Summary
And that’s where we’ll leave you today. It’s been a week! Here’s a summary of Friday’s contribution to it:
• Prime minister Anthony Albanese announced that national cabinet has unanimously decided to scrap the mandatory five-day Covid-19 isolation rule from 14 October, with the exception of those working in health or aged care. Sick leave payments tied to the isolation period will also be phased out.
• Optus has agreed it will pay for the replacement of passports for people caught up in last week’s massive data breach. Meanwhile, the Australian federal police announced Operation Guardian to protect people whose data was leaked from associated crime.
• Peak medical bodies the AMA and RACGP called on the federal health minister to again postpone the introduction of strict telehealth rules due to come into place on Saturday.
• The wife of Australian economist Prof Sean Turnell, who was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by Myanmar’s military junta, has said his sentence is “heartbreaking” for his family and pleaded for his release.
• Former Labor defence minister Stephen Smith was announced as the new UK high commissioner.
• And Ben Boyd national park on the NSW south coast has been officially renamed Beowa national park, after an independent report showed Boyd’s involvement in blackbirding in the mid 1800s was viewed by many at the time as a form of slavery.
Thanks so much for sticking with us. Have a lovely Friday night.
Updated
Got Covid rules questions? We’ve got answers
The indefatigable Cait Kelly has all the details on the Covid rule changes, including answers to questions like: what’s changing? What was behind the decision? What should I do if I test positive to Covid? What if that, and I need to go to work? How do I know that I’m not infectious?
Find all the answers here:
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