What we learned: Monday, 24 January
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening.
Here’s what we learned today (not including this extremely funny video I have watched approximately a dozen times since this morning):
- The health minister, Greg Hunt, has announced that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has recommended the use of the Novavax vaccine. The vaccine will be available in Australia from 21 February.
- Terence Kelly has pleaded guilty to kidnapping four-year-old girl Cleo Smith while she was on a family holiday and keeping her captive for 18 days.
- Fallout is continuing from a WeChat scandal which saw prime minister Scott Morrison’s account hijacked and renamed. China has been accused of foreign interference, with some MPs citing they will no longer use the platform for political campaigning.
- The ACT has released its back to school plan, which is fairly similar to NSW and Victoria’s. Two rapid antigen tests will be provided per week to students and teachers for the first month of term, but testing will only be for symptomatic students and staff. Masks will be compulsory for teachers and students above year 7.
- WA has recorded 15 new Covid cases, including 13 local cases and one mystery case. A number of exposure sites are expected to be added as contact tracing continues.
- NDIS participants will be able to dip into their core funding to purchase rapid antigen tests for themselves and their support workers under changes announced by the government. The new policy still falls short of demands from disability advocacy groups and the opposition, who say the tests should be free.
- The tests today became freely available to concession holders, but the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, said it was “easier to catch Covid than a RAT”, a sentence that would’ve been nonsensical in 2019.
- It came as deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, in an interview with ABC Radio National this morning, said individuals “hoarding” RATs was a big problem, and people weren’t dying from the pandemic (his second comment was later retracted).
- Speaking of which, the EU and US have issued Covid travel warnings about Australia in light of peaking case numbers.
- And it’s Pride Day at the Australian Open, but backlash is continuing for the decision to stop fans wearing “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts.
Updated
A parent teacher advocacy group says they plan to commence legal action to ask the NSW supreme court to compel the Department of Education to grant pandemic leave for families who want to keep their children home from school.
Covid Safe Schools say they are resorting to court for the right to keep their children home in the wake of the Omicron outbreak hitting NSW.
The group met today with senior members of the NSW Department of Education to air their concerns. It says a senior executive of the department confirmed today that the pandemic is not a valid reason for keeping kids home.
The group argues it’s a parent’s right to decide what’s safe for their family during the pandemic, with spokesperson Elizabeth Rosewall arguing granting pandemic leave would be a “win-win”.
Parents can do without the extra fear of breaking the law. It would also reduce the number of children in the classroom which reduces the risk for kids who have no choice but to be there and makes it a bit safer for teachers too.
Updated
Tencent (which owns WeChat) issues a statement on the PM's office being locked out of its account. The company says "it's a dispute over account ownership" and will look into the matter further (The line on third-party intrusion is a red herring, nobody has really alleged a hack) pic.twitter.com/IBEDJrYdI1
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) January 24, 2022
