 17 in intensive care and five require a ventilator.

South Australia has 13,621 active virus cases and 151 people have died with Covid since the start of the pandemic.

Updated

Premier Mark McGowan says the government will consider restrictions as cases increase, AAP reports.

Currently WA has an indoor mask mandate and vaccination requirements to enter certain venues.

“We haven’t actually made a decision on when [further restrictions] will come in, but at some point in time they will come in,” McGowan said on Sunday.

WA continues to add to its stockpile of rapid antigen tests but McGowan says PCR testing will remain the preferred method so long as the state has capacity.

Updated

The so-called “super Saturday” byelection results may be bad for the New South Wales government, but they are not surprising.

While the full results won’t be known for weeks thanks to an increase in postal voting, it was clear by Saturday evening that the government had lost Bega for the first time since the seat was created in the 1980s.

The Guardian’s Michael McGowan writes that, for the Coalition, the results are a troubling reflection of how voters have responded to Dominic Perrottet’s handling of Omicron.

Read the article in full here:

Aerosol sunscreens are less effective

You would have to spray aerosol sunscreen for a few minutes per limb to achieve the SPF protection that’s labelled on many products, the Cancer Council warns.

Our friends at the AAP have the full story:

The Cancer Council and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency have together urged Australians to choose lotion over aerosol sunscreen as much of the spray is lost in the wind, rendering it less effective.

Their research into the impact of wind on the application of sunscreen has found the proportion of aerosol sunscreen lost due to typical wind conditions ranged between 32% and 93%.

The study found that four of the five sunscreen products tested would require more than one bottle to provide adequate full-body coverage in 20km/h wind conditions.

A person would need to spray an aerosol sunscreen in some cases for “up to 250 seconds per limb” to achieve the SPF protection as labelled on the product, the council said.

Chair of Cancer Council Australia’s national skin cancer committee, Heather Walker, said the council welcomed the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s recent announcement of a review into the efficacy of aerosol sunscreens.

“With aerosol sunscreens, it is very difficult to obtain the amount of sunscreen to the body that is necessary to get good UV protection, potentially leaving Australians’ skin inadequately protected from harmful UV radiation and increasing their skin cancer risk,” Walker said.

A person would need to spray an aerosol sunscreen in some cases for ‘up to 250 seconds per limb’ to achieve the SPF protection as labelled on the product, the Cancer Council said.
A person would need to spray an aerosol sunscreen in some cases for ‘up to 250 seconds per limb’ to achieve the SPF protection as labelled on the product, the Cancer Council said. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

New Zealand records 810 new Covid-19 cases, almost double yesterday's figure

New Zealand Covid cases have jumped sharply to 810 today, almost doubling from the previous record high (which was 454, yesterday). The leap suggests New Zealand is hitting its exponential growth curve.

A written statement from the Ministry of Health said:

The sharp increase in new cases today is another reminder that, as expected, the highly transmissible Omicron variant is now spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries.

Our expectation is that cases will continue to increase over the coming weeks and we’re asking people to do all they can to slow the spread of the virus and protect themselves and their whānau [families].

Updated

McGowan is asked about the news that Touriam Australia is launching an international advert called “Don’t go small, go Australia”.

But, the journalist points out, WA won’t be included in the campaign since the state’s borders aren’t open yet, and asks McGowan whether the federal government was going rogue on WA.

McGowan:

Well eventually we will open to international tourists and we will have the financial capacity above and beyond the other states to attract international tourists because we kept Covid out. We have the best financial performance of any state or government in Australia so we will have the capacity to put in bigger, better tourism campaigns and bigger, better campaigns to attract international students ... we will no doubt join it at some point in the future.

When the journalist remarked the tourism campaign had a “bit of a strange title”, McGowan chuckled “I couldn’t possibly comment”.

Updated

McGowan says the original plan to open the borders on 5 February would have meant “opening the border with no protection when the eastern states were peaking”.

He notes that the rate of Covid-19 infection in those states are now going down but that the “vaccine rate is the main issue”.

All we are trying to do is save people’s lives. Older people, immunocompromised people ... When you look at Australia compared to the rest of the world ... our performance has been hugely better and in Western Australia obviously we have had two people here acquire the virus and pass away. Getting people vaccinated works and that’s why we’ve done it, that’s why we’ve made the decisions we’ve made.

Updated

McGowan is asked about reports that the new date for bringing down the border that will happen within days or a week.

He says that there “hasn’t been any decision on that”.

What we will do is review this matter over the course of February and we are currently looking at it, as you know.

The review is based upon the growth in vaccinations, which is going up very quickly, we are basically at 50% third dose.

WA health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson says the state government is also launching the “Managing Covid-19” campaign to help “prepare and empower West Australians with information on how to manage living with the virus”.

This is particularly important given we are experiencing high caseload and have recently implemented new testing and isolation protocols to respond to this. It’s essential that people understand what they need to do and when stopping the campaign communicates the definition of a close contact, testing and isolation and how businesses can prepare to manage Covid if a staff member returns a positive result.

It will run across television, radio, print and digital, including metropolitan and regional areas and on culturally and linguistically diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander channels.

Updated

WA on track to have 100m rapid antigen tests in stockpile by April

WA premier Mark McGowan is talking about the state’s rapid antigen test supply.

McGowan says that PCR testing facilities have the capacity for 35,000 tests per day.

He says the state government has 8.8m RAT test in stock and that number is growing each and every day.

This coming week, our stocks are expected to hit 11.2m RATs. Based on our current orders we anticipate having more than 100m RAT tests by the end of April.

Updated

Western Australia records no Covid-related deaths and 68 new cases

Of the 68 new cases, 38 are locally-acquired, 25 are travel-related, and a further five cases are being followed up by contact tracers.

Updated

WA Premier Mark McGowan is addressing journalists in Perth.

Northern Territory records one new Covid-related death, 757 new cases

The woman was aged in her 50s was from the Tiwi Islands and had underlying health conditions.

She passed away on 11 February at Royal Darwin hospital and her death was confirmed by NT Health last night.

There have now been 10 Covid-related deaths recorded in the Northern Territory since the start of the pandemic.

Updated

Chris Minns: Perrottet needs to 'take a message' from byelection swings

Labor’s Chris Minns, the New South Wales opposition leader, has called on premier Dominic Perrottet to “take a message” from the significant swings the Coalition suffered across multiple seats in four byelections on Sunday.

Minns said:

This is a big message to the NSW premier to lift his game and listen to the people of NSW to do better at his job, to understand what the experts are saying, not just supporters of his own hunches or ideology but instead listen to experts.

It is no good for hundreds of thousands of people to register their unhappiness with the direction of the government and then for the senior levels, including the premier of NSW, to simply say nothing has changed, we don’t hear the message at all.

We want the NSW government to do better. That may sound strange for the opposition to say that but we are in the middle of a pandemic and our focus is on the people of NSW.”

Minns, who was speaking from Bega, said despite Labor appearing to have taken the seat from the Liberal party and retain its seat of Strathfield, said “there is no victory celebrations for us”. He said:

It is back to work today. We have an important job on behalf the people of this state ... I think it is important we do not draw from the NSW voters a message that they did not send. There is no mandate for NSW Labor. We have to earn that and we will do that over the next 12 months and that process starts today.

NSW opposition leader Chris Minns during the Super Saturday byelections in Sydney on Saturday.
NSW opposition leader Chris Minns during the Super Saturday byelections in Sydney on Saturday. Photograph: AAP

Updated

Tasmania reports 371 new Covid cases

Covid continues to spread in Tasmania.

There were 371 new cases announced on Sunday. There are currently 10 Covid patients in hospitals across the state, with just one person in intensive care.

The below tweet – which is not from an official government account – breaks down the latest numbers, which are identical to the state health department’s daily numbers release here.

Updated

Queensland records four Covid deaths and 7,311 new cases

Health authorities in Queensland have announced four new Covid deaths on Sunday.

There are 496 people in hospital with Covid across the state, 45 of whom are in intensive care.

There were 7,311 new Covid-19 cases announced on Sunday.

Updated

I’m going to hand the blog over to the brilliant Elias Visontay to bring you the news over lunch!

Victoria announces LGBTQ+ support package after 'hurtful' debate

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has said his government will commit $200,000 to local organisations supporting the LGBTQI+ community after national debate around the federal government’s religious discrimination bill.

“The recent unnecessary, hurtful public debate around legal protections for young LGBTQ+ Australians has had a significant impact on their wellbeing and that of their families and loved ones,” Andrews said in a statement.

The extra support will help organisations such as Switchboard Victoria, Thorne Harbour Health and Drummond Street, Transcend and Parents of Gender Diverse Children manage increased demand for mental health services, referrals and peer support.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has attacked the federal government over its ‘failed’ and ‘harmful’ debate around the religious discrimination bill. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Updated

Our friends at AAP have more on Adelaide’s North-South corridor announcement this morning.

The Morrison government is injecting an additional $2.26bn into Adelaide’s so-called North-South corridor, a project that will deliver 78km of non-stop motorway once complete.

The new funding will bring the federal government’s total commitment to the project to $6.8bn.

“Our government, together with the Marshall government, is getting on with delivering what is the most significant infrastructure project ever undertaken in South Australia,” prime minister Scott Morrison said in a statement on Sunday.

“The investment in this project alone is expected to support around 4900 jobs and slash travel times by up to 20 minutes between the River Torrens and Darlington and help ensure South Australians get home to family and friends safely.”

SA premier Steven Marshall said the partnership with the Morrison government enables projects that make a real difference to the everyday lives of South Australians.

“This once-in-a-generation project is going to create a record number of jobs for South Australians and underpin the construction industry for the next ten years,” Marshall said.

Updated

Towns in Tasmania's north on bushfire alert

The Tasmania Fire Service has issued a watch and cct bushfire warning for Pipers Brook, Lebrina, Wyena and Golconda in Tasmania’s north.

This fire is travelling north-west, towards Ferny Hill Road in Golconda, and is expected to impact these areas by within the next two to six hours.

“Weather conditions predicted ... include unpredictable gusting winds and are expected to challenge fire crews on the fire ground,” the TFS said in a statement.

Updated

Olympian Jemima Montag breaks Australia's 20km walk record

Olympian Jemima Montag has broken a longstanding Australian record in the 20km walk, AAP reports.

Montag has eclipsed Jane Saville’s record set in 2004 with a stunning performance at the Oceania and Australian 20km race walking championships.

Montag clocked one hour 27.34 seconds in Adelaide on Sunday morning, a time some 10 seconds inside Saville’s previous benchmark.

“It feels surreal at the moment,” Montag said.

Montag finished Sunday’s race more than four minutes ahead of her Tokyo Olympic teammate Rebecca Henderson (1:31:44).

In the men’s 20km walk, Declan Tingay captured his maiden national title – he clocked 1:20:44 to also earn selection for the world championships.

Jemima Montag.
Jemima Montag. Photograph: Takeshi Nishimoto/AFLO/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Victoria's Covid rules under review, premier said

Victorians could join other Australians for the easing of Covid-19 rules, with Premier Daniel Andrews eyeing changes to check-in codes, AAP reports.

“The use of QR codes is under very active review at the moment, as are all of our rules and we hope to make some announcements quite soon,” the premier told reporters on Sunday.

Now that we’ve hit the peak of Omicron, now those cases are coming down, we do have some room to make some refinements and adjustments.

Andrews said Victoria aimed to be in lockstep with NSW on rules and the state’s northern neighbour was planning to ease check-in requirements by the end of February.

Victoria’s density limits also being reviewed, he noted.

QR coding at the moment is not being used for the purposes of contact tracing because there is no contact tracing.

“What it’s used for at the moment is to validate that a person has the green tick [vaccination] and can be in certain locations. For consistency’s sake, QR coding still operates in some settings where you don’t need to be vaccinated, like the local supermarket.

Updated

Perrottet once again reflected on the government’s loss in Bega. He acknowledged that the community was hard hit by the bushfires, implying that could have played a role in last night’s outcome.

It’s the community in Bega that’s gone through a very difficult time off the back of the bushfires. And I will look into that ... I certainly felt that on the ground. I met with many people in that community who are still doing it tough. I mean, the recovery in those areas from the bushfires is still ongoing and the feedback on the ground, is it will take many years. So I – we can certainly – certainly reflect on that.

Updated

Perrottet reflected on his government’s handling of the pandemic.

He criticised the Western Australian premier Mark McGowan for taking the populist approach to restrictions, saying he was a “highly popular premier with a lockdown mentality”.

Now, that works in the short term, it doesn’t work in the long term. And ultimately in a pandemic or in any situation like the one we found ourselves in you have got to make sure you are always doing what’s right. Importantly you have got to communicate that, you have to take the community with you.

Updated

A journalist asked Perrottet if he took any personal responsibility for the break down in communication in Bega given that he wasn’t there meeting people in the days leading up to the byelection.

He pointed out that he had been in Bega previously, but also defended his absence, saying “my job is to government for the state”.

But he said he takes responsibility for the result.

I’m the leader of the government and my job is to communicate clearly where our state is going, and on – and ensure we continue to move forward. That’s exactly what we are doing. Ultimately as a leader it falls on me. It is my responsibility. But I am incredibly confident in the direction of our state. I’m incredibly confident in our people to move forward.

Perrottet also added that byelections are “notoriously hard for governments”.

A picture of NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is seen at a voting booth at Jerrabomberra public school on Saturday.
A picture of NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is seen at a voting booth at Jerrabomberra public school on Saturday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Perrottet: 'Certainly lessons to be taken' from the likely Bega byelection loss

Perrottet says there are “certainly lessons to be taken” from the Liberals’ likely loss of Bega.

There is certainly messages for us to look at in terms of what we are doing on the ground and we are doing a lot ...

In addition to that, I think ultimately when you are in a pandemic you are going to make decisions that time to time will be unpopular. Our job as a government is to take our state through and we are doing that ...

Every seat is different. But obviously Bega was particularly disappointing yesterday.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking in Sydney about the government’s byelection results, including the likely loss of Bega to Labor.

Updated

National Covid-19 update

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 47 deaths from Covid 19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 458
  • In hospital: 50 (with four people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 22
  • Cases: 6,686
  • In hospital: 1,614 (with 93 people in ICU)

NT

  • Deaths: one
  • Cases: 757

Queensland

  • Deaths: four
  • Cases: 7,311
  • In hospital: 496 (with 45 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: two
  • Cases: 1,165
  • In hospital: 211 (with 17 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 371
  • In hospital: 10 (with one person in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 18
  • Cases: 7,223
  • In hospital: 465 (with 62 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 68
  • In hospital: 0

Updated

ACT records no new deaths, 458 new Covid cases

There are now 50 people in hospital with the virus. Four patients in the ICU, of which two require ventilation.

Updated

Some advice from the Liberal party’s James Paterson ahead of Valentine’s Day tomorrow:

Updated

New Zealand blasts Barry Manilow to dislodge anti-vax protesters outside parliament

A moment of lightness (actually I can’t tell if this is a funny story, or a sad sign of the times) for your morning:

The BBC has reported that authorities in New Zealand have been playing Barry Manilow’s greatest hits, along with the Macarena, in an attempt to dislodge anti-vaccine mandate protesters camped outside the parliament building.

Apparently the demonstrators responded with the song We’re Not Gonna Take It by the Twisted Sisters.

A Covid-19 vaccine mandate protest outside the New Zealand parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on Saturday.
A Covid-19 vaccine mandate protest outside the New Zealand parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on Saturday. Photograph: Dave Lintott/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Federal minister plays down NSW byelection results

Federal minister Keith Pitt has played down the impact of Saturday’s results on the federal election in a few months time, AAP reports.

“Generally these things don’t reflect into a federal result. Voters know the difference between each level of government,” Pitt told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program

He also brushed off comments by NSW treasurer Matt Kean who said the recent dramas around the federal government didn’t help the Coalition brand heading into the four byelections.

“If Mr Kean is looking for someone to blame he might want to have a look in the mirror.”

The byelections came after a week in the federal parliament where five Liberal MPs crossed the floor on a Labor0amended sex discrimination bill, as part of the Religious Discrimination Act, and alleged leaks from the cabinet.

But Pitt insists the ministry is a very strong unit, while adding that Coalition MPs are entitled to cross the floor, whereas they would be expelled if they were in the Labor party.

But he was disappointed by those who crossed the floor because they did not tell their colleagues or the prime minister of their intentions.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said this government is driven by “disunity, dysfunction and dishonesty” and needs some time in opposition.

Federal resources minister Keith Pitt.
Federal resources minister Keith Pitt. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

I want to talk about one more comment that Scott Morrison made during the presser in Adelaide this morning.

The PM was asked about how inflation rates were affecting people overseas and whether that was of concern to him and Australia. And somehow the conversation very quickly turned to the election and “issues facing liberal democracies like Australia” more broadly.

Morrison then said:

Yesterday we had a protest by the union movement against the Aukus agreement. There are only two principle opponents against the Aukus agreement, and they both have a one-way bet each way on Albo.

The comments came after defence minister Peter Dutton suggested during question time this week that China had picked Anthony Albanese as its election candidate. The comments were criticised by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull who said they had “no basis in fact”.

As Guardian Australia’s Daniel Hurst wrote: “For weeks Scott Morrison and his defence minister have been suggesting voters must not be lulled into a false sense of national security bipartisanship. Only the Coalition, their argument goes, can be trusted not to ‘appease’ China.”

Updated

Morrison was also asked to reflect on the byelection results yesterday, which saw the Liberal party lose the safe seat of Bega to Labor for the first time in history.

Instead of commenting on Bega, though, Morrison focuses on Liberal candidate Bridget Sakr’s performance in Strathfield.

To be clear, Labor looks to retain the seat with a 0.6% swing against them.

But in a night of losses and significantly larger swings against the Liberal party, you can see why Morrison would default to talking about this as a win.

Updated

Morrison: no suggestion Australia would be involved in transnational response to Russia

One reporter flags that US president Joe Biden has said that if Russia invades Ukraine, they will be met with a transnational response.

Asked whether Australia would be part of that response, Morrison said “there is no suggestion that Australia would be involved in that way”.

Updated

Morrison is back to announce a $40m program to support Australia reopening its borders to international tourists. He says the campaign with Tourism Australia will launch today.

Morrison says the government is also lifting the biosecurity provisions that relate to cruise ships.

States and territories will now be able to make their own decisions about how to open up their cruise ship operations. Morrison says that won’t happen immediately, but they are putting Australia in the best place to open up that business again.

Updated

Morrison is in Adelaide by the way, with premier Steven Marshall, talking about the North-South Corridor, a route for north and south bound traffic, including freight vehicles.

The project has been made possible through collaboration between the state and federal governments, hence why the prime minister is there.

Updated

Morrison: 'The autocratic, unilateral actions of Russia ... is completely and utterly unacceptable'

Morrison said that the “autocratic, unilateral actions of Russia to be threatening and bullying Ukraine is something that is completely and utterly unacceptable”.

He also noted the Chinese government criticised Australia overnight for working with our allies “to provide greater humanitarian relief”, and “yet remain chillingly silent on Russian troops amassing on the Ukrainian border”.

“The coalition of autocracies that we’re seeing seeking to bully other countries is not something that Australia ever takes a light position on and not something that my government ever has. My government has always stood up to anyone who seeks to bully or coerce Australia, and the bullying that we are seeing on the borders of Ukraine is unacceptable,” Morrison said.

A rally against a possible escalation of the tension between Russia and Ukraine in Kyiv on 12 February.
A rally against a possible escalation of the tension between Russia and Ukraine in Kyiv on 12 February. Photograph: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking live about the evolving situation in Ukraine.

Updated

Back to Keneally’s comments on Insiders.

Speers asked the shadow home affairs minister about defence minister Peter Dutton’s comment that China wants Labor to win the election.

Has that comment, has that suggestion damaged Australia’s national security, do you think?

Keneally replied:

This is a desperate government, so desperate to distract from its own incompetence that it is now weaponising national security ... This weaponisation of national security – it is divisive and dangerous. It flies in the face of the advice of the Asio director general Mike Burgess when he said using fear of foreign interference to stoke division in the community is as corrosive as foreign interference itself.

So this is a divisive and dangerous tactic by Peter Dutton, and we really do need to understand that it undermines our national security agencies and it undermines our national security framework.

Updated

Victoria records 18 more Covid deaths and 7,223 new cases

Updated

This discussion was followed by a LOT of back and forth between Speers and Keneally, as Speers tried to work out where Labor stood on the controversial statement-of-belief clause in the government’s religious discrimination bill.

For context, the clause would protect religious statements even if they offend, insult or humiliate others on the basis of protected attributes. The Guardian’s Paul Karp has written more about it here.

Keneally kept pointing to the fact that they sought to amend this part of the bill.

What, our concerns about statement of belief came down to the fact that it would in fact quite likely make it harder for people of faith and other people to achieve protection from discrimination because of the way it interacts with state and territory law.

But, as Speers pointed out, it was unclear what Labor’s statement of belief would do, to which Keneally replied that she wasn’t sure Labor would necessarily have one. When pressed again she said:

David, we are not going to govern from opposition. The Prime Minister put forward this legislation.

Updated

Things get trickier when Speers asked Keneally whether Labor believes schools should be allowed to hire and fire teachers based on whether they are gay or transgender under the law.

Keneally started by saying that “Labor also supports the right of religious schools, faith-based schools to be able to hire staff, whether it is teachers or other staff, that support the mission and the values of the school.”

When pressed, she said that most religious schools don’t seek to discriminate against gay and transgender staff, adding that she doesn’t think they should.

Ultimately, Keneally kept coming back to the point that “teachers and other staff are in a slightly different category than children”.

And so it’s straightforward with children, we think there are some slight complexities with teachers and staff that should be looked at by the Australian Law Reform Commission.”

Updated

Speers starts by asking the shadow minister whether Labor will remove the ability for religious schools to discriminate against and turn away gay and transgender kids, if they win the election.

Keneally says no:

David, let’s look at what Labor did in the parliament this week. We do believe that people of faith deserve protection from discrimination and extending the law to do that and we think that should not come at the expense of increasing discrimination to other groups of people. We also believe that students at school should be protected and that reflected in the amendments we moved and supported.

So we would like to see the government now accept that amendment that has been supported by the House of Representatives with those five Liberals crossing the floor, and they should just get this bill done. The prime minister promised some years ago to people of faith he would provide this legislative protection. He promised in writing that he would protect children. He is – if he is going to break that promise, he needs to explain it to the Australian people.

Shadow minister for home affairs Kristina Keneally.
Shadow minister for home affairs Kristina Keneally. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Kristina Keneally is up on ABC Insiders.

The ABC Insiders panel are discussing the government’s controversial religious discrimination bill, which was debated and then indefinitely shelved in parliament this week.

The Guardian spoke to Rev Josephine Inkpin, the first transgender priest to be inducted into a mainstream church in Australia.

“It has been a gruesome week. It’s like you’re in a war, really, and there’s a little ceasefire at the moment, but there’s a promise of a new battle to come,” she said.

Updated

NSW records 22 more Covid deaths and 6,686 new cases

Updated

ABC Insiders with David Speers is about to start. Speers will be speaking to shadow minister Kristina Keneally. As always, I will be live blogging the interview.

Updated

Australia evacuating its embassy in Ukraine

Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne has said the government has temporarily suspended operations at the Australian embassy in Ukraine and directed staff to leave, given the region’s deteriorating security situation.

In a statement, Payne said the government will instead be moving its operations to a temporary office in Lviv, and renewed calls for Australian in Ukraine to leave immediately, adding that “security conditions could change at short notice”.

Updated

Another huge story this morning is the evolving situation in Ukraine.

The US president Joe Biden has spent over an hour on the phone to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in what is widely seen as a last-ditch effort to fend off a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The US has warned the invasion could start as early as Wednesday.

According to a statement from the White House, Biden said the US “was prepared to engage in diplomacy”, but told Putin that the US and its allies would impose “swift and severe costs on Russia” should Russia undertake a further invasion of Ukraine.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said Australian citizens in Ukraine should leave the country as soon as possible as the situation continues to escalate.

“Our advice is clear, this is a dangerous situation ... you should seek to make your way out of Ukraine,” Morrison said in Sydney on Saturday.

Updated

Good morning! It’s Justine Landis-Hanley here to bring you the news today on Sunday 13 February 2022.

Let’s catch up:

One of the biggest stories this morning is the NSW state byelection results.

The Liberal-National government has been plunged even further into minority after the safe Liberal seat of Bega swung to Labor for the first time. Labor candidate Michael Holland looks to be elected, having nabbed a 13% swing on election night. The seat was formerly held by the Liberals’ Andrew Constance, who announced his resignation from politics last year.

The Nationals look like they will hold on to John Barilaro’s former seat of Monaro, and the Liberals have held on to former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s seat of Willoughby, but with a small swingsagainst them in both seats.

Labor looks set to retain the seat of Strathfield with a 0.6% swing towards the Liberal party.

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