Nation records 78 Covid deaths – as it happened

Signage encouraging commuters to wear face masks while travelling in Melbourne. Photograph: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

9.31am BST

What we learned: Thursday 14 July

With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening. It’s going to be a very frosty night in large parts of east Australia so make sure you get your thermals at the ready.

Here are today’s major developments:

• The national unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%, the lowest figure in almost 50 years. There were 88,000 more people in jobs.
• The prime minister will hold a snap national cabinet meeting on Monday in response to rising Covid cases and changes to federal government supports. It comes as Tasmania’s premier, Jeremy Rockliff, and the NSW Labor leader, Chris Minns, joined a growing number of voices opposing the end to the pandemic leave payment.
• There were 78 Covid deaths reported today, amid warnings the coming winter wave could be worse than the January peak.
• In Suva, the prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, has guaranteed there will never be a Chinese military base in his country, calling Australia the nation’s security partner of choice.
• Former attorney general Christian Porter has lost his appeal against a federal court decision which blocked his barrister from acting in a now abandoned defamation case against the ABC.
  
• More rain is in store for the east coast in the next three months according to the BoM’s latest climate and water outlook.
• And the foreign mister, Penny Wong, says Australia will support Ukraine’s international court of justice case against Russia.

Updated at 9.48am BST

9.28am BST

Tony Abbott receives award from Japan

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has received Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, a tribute to the “special relationship” between the two nations.

Abbott has been vocal in the outpourings of grief after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s death, a “best friend” to Australia.

It was a thrill to receive Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun - which I regard as something for our country rather than just for me; as a tribute to the “special relationship” between our two countries that’s been nurtured by many prime ministers over the years. pic.twitter.com/nyqxNb9adD

— Tony Abbott (@HonTonyAbbott) July 14, 2022

There was also a moving video message from the late Shinzo Abe, a reminder of the loss the world has just endured. The strength of our countries’ friendship is a special part of his legacy. pic.twitter.com/2lpmsFh1Ab

— Tony Abbott (@HonTonyAbbott) July 14, 2022

Updated at 9.32am BST