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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Josh Taylor and Caitlin Cassidy (earlier)

Nation records 69 Covid deaths as hospital numbers fall – as it happened

Australia Scott Morrison Covid-19 Philip Lowe New South Wales Queensland Afghanistan Victoria Israel Gladys Berejiklian

The day that was, Wednesday 2 February

That’s where we will leave the live blog for Wednesday. Here’s some of what made the news today:

  • The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said “no country is perfect and there are criticisms made of all countries” when asked to comment on an Amnesty International report that concluded Israel has conducted the international wrong of apartheid.
  • NSW premier Dominic Perrottet said it was “terrible” that text messages allegedly between a federal cabinet minister and former premier Gladys Berejiklian in which the PM was described as a “complete psycho” were leaked.
  • Government ministers lined up to deny they were the person behind the texts as the deputy PM called on the person to reveal themselves.
  • Aged care and sports minister Richard Colbeck defended going to the cricket instead of a Covid-19 inquiry hearing stating that he “balances the elements” of his portfolio and that on 14 January “the predominant part of the day [was spent] on the aged care outbreak”.
  • There were 40,090 new Covid-19 cases reported: 11,807 in NSW, 14,553 in Victoria, 9630 in Queensland, 1723 in South Australia, 549 in the ACT, 666 in Tasmania, 1133 in the Northern Territory and 29 in Western Australia.
  • The national death toll is 3907 (+70): NSW 1451 (+27), Victoria 2054 (+25), Queensland 225 (+16), South Australia 121 (+one), ACT 26, NT three (+one), Tasmania 18 and WA nine.
  • Covid rapid antigen tests will be manufactured in Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews announced. If approved by the TGA, full production could reach up to 50m Rats a year from October.

Until tomorrow.

Updated

Stranded travellers may be flown out of Coober Pedy, in South Australia’s north, with the road to Adelaide still flooded after heavy outback rains, AAP reports.

Close to 20 people may be airlifted out by the RAAF, which came to the town’s aid earlier this week with 20 tonnes of food and other supplies.

The Stuart Highway, the main road link between Adelaide and Darwin, remains underwater in parts with expectations it could be closed for close to two weeks.

Premier Steven Marshall said he understood the frustration of those in Coober Pedy but the conditions in the area remained hazardous.

“We really do need to be very clear that it is still a very dangerous situation,” he said on Wednesday.

“We have roads we’re not sure of at the moment. There has been massive rainfall and this creates a dangerous situation.”

The premier said a major logistical exercise was underway to repair road and rail infrastructure across the state’s north and also to ensure remote communities were supplied with essential items.

As that exercise continued, the State Emergency Service said the risk of more rain across the north had reduced and water levels were dropping slowly.

“But areas of water ponding will remain in the area for some time,” it said.

Pumping was being explored as an option to allow repair crews access as soon as possible and alternative routes were being considered, with defence officials examining the possibility of using roads within the Woomera prohibited area.

Repairs to rail lines across 300km of track were also underway but were not expected to be completed until mid-February.

Rain across the affected area on Tuesday night was less than originally forecast after several centres copped a drenching the previous day, including Ernabella, on the Indigenous APY lands, which had more than 100mm.

The deluge extended as far south as Port Augusta which had more than 50mm in a three-hour period, enough to turn roads into rivers and leave the town’s main oval underwater.

Full damage assessments were continuing with a working group established to bring together data from local councils and state agencies.

Updated

Arrests at Canberra protest campsite

Police have used capsicum spray and made a number of arrests as they sought to move on protesters camped near the National Library in Canberra, AAP reports.

It is understood as many as four people were arrested as police moved through the camp issuing orders.

One man was also seen with a bandaged head being taken away by ambulance.

It is the third day of an anti-vaccination mandate campaign, known as the Convoy to Canberra, which included a march on Parliament House on Monday and a rally outside the National Press Club on Tuesday where prime minister Scott Morrison was speaking.

An ACT Policing spokesperson said police were engaging with protesters and campers located near the Patrick White Lawns adjacent to the library.

“The rights of people to peacefully protest is always acknowledged by ACT Policing. However, when illegal actions take place, the people responsible will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” the spokesperson said.

The National Capital Authority said in a statement it had asked the Australian Federal Police and ACT Policing to “take necessary action to enforce the laws and remove tents, camping infrastructure and vehicles from the site”.

Unauthorised camping is not permitted in the parliamentary precinct or NCA-managed lands.

Updated

Queensland’s education minister is urging Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College to revoke student gender and sexuality contracts amid two probes into the controversial pacts, AAP reports.

The Pentecostal school in Carindale is facing a possible review of its state funding and anti-discrimination action over the contracts sent to parents last week before the start of the school year next Monday.

The pacts said “the college will only enrol the student on the basis of the gender that corresponds to their biological sex” and said homosexuality was “sinful”, like bestiality, incest and paedophilia.

The Non-State Schools Accreditation Board is reviewing the contracts, about which complaints have also been lodged with the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

Education Minister Grace Grace, who has a non-binary child, has urged Citipointe to rescind the contracts and protect their students’ mental health.

“There is no need to put this additional stress with this hanging over the head of students simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” she told ABC radio on Monday.

We’ve had a couple of years of very disruptive schooling with Covid. We certainly don’t need this now.

And we certainly don’t need this kind of contract to go out without consultation, is what I understand, on a Friday afternoon before they’re due to start.

The timing, I think, is very inappropriate. I think this is unacceptable and I call on them to withdraw these contracts as soon as possible.

Citipointe reportedly sought legal advice before issuing the contracts and principal Brian Mulherin insisted that 350 families had been consulted about the contracts over the previous 14 months.

“All these families acknowledged our Christian ethos as the basis for the education of their children,” he said in a video statement on Tuesday night.

He said no Citipointe student had been expelled because they were gay or transgender.

Updated

WA reports 29 cases

In all the excitement of the RBA and the blog handover, I neglected to mention the WA case numbers for today.

There were 29 new cases reported in the west today, 17 of which were locally acquired.

AAP reports dozens of teachers, students and parents face 14 days in quarantine after a teacher tested positive at Winterfold primary school in Perth’s southern suburbs.

The school kept its doors closed on Wednesday to allow for deep cleaning.
It will reopen on Thursday but with replacement teachers after isolation rules wiped out virtually all of the facility’s staff.

Education minister, Sue Ellery, said the infected teacher had attended a professional development day on Friday with 55 other staff.

They will all be required to quarantine for 14 days, along with 27 children who shared a classroom with the teacher on Monday.

The children’s parents, and in some cases other household family members, will also have to isolate.

Ellery had last week declared schools would be the “last to close” during WA’s Omicron outbreak, which grew by a further 17 local cases on Wednesday.

She defended the government’s policy settings, insisting there was a pool of about 4000 relief teachers ready to step in during future outbreaks.

“The particular circumstances here are that the whole of the teaching staff attended the professional development day on Friday. That doesn’t happen every day,” she told reporters.

But WA Principals Federation president Bevan Ripp told ABC radio the pool of relief teachers had already been “absolutely decimated”.

Updated

Government backbencher Jason Falinski has told ABC News whichever minister sent the text message in question about the PM is untenable in their position.

I think their position as a minister would be untenable. It is a clear breach of character and I don’t think it’s appropriate to hold a position of office with that, with such a clear disregard for other people’s privacy and communication of that nature.

Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy says she has no doubt the person will be found out.

There’s no doubt people in Scott Morrison’s cabinet and maybe the prime minister himself already know who this person is.

Labor: Amnesty report on Israel ‘concerning’ but stops short of ‘apartheid’ label

Labor has called on the Australian government to “stand up for human rights everywhere” after Amnesty International published a report that concluded Israel has perpetrated the international wrong of apartheid. But while calling for the government to closely review the report’s “concerning” findings, Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, stopped short of endorsing the use of the term apartheid. In response to a request from Guardian Australia for a response to the report, Wong said:

The report’s findings are concerning, and we expect the government to review it closely, assess the situation on the ground, and make representations about Australia’s view.

Labor does not agree with the use of the term ‘apartheid’. It’s not a term that’s been found to apply by any international court and is not helpful in progressing the meaningful dialogue and negotiation necessary to achieve a just and enduring peace.

Australia must stand up for human rights everywhere. To be a credible voice we must call out human rights violations wherever they take place.

We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to refrain from any actions that hamper peaceful outcomes for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

Comment has also been sought from the foreign minister, Marise Payne.

As mentioned on the blog earlier today, Scott Morrison appeared to minimise the Amnesty findings by telling reporters “no country is perfect” and “there are criticisms made of all countries”.

The prime minister said the Australian government would remain “a staunch friend of Israel”.

In a 280-page report, released overnight, Amnesty International said it has concluded that “almost all of Israel’s civilian administration and military authorities, as well as governmental and quasi-governmental institutions, are involved in the enforcement of the system of apartheid against Palestinians across Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] and against Palestinian refugees and their descendants outside the territory”.

Updated

Agriculture minister David Littleproud is on ABC News, and was asked about the text messages we have been covering today about the PM.

He says he “couldn’t give a rat’s” who sent the text messages, stating it’ll come as no shock some people in Canberra don’t like each other.

I don’t think it’s a great revelation that some people don’t like one another down here in Canberra. That’s been the nature of this place for some time. It’s competitive. But it’s a place where it’s bringing together people from diverse backgrounds that wouldn’t necessarily be friends outside of politics.

And so Parliament House and politics has brought them together. That’s a good thing because that diversity brings a different perspective and a different way of working through problems and we get better outcomes.

The fact they don’t necessarily get on, I don’t think really matters. We’ve had great partnerships. Hawke and Keating, Howard and Costello. I don’t think they were sitting every Friday night knocking over a couple of tinnies over together but they got the job done and respected one another. The fact someone wants to play games is just a titillation of Canberra.

He said there’s no doubt some in Cabinet “don’t think a lot of me either” but it’s about getting outcomes.

Sometimes I don’t please people and other people sometimes don’t please me. But what is it important is outcomes. What happens to those people out there that we elected to serve and what they want to do is they don’t care about whether we like one another but they want to know we can work together to get outcomes. If you look at today’s results in the economy, we have worked well together despite some personalities may not get on.

Seasonal workers have detailed exploitation at the hands of employers approved to run migrant worker programs by the federal government, AAP reports.

The three workers from Vanuatu and two from Samoa moved to Australia to participate in a seasonal worker program designed to address workforce shortages in rural and regional areas.

They told a parliamentary committee into job security that they had intended to support their families back home, where the economies have been affected by the pandemic.

But the experience has been marked by squalid accommodation, bullying, exploitative working conditions and a lack of access to support services, the workers told the inquiry hearing on Wednesday.

They said they are working 64 hours a week but earn just $100 after employer deductions which are not explained on their pay slips.

Despite originally being offered a set hourly rate, they arrived in Australia to find they would be paid per tray of fruit picked, the workers said.

“We are here, we work for the farms, we are part of (Australia’s) economic development so we should be treated the same as Australians,” said Moses, a seasonal worker from Vanuatu.

“If you walk around the supermarket and you see all the beautiful fruits and vegetables, it is because of us. We contribute a lot.”

Samoan worker Talipope told the committee he did not earn enough to support himself in Australia let alone his family.

“It would have been better to just stay home, especially with the bad conditions here,” he said.

Talipope lives in a small room, shares a bathroom with four others and a kitchen with 60 others, with no fans or air conditioning.

He pays $150 for this accommodation which was organised by his employer.

When he and his roommates became infected with Covid-19 they isolated for 10 days with little support.

Solicitor and advocate Dana Levitt says the employers are making up their own rules and getting workers to sign exploitative contracts which are not translated into their own language.

“Nothing in these contracts would stand up as legal in Australia and yet it is going unchecked,” she said.

“The whole scheme is rife with abuse and no one is doing anything about it.”

Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton says Australia’s reputation has been smashed worldwide because of the conditions of the farms.

“The government priorities seem to be nothing short of finding more opportunities to allow more employees (into Australia) with less protections and less support,” he told the hearing.

“Workers came to Australia expecting to get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work ... and they’ve turned up and it has not happened.”

Updated

The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has demanded an unnamed minister who leaked texts with Gladys Berejiklian which were heavily critical of Scott Morrison to “out yourself”, as speculation grows over their identity.

But his office has been forced to clarify his comments, which were initially reported as Joyce claiming that the leaker was a woman - an assertion his office has disputed.

In a press conference in his seat of New England on Wednesday, Joyce called for the leaker to fess up, claiming media would reveal their identity before long.

“I would suggest that if you know anything about this don’t wait to be outed, out yourself,” he said.

“And give an explanation. Maybe it was a bad day in the office, I don’t know. That’s a better way to do it.”

“It getting out is one good rump steak, with horseradish sauce, vegetables and chips, two bottles of red wine, and some journo is going to say ‘you know who told me that? Blah blah blah.’ And she’s out.”

However, Joyce’s office disputed a characterisation in initial reports, which latched onto the term “she’s out” and claimed the deputy PM had asserted the leaker was a woman.

Joyce’s office told Guardian Australia that he had been speaking in a “colloquial” sense when he used the word “she” - as in, “she’ll be right” or similar - and did not mean to assert the leaker was a woman.

Channel 10 political editor Peter Van Onselen, who broke the story on Tuesday, confirmed on Wednesday that the person who leaked him the texts was a federal cabinet minister. There are 23 ministers in federal cabinet, besides Morrison, eight of who are women.

Earlier on Wednesday, Joyce called the leaker a “clown” in a 2GB radio interview.

Foreign minister, Marise Payne, has “categorically” denied being the minister involved.

“I have never held such an exchange with the former Premier, not have I ever used such language, and nor did I leak messages, if indeed they are genuine. It is ludicrous to suggest otherwise,” Payne’s statement reads, according to reports.

Updated

Returning to the Senate hearing on Afghanistan:

Daniel Sloper, Australia’s special representative for Afghanistan, says Australia calls on the Taliban to protect human rights - including the rights of women and girls and minorities - and media freedoms. He says there are rising concerns about allegations of “reprisal killings” and restrictions on education and employment opportunities for girls and women.

Sloper is asked by a senator how confident we can be that the Taliban is not taking some of the aid that goes through the UN or partner agencies. Sloper tells the Senate committee hearing:

It is a genuine concern, Senator. The United Nations is confident at the moment that the aid is flowing through to the people in most need. Partly that’s because even before the change in power there were many services provided by NGOs and the international community.

Sloper says Australia’s assistance is being channelled through international partners that have experience on the ground. The decision to provide the assistance in that was “has restricted some of what we have provided to date” - but Sloper alludes to discussions about whether that approach needs to expand given the “dire situation” Afghanistan is now experiencing.

We are very focused on humanitarian assistance, both because of the need to help the Afghan people in a dire situation, but also we would wish to see the country not implode, if I can be frank.

Dfat officials have given an update on the number of Australians known to still be in Afghanistan: they have in their database 35 Australian citizens, 26 Australian permanent residents, and 148 foreign citizens who are immediate family members of Australian citizens or permanent residents.

The former Facebook employee who blew the lid on what the company understood about the impact of its platform, Frances Haugen, is appearing before the parliamentary inquiry on social media and online safety tomorrow morning at 10am AEST.

The Senate inquiry into Australia’s engagement in Afghanistan is hearing details of Australian officials’ “cautious” discussions with the Taliban.

Katrina Cooper, a deputy secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, says Australia does not “recognise the Taliban regime”, but an Australian official “is authorised to engage with the Taliban” when in a group setting alongside Australia’s allies where it is seen as in Australia’s interests.

In other words, those conversations with the Taliban occur “where we judge it’s worthwhile”. Cooper characterises it as a “cautious” approach.

Daniel Sloper, Australia’s special representative for Afghanistan, is addressing the hearing by video conference from Doha, where he is based.

He has personally been involved in two meetings with the Taliban alongside like-minded countries.

Sloper says Australia works with other countries to secure commitments from the Taliban regime on “safe passage” (assisting people who wish to leave Afghanistan). Sloper says they also engage with the Taliban on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and ask that such assistance not be interfered with. Sloper says that commitment has largely been honoured, but from time to time “there have been localised incursions or seizures of goods or interference, particularly with women associated with the delivery of assistance”.

On each occasion, Sloper says, Australia or other donors or UN officials have raised that directly with the Taliban leadership.

The role of women and ensuring that assistance reaches women remains a concern and increasingly over the last few weeks, since the end of last year, we’ve seen a rise in reports of interference, including most recently a suggestion that in one province women who were unaccompanied - that is, working alone - were threatened with shooting. This has also been raised with the central leadership of the Taliban who has taken action in regard to that, and given us an assurance, but that is yet to be tested - it’s obviously very concerning.

Updated

Canberra protesters may be told to move on

Protesters camped near the National Library in Canberra have been told they are in the area illegally and may be subject to fines and other penalties, AAP reports.

It is the third day of an anti-vaccination mandate campaign, known as the Convoy to Canberra, which included a march on Parliament House on Monday and a rally outside the National Press Club on Tuesday where Prime Minister Scott Morrison was speaking.

An ACT Policing spokesperson said police were engaging with protesters and campers located near the Patrick White Lawns adjacent to the library.

Move-on orders may be issued in the coming days, police said.

“The rights of people to peacefully protest is always acknowledged by ACT Policing. However, when illegal actions take place, the people responsible will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” the spokesperson said.

The National Capital Authority said in a statement it had asked the Australian Federal Police and ACT Policing to “take necessary action to enforce the laws and remove tents, camping infrastructure and vehicles from the site”.

Unauthorised camping is not permitted in the parliamentary precinct or NCA-managed lands.

Organisers of a number of upcoming events, which have official permits, are seeking to set up temporary facilities in the area.

An SAS soldier has told the federal court he saw Ben Roberts-Smith order another Australian soldier to execute an unarmed, kneeling Afghan man during a raid on a village in 2009.

The soldier, still a member of the SAS and anonymised in the court as Person 41, said he was part of a raid that was clearing a compound in Afghanistan known as Whiskey 108 on Easter Sunday, 2009.

He was investigating a room in the compound where he had discovered bomb-making materials and opium when he emerged into a courtyard to see Roberts-Smith and another soldier, known as Person 4, standing above a kneeling elderly Afghan male, near the entrance to a tunnel.

The aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck, has told the Covid committee the sector is performing “extremely well” despite the Omicron outbreak.

Colbeck says in 2020 there were 28,000 Covid cases in Australia, of which 2,051 were in aged care (7.2%), but now the figure is 1.8m Covid cases, of which 10,500 are in aged care (0.58%).

Colbeck says that “despite all the difficulties” the sector is performing “so much better” with the proportion of total cases twelve times less than in 2020. For this he credits vaccination, improved screening processes for visitors, advice on infection control and training with the states.

But Labor senator Katy Gallagher rejects the rosy view, noting: almost half of centres have outbreaks; there are 10,000 cases, with residents locked down; there are difficulties filling shifts and inadequate numbers of registered nurses; and there have been some 657 deaths in aged care.

Colbeck’s response is that as case numbers go up generally, they also go up in aged care, and he rejects the suggestion that the “majority of deaths” are in aged care.

Updated

This is slightly terrifying.

'I wasn't just at the cricket': Colbeck defends attending Ashes during aged care crisis

The aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck, is now before the Covid committee in Canberra and is standing by his decision to attend the Ashes Test in Hobart on 14 January to 16 January, after declining to attend a Covid committee meeting on 14 January.

Colbeck said that he “balances the elements” of his portfolio and that on 14 January “the predominant part of the day [was spent] on the aged care outbreak”.

Colbeck outlined meetings he attended: with Lt Gen John Frewen in the morning to discuss aged care boosters; and a 3.30pm meeting with deputy chief medical officer and head of the aged care advisory group, Prof Michael Kidd.

He said:

I did make a specific decision about the balance of my portfolios. The Test match in Hobart was a significant event for Tasmania. As minister for sport I had to be conscious of that as an issue. I was very cognisant of the circumstances the [aged care] sector was in.

All through that weekend I continued to work on matters in both portfolios, particularly aged care, even though it was a weekend and I attended the Test match.

It was decision I made – and I have to live with it.

Richard Colbeck appears before the Senate Covid committee at Parliament House in Canberra today.
Richard Colbeck appears before the Senate Covid committee at Parliament House in Canberra today. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Colbeck said he stands by the decision and it “would be hypocritical of me not to”. He denied putting sport above aged care, insisting he “continued to work on both”.

I wasn’t just at the cricket – I continued to work with officials to manage the issues in aged care.

Colbeck then counterpunched by noting that Labor’s shadow agriculture minister, Julie Collins, also attended, after leaving Anthony Albanese’s tour of regional Queensland.

Updated

Some quick stats out of the federal Covid committee.

An update on that grassfire in Victoria we reported earlier, via AAP.

A grassfire burning near the Victorian regional city of Ballarat has been brought under control.

Authorities had issued an emergency warning about 11.30am on Wednesday for the fire travelling in a northerly direction on Dalglish Road towards Beaufort.

People in the warning areas of Beaufort, Brewster, Lake Goldsmith, Mena Park, Nerring and Trawalla were told leave immediately in a northerly direction towards Beaufort.

By 1.20pm firefighters with help from air support had brought the fire under control and the threat was dropped to an advice level.

Residents are urged to keep across potential changes in conditions.

Updated

Federal government did not consider Omicron testing collapse, committee told

The federal government didn’t consider the possibility of a collapse in Covid testing before the Omicron wave, officials from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet have told the Covid committee.

Alison Frame, the deputy secretary of social policy, said that Omicron became “of concern” in late November, when the variant was not yet in Australia, but the government decided to delay border reopening to seek more time to get information about its severity, transmissibility and vaccine escape.

Frame revealed that in December the health department commissioned new modelling from the Doherty Institute.

Labor’s Katy Gallagher asked if a collapse in testing capacity was considered.

Frame:

Not that I’m aware of.

Frame explained that earlier Doherty modelling considered a more transmissible variant, but the government believed that because PCR testing had held up well during “significant” waves in NSW and Victoria they thought it could cope with higher demand.

She said:

The preference was for PCR as a higher standard of testing. [We thought] rapid antigen testing may complement that, but it was not the mainstay.

Frame then blamed the states, noting that “test to travel” requirements added 20% demand to PCR testing and that wasn’t anticipated.

She said the system didn’t collapse, but PCR testing came under acute stress over summer in some jurisdictions.

Updated

That’s where we will leave Philip Lowe and the National Press Club for now.

Updated

My colleague Peter Hannam asked Lowe why he didn’t discuss climate change in his speech today. Lowe said he was keeping to time but it didn’t mean it wasn’t a focus for the RBA:

Our institution is spending a huge amount of time on various perspectives based on the effects of investment. Particularly the implications of that. It has an effect on pricing, through the financial regulators and insurance. The risk profile of the banking system. The desirability of Australia as an investment estimation. I could give you a 50 minute talk on that but I will choose not to.

Most of the questions to the RBA governor are variations on “when will interest rates rise?”, more or less, trying to get a different response. Lowe isn’t deviating much.

Raising interest rates won't solve housing affordability, Lowe says

Solving the housing affordability crisis cannot be solved through raising interest rates, Lowe says.

The supply of housing is fixed. Demand goes up – what happens to the price? It goes up. And there’s nothing that we can do with monetary policy to offset that. And probably, and maybe last year or the year before, I was asked a similar question. I think that we have higher housing prices in this country because of structural factors. The choices that we make as a society give us high housing prices meant we all choose to live, most of us, in the fabulous cities on the coast.

We want larger blocks of land. We have restrictive zoning. We’ve under invested in transport over the years. And we’ve got a tax system that’s conducive. That’s why we have structurally higher housing prices in the country - they’ve risen in the past year because of lower interest rates and the increased demand for space.

But monetary policy can only do so much and we can’t counteract all of the other things if society doesn’t like the current level of housing costs, I think that there are structural solutions. But the solution isn’t to put up interest rates.

Australia’s house prices boomed in 2021 but Philip Lowe says it’s a structural problem, not one that can be fixed by the RBA.
Australia’s house prices boomed in 2021 but Philip Lowe says it’s a structural problem, not one that can be fixed by the RBA. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Lowe says there is a “plausible scenario” where interest rates go up this year, but there are many other scenarios.

There is clearly scenarios where we would be increasing rates later this year if some of the uncertainties are resolved in the way that I hope that they would. But time will tell.

So, it’s certainly a plausible scenario that rates go up later this year. But it’s... You know, there are a lot of other scenarios as well. So the point I was trying to emphasise in my prepared remarks is that there are a lot of uncertainties, both on the supply side and the labour market dynamics. And because inflation is not that high at the moment, we can wait to see how those uncertainties resolve. If they resolve in one way, then we’ll raise rates. If they resolve in another way and it is still plausible that the first increase in interest rates is a year or longer away.

Lowe says the timing of the federal election doesn’t factor into the RBA’s decision making at all, when asked about potential interest rate rises:

What we’re driven by is achieving full employment, inflation consistent with the target. And there’s a lot of discussion of inflation at the moment, rightly so.

We’ve got to remember that underlying inflation has only just got to the midpoint of the target point for the first time in seven years. So I don’t think that that requires an immediate response. We’ve been below that in previous addresses, people criticised us because inflation was too low. And we’re also on the cusp of this historic milestone of getting unemployment below 4% and I think that we can test how much we can get the unemployment rate down without having an inflation problem in the country.

And that’s worth doing. I didn’t expect us to be in this situation.

He said there is a lot of uncertainty, and the RBA has responded to changed circumstances.

I hope that people can see that the fact that the economy evolves in unexpected ways and we respond to it and actually, this is good news. And I’m hoping that we get further good news over the course of this year, and as we make further progress towards full employment and we can sustain inflation at roughly 2.5%, we will be able to normalise monetary policy. I hope and expect that to happen. But as we know, unexpected things can happen and when they do, we’ll respond.

Updated

Lowe hoses down interest rate rise expectations

Lowe says the RBA’s ending of its quantitative easing program is not a sign that interest rates will go up.

The fourth and the final point is that the decision to end the bond purchase program does not mean that an increase in the cash rate is imminent. I recognise that in a number of other countries, the ending of the bond purchase program has been followed closely as it is expected to be followed closely by an increase in the policy rate. This is in contrast to earlier episodes of quantitative [easing] and it reflects the current circumstances of these countries, which are quite different to our own.

As you can see here, while inflation in Australia has picked up, it remains substantially lower than the 7% rating in the United States, the 5.5% rate in the United Kingdom, nearly 6% rate in New Zealand, 5% in Germany. So, our situation is quite different. The pick-up in inflation Australia has also not been accompanied by strong wages growth as it has been in the United States and the United Kingdom where labour force participation rate with the decline. So the outcomes on inflation so far are quite different in Australia to many other countries.

RBA governor Philip Lowe speaking at the National Press Club in Sydney today.
RBA governor Philip Lowe speaking at the National Press Club in Sydney today. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Updated

On inflation, Lowe says it has been driven by the strength of the economy and the supply disruptions, and has been boosted in particular by the 32% increase in petrol prices over the past year, and the 8% increase in building a new home.

He said there was little discounting in December, due to the strong demand coming out of lockdowns, staffing issues, and supply issues.

Lowe said underlying inflation will increase further, off the back of supply difficulties, and then labour costs will become the dominant factor driving inflation.

Underlying inflation will be around 2.75% this year and next he says.

Wages growth is just returning to the rates before the pandemic, but he said the inertia in wage growth comes from multi-year enterprise agreements which haven’t finished yet. He says the wage price index will increase 2.75% this year and 3% next.

Updated

Unemployment predicted to fall to 3.75% this year, Lowe says

Turning to employment, Lowe says the RBA expects the unemployment rate to go to 3.75% by the end of this year, which will be the first time is has been below 4% since the early 1970s.

The decline in the unemployment rate has been accompanied by a welcome decline in under employment.

Under employment is the lowest that it’s been in 13 years.

There’s also been a sharp rise in labour force participation in Australia. This stands in stark contrast to what’s happened in the United States, in the United Kingdom, where labour force participation has declined quite significantly.

He says the demand for workers will remain strong, and job vacancies reached a record high in November, and this did not change with Omicron.

More than half of the businesses that we’re talking to on a regular basis say that they intend to increase their workforce over the coming months, and very few business that we talked to say they’re going to cut their workforces.

As you would all know, there’s been an increase in staff turnover and many firms are reporting to us that it’s quite difficult to find workers with the right skills at the moment.

Once the labour market disruptions from Omicron have dissipated, we expect some of the additional demand for labour to be met with a further rise in labour force participation. Again, to reach new highs. We also expect an increase in average hours worked as part-time workers have more success in finding the additional hours that they want to work than they’ve had over recent years. So expecting both unemployment and underemployment to decline further.

A retail worker helps shoppers at Pitt St Mall in Sydney this week.
A retail worker helps shoppers at Pitt St Mall in Sydney this week. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

RBA governor Philip Lowe addresses National Press Club

The Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has begun his speech at the National Press Club in Sydney.

Lowe says the Omicron wave in Australia delayed the economic recovery but did not derail it:

Prior to Omicron, the economy had established strong positive momentum. It had bounced back quickly following the Delta-related lockdowns. This momentum, though, wasn’t sustained into the new year with Omicron leading to many people having to isolate at home and interrupted supply chains, and it affected spending as people limited their activities.

Yet, once again, the economy has shown remarkable resilience. Australians have adjusted and they’ve adapted and we still expect GDP growth to be positive in the March quarter, although only modestly so.

The worst of the disruptive effects from Omicron now appear to be behind us. Supply chains and workforce management issues, which have been significant, are gradually being addressed. And I think as case numbers trend lower over the weeks ahead, the economy will bounce back strongly and we’ll see a sharp pick up in spending.

While Omicron has delayed the recovery of the Australian economy, it’s not derailed it.

He says the recovery has been underpinned by strong household balance sheets with over $200bn in household savings, an upswing in business investment, residential building to be completed in the next year, and governments planning significant infrastructure spend.

Updated

Hi, Josh Taylor here taking over this afternoon. Thank you Caitlin for guiding us through this morning.

RBA governor Philip Lowe is giving a speech at the National Press Club right now. I will provide updates as they come.

With that, I will pass the blog to Josh Taylor’s capable hands.

To recap, Australia has recorded 69 deaths today with case numbers still to come in the ACT, the NT and WA.

This afternoon, reserve bank governor Philip Lowe is making his first major address of the year. We’ll bring you the highlights here.

The ACT’s vaccination rate among five- to 11-year-olds is double that of Queensland’s.

Updated

National Covid-19 update

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 69 Covid deaths:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 549
  • In hospital: 61 (one person in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 27
  • Cases: 11,807
  • In hospital: 2,622 (170 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 16
  • Cases: 9,360
  • In hospital: 764 (49 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 1
  • Cases: 1,723
  • In hospital: 233 (21 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 666
  • In hospital: 16 (one person in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 25
  • Cases: 14,533
  • In hospital: 768 (99 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 29
  • In hospital: 1

Updated

Some reactions are filtering in responding to Morrison’s comments earlier today that Australia maintains a strong relationship with Israel and “no country is perfect”:

Interesting.

Updated

In South Australia, flooding in remote APY Lands communities as well as Covid-19 outbreaks are delaying the return to schools.

Meanwhile, in NSW:

Updated

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard says the child under 10 died in the past 24 hours and had a “very serious, underlying rare inherited medical condition”.

“But even so, this as a very, very sad for the parents of this child”, he said.

He said over the next weeks and months, it would be almost inevitable a child would come across Covid-19, so get them vaccinated.

Updated

Of the 16 Covid deaths in Queensland overnight:

Updated

Queensland records 16 deaths, 9,630 Covid cases

Sadly, Queensland has recorded 16 Covid deaths in its latest reporting period.

A child under the age of 10 is included in today’s toll.

There have been 9,360 new Covid cases overnight.

There are 764 people being treated in hospital with the virus including 49 in ICU.

Updated

Queensland’s vaccination rates among children aged five to 15 are still lagging behind the national average. Just 35% of eligible children under 11 have received a vaccination dose, with schools returning this week.

Updated

Queensland is providing a Covid update:

In the past half hour, an emergency fire warning has arisen west of Ballarat and south-east of Beaufort in Victoria.

A grass fire is travelling in a northerly direction towards Beaufort that is not yet under control. People in the warning area covering Beaufort, Brewster, Lake Goldsmith, Mena Park, Nerring and Trawalla are being urged to leave immediately.

Updated

New Zealand has shortened the interval between second and third doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine from four months to three, as the country races to inoculate its population against an Omicron outbreak.

A million more New Zealanders over the age of 18 will be eligible for their booster from this Friday, the Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins says.

Bringing forward the booster timing will help those who have been immunised more recently. It will mean more people, especially Māori, will be able to receive a booster before Omicron takes hold in communities.

Hipkins says it is a significant step in the Covid-19 response and means a total of 3,063,823 people aged 18 and over – two thirds of New Zealand’s population – will be eligible for their booster from this weekend. More than 1.3 million people have already had a third dose:

I urge every New Zealander who is eligible for a booster to get it as soon as possible. We are in a race against Omicron and the more people who are boosted the more we can reduce the impact of the outbreak.

There were 142 new cases of Covid-19 reported across nine regions in the community on Wednesday, with six people in hospital.

Trudy Hurst gets her booster vaccine at the Auckland airport drive through vaccination centre in January.
Trudy Hurst gets her booster vaccine at the Auckland airport drive through vaccination centre in January. Photograph: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

Updated

Economic policy is very much in the news mix this week, with prime minister Scott Morrison signalling he’d much rather talk about the economy than Covid. (Must be picking up a few vibes.)

We also had the Reserve Bank of Australia returning from its summer recess/slumber with its first board meeting yesterday.

As we noted here, the RBA is bowing to the reality that holding off on rate rises until 2023 and 2024 was not an option – especially when the jobless rate is at a 13-year low and heading below 4% this year on current predictions, and inflation is at its highest since mid-2014 and rising.

Anyway, RBA governor Philip Lowe will address the National Press Club after midday today (AEDT), so more of his thinking will be revealed. And if we needed yet more, the RBA releases its quarterly statement on monetary policy on Friday.

While the federal government is touting Australia’s unemployment rate heading to below 4%, it’s worth noting the US is already there, as are our mates across the ditch.
New Zealand’s unemployment rate is down to 3.2%, the lowest on record (according to data going back to 1986, anyway).

As the ANZ Bank notes, wages are rising in New Zealand, with labour costs up 0.7% in the December quarter from the previous three months, and they are up 2.8% from a year earlier.

“But wage growth still has a way to go to keep up with inflation running at nearly 6% (and expected to peak at 6.4% in the current quarter),” the bank said.

And that is a key issue in Australia too.

The Commonwealth Bank sees signs of improvement, saying its internal data along with the ABS’s and private surveys show wages growth accelerated over the final quarter of 2021 and into this year.

The CBA expects Australians’ wages to have risen at an annual rate of 2.5% in the final quarter, and will be growing at a 3% rate by mid-2022. Sounds promising but the underlying annual inflation rate was 2.6% in that quarter and the CBA is predicting it will be running at a 3.5% pace by then.

In other words, wages here (and in NZ) are not keeping up with inflation despite all that tightening in the labour market. Consumers – and voters – may have more reasons to be grumpy.

Updated

Back in Victoria, where premier Daniel Andrews has announced the state will produce its own rapid antigen tests:

Aid worker tells Senate of ‘desperately heartbreaking’ poverty in Afghanistan

An aid worker currently based in Afghanistan has spelled out the “desperately heartbreaking” scenes in the country.

Fiona McSheehy, an acting country director at Save the Children, addressed a Senate hearing in Canberra by videoconference.

I’ve been involved in humanitarian work for more than two decades now and this is by far and away the most complicated and also deeply saddening situation I’ve ever been in.

She said half of Afghanistan’s population was aged under 18 and “they have no real future at the moment”.

She told the Senate inquiry:

I’ve been here for about three months. Since I arrived, I have seen the number of children on the street increase dramatically. You see them rooting through things like rubbish bins to try to find things that they can then sell – plastic and things like that.

We see them lined up in streets begging as people try to get to the airport, and they’re selling face masks one by one, that’s how desperate they are for an income.

McSheehy said she had travelled to some of the provinces:

Over the time I’ve been here I’ve seen more poverty and more desperation ... Every now again you’ll see a women and her children just sitting in the middle of the road begging for food and money, while cars and lorries drive either side of them. It is desperately heartbreaking.

McSheedy said each morning in Kabul she saw men sitting in wheelbarrows waiting for a day of work. If she went back three hours hours later, most of those men were still there waiting because there was no work. That meant it was hard for parents to feed their children:

It could be so easily resolved by both increasing the amount of money to come into this country and opening up the flow of money ... Banks simply will not transfer money into Afghanistan at this point in time.

Updated

The Victorian Ombudsman announced today that she has launched an investigation into whether public and community housing complaints are being handled fairly, effectively and with sufficient focus on tenants.

The investigation follows the release late last year of the state government’s Social Housing Regulation Review interim report, which included a recommendation that there ought to be greater focus on satisfying tenants, as the purpose of public and community housing is “to serve the needs of tenants”.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass said in a statement that her office had received more than 1,000 complaints related to public and community housing in the past year:

All too often we receive complaints about basic needs such as running water and electricity, and reasonably maintained, clean and safe premises.

Many tenants tell us they don’t know how to complain or feel they are not being listened to. Some come to our office with concerns or misunderstandings about how their complaint was handled.

Neither the number of complaints nor the common issues have lessened over the years.

With the current government’s focus on housing reform and funding of community housing, it is timely to review the dispute resolution mechanisms in place.

The Victorian Greens responded this morning, welcoming the investigation and saying it ought to be a “wake up call” to the state government. The Greens argued public housing in Victoria had been “left to rot” and that residents who do try to complain have found the system unclear and difficult to navigate.

Samantha Ratnam, leader of the Victorian Greens, said in a statement:

Public and community housing residents are treated like second-class citizens in Victoria and it’s unacceptable.

For decades successive state governments have neglected our public housing units and left them to rot, while ignoring the concerns of countless residents.

This investigation needs to be the writing on the wall for the current Victorian Government - public and community housing residents deserve the same rights and dignity as anyone else in this state.

Updated

Back to Morrison’s press conference in Richmond, and he was also asked why he was waiting to open up Australia’s borders, which have been closed since early 2020 at the outset of the pandemic.

The prime minister said that he empathised with remarks made by the Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce who has complained that the border closures now made no sense:

He (Joyce) knows my very strong commitment to getting to that point as quickly and as safely as we possibly can so I’m looking forward to making progress on that issue. The key issue that I’ve tasked our health officials to advise me on in opening up the borders to international arrivals is what impact that might have on the hospital system and the pressures that could come from additional people coming into the country at this time.

I just want to be confident that before we take that decision, that we are confident about the situation that our hospitals are in.

Morrison said getting through the peak of the Omicron wave was key to being able to “open up that opportunity”:

So I’m optimistic about that, but cautiously optimistic, as you’d expect me to be.

He rejected suggestions that the country’s low unemployment rate was due to the closed borders, saying it was the result of the Coalition’s economic management.

Updated

South Australia records 1,723 new Covid cases and one death

SA’s Covid-19 numbers are in, and there have been 1,723 new cases detected overnight.

Sadly, there has been one further death.

Updated

Still in Melbourne:

Rapid antigen tests to be manufactured in Victoria

Covid rapid antigen tests will be manufactured in Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews says. If approved by the TGA, full production could reach up to 50m RATs per year from October.

Updated

'A dark day for media and politics': Perrottet on reported Berejiklian texts

New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has weighed in on what happened at Scott Morrison’s National Press Club address yesterday. He says it’s terrible for the media to be reporting the alleged comments about the prime minister.

Perrottet says the content of the text messages is general gossip and the front-page reports are a poor reflection on politics and the media:

I’ve always found the prime minister to be a thoroughly decent man. I think yesterday was a dark day for the media and politics generally in this country. To have news now reported from an unsubstantiated text message, I think, is terrible.

We should be asking the prime minister about policy. This is ... this prime minister has worked tirelessly and I have seen that, day in, day out, for two years, during a pandemic. You haven’t had a leader, or the leaders, Labor and Liberal premiers and chief ministers across the country who have worked every single day during this crisis. We haven’t seen that since the second world war. To be in a position where we’ve now reverted from a media sense to smear and innuendo ... is a terrible day for politics in this country.

Updated

Save the Children is set to appear before the Senate Inquiry into Australia’s Engagement in Afghanistan this morning on a panel with ACFID and World Vision Australia.

Acting CEO Mat Tinkler will call for greater aid and funding in the region in the wake of the worsening humanitarian crisis.

An excerpt from his speech:

The humanitarian needs of Afghans has increased 32% since our original submission in October. It’s hard to contemplate a living hell getting worse, but it did ... By the middle of this year, Afghanistan’s economic freefall threatens to leave more than 95% of the population living in poverty.

We welcomed Australia’s previous funding commitment of $100 million to Afghanistan. But the devil is in the detail: of the $100 million, $52 million was already funded in 21-22 and $35 million will be spent across the forward estimates to all to 2024, leaving about $13 million in new funding dedicated to the crisis this year.

In the last week, the Australian Government has announced $1 billion to protect the coral reef, $50 million for koala conservation and $60 million today to counter violent extremism. We spent roughly half a billion dollars annually on our military engagement in Afghanistan.

Yet in Afghanistan, we have committed a paltry $13 million in new funds to support 14 million children on the brink of starvation. The UN estimates A$7 billion in aid is needed for Afghanistan in 2022 to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Australia and the world needs to ask itself: are we comfortable watching a projected 1 million children die of acute malnutrition this year?

Updated

Tasmania records 666 new Covid cases

Tasmania’s case numbers are in. There have been 666 new Covid-19 cases reported overnight.

There are 16 people being treated in hospital including one person in intensive care.

If you missed it, Tonga, previously Covid free, has entered into a lockdown after recording two cases. Several countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, China and Japan have delivered aid to the nation.

Updated

Morrison on Israel: 'No country is perfect' and Australia 'will remain a staunch friend'

The last question at Morrison’s presser is on Israel. Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing apartheid. Does he condemn Israel in light of a comprehensive report detailing human rights abuses?

Morrison says “no country is perfect”:

Australia has been one of the closest and strongest friends of Israel of any nation in the world other than the United States and we continue to be a very strong friend of Israel. No country is perfect and there are criticisms made of all countries, but I can assure you that Australia and my government in particular will remain a staunch friend of Israel.

Updated

Morrison is asked about aged care, where there are 11,000 Covid cases in NSW alone. Does he take responsibility for that?

We have visited 99% of all aged care facilities and offered all residents in those facilities a booster shot – 70% of them have taken up those booster shots in those facilities. That’s the advice that I have now. Regrettably, the figures that I have, as recently as yesterday, is we have lost around 566 people in our aged care facilities through this most recent wave.

They were in end-of-life care, in palliative care, and the balance also had – as you’d expect for people and at that advanced age, [they] had many other medical conditions. And yes, when they passed away, yes, they did have Covid, but they also had many other health issues that they were battling with and every life that is lost is a great sadness, but every life that is saved is a great blessing and in Australia, when we look at the outbreaks, they are 13 times greater in Canada than they are in Australia.

Updated

Reporter:

Prime minister, you said you’re sure that that minister in the leaked text messages is not sitting in your cabinet. What makes you sure?

Morrison:

I have confidence.

Updated

Morrison is asked whether no matter who was in power, Australia would have a low unemployment rate by virtue of borders being closed.

He reiterates Australia is on track for an unemployment rate with a three in front of it and repeats the party’s five point plan of keeping taxes low and getting rid of red tape. Then he abruptly flips to the coal industry:

You won’t hear me flipping and flopping on whether we should build a gas plant up in Kurri Kurri ... you won’t hear me saying one thing about the coal industry in central Queensland and another thing in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne, you won’t hear me doing that.

I didn’t do it at the last election. I haven’t done it as prime minister. What you hear from me is the same in the Hunter as you hear from me in the inner suburbs of Melbourne.

Scott Morrison speaks to the media at the RAAF base in Richmond, NSW, this morning.
Scott Morrison speaks to the media at the RAAF base in Richmond, NSW, this morning. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

Morrison says the Australian people don’t care about “scuttlebutt” (the leaked text messages); they care about their job, their security, their health and wellbeing:

The scuttlebutt that runs around Canberra, who cares? What matters to people is keeping their jobs, keeping the cost of living down, electricity prices down 8%, what matters to them is to ensure downward pressure on interest rates ... how you manage the economy, how you manage the nation’s finances is what matters to the Australian people. Because that impacts them.

What people say in text messages and on Twitter, frankly, that doesn’t matter anything to their job, to what they pay for at the supermarket or anywhere else for that matter, and so I’m focused on keeping Australia’s economy strong, keeping Australians safe, and standing up to those who would jeopardise and threaten Australia’s interests.

Updated

Morrison is asked if anyone has confessed to him that they were the minister behind the leaked texts that have been doing the rounds since his National Press Club appearance yesterday. He says no.

Reporter:

Have you asked your office to investigate who that minister is?

Morrison:

I’m not fussed.

Updated

Morrison is going hard on jobs, still. Here in Australia, “we build stuff”, he says, “we make stuff”:

I’m very proud about what our manufacturing industry is achieving and a big part of our manufacturing industry is our defence industry. Here what you see is how they maintain what they build. We build stuff here in Australia. We make stuff here, in western Sydney, in particular and we look after it here in western Sydney as well.

And yesterday I announced another big part of our manufacturing strategy which is about fusing together the great ideas of our wonderful world-class researchers, not far from here, at the Western Sydney University and the many campuses they have, with our best entrepreneurs and I have no doubt that those research entrepreneurs that we will see come out of this plan, many of them will come out of here in western Sydney.

And they will start businesses here in western Sydney like so many have before and they will employ hundreds and thousands of Australians. That’s how you get unemployment with a three in front of it in the middle of a global pandemic. And that’s what this is all about, we’re about jobs.

Updated

Morrison is touting the unemployment rate “with a three in front of it” to be achieved by the middle of this year again. He says the defence industry is “creating jobs”, for young women, for young men, “for those at all stages of life”:

We have a five-point plan to grow our economy that we’ve been working through, which has ensured that Australia has had one of the strongest economies in the world through this pandemic. By keeping taxes low and cutting red tape, by ensuring they’re investing in the skills and infrastructure and growing our workforce that a growing economy needs.

We’ve got unemployment down to 4.2%. We’ve got a million more women into work. Youth unemployment is now below 10% for the first time since 2008, and we’ve got our sights set on an unemployment rate with a three in front of it this year and we can achieve it because of the plan that we have put in place to take Australia through and our economy through this pandemic.

Updated

PM gives press conference at Richmond RAAF base

Scott Morrison has stepped up at the Richmond RAAF base. He thanks “all of those who have served and serve today”. He says “no government” has done more to lift defence spending than the current one.

Last year, I had the privilege to be in the UAE ... and meet with those who ... evacuated those out of Kabul and I thanked them because so many thousands of those who were liberated and evacuated at that time are now living in Australia safe with their families.

Our defence industry is an incredibly important part of our sovereign defence capability and no government, no government has done more to lift our defence spending than this government. We have restored our defence spending to above 2% of the size of our economy, having inherited it at its lowest point than we had seen since prior to the second world war.

Updated

Flood watch in place for parts of the NT

In Alice Springs, the Todd River is currently sitting at 2.57 metres at its peak.

Some areas of the NT have seen rainfall above 50mm in the last 24 hours, with a flood watch still in place for the south.

Updated

FYI, the prime minister is due to hold a press conference from Sydney in the coming half an hour or so. We’ll bring you the updates here.

Updated

A Sydney ophthalmologist who died of Covid earlier in the week has been remembered by the sector.

Dr Con Moshegov, a father of two, practised at George St Eye Centre in Sydney’s CBD with expertise in anterior segment conditions, particularly cataract and laser eye surgery.

The Australian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (AUSCRS) posted on its website paying tribute to Moshegov:

We are very sad to hear of the loss of Con Moshegov after a battle with Covid. Con was one of our regular AUSCRS family members and is remembered as one of the most genial and vibrant individuals one could hope to meet.

He contributed much to cataract and refractive surgery and we all vividly recall our conversations over the years. He will be sadly missed and we extend our thoughts and sympathies to his family.

Updated

Back in Melbourne, Det Insp Ben Jarman is set to hold an appeal for information following the incident at 2pm today.

Updated

Morrison is asked about the text messages calling him a “horrible person” again. He says Australians care more about jobs than gossip:

What people send as texts to each other, what does that mean for someone’s job or if their kid’s getting training or the cost of living? ...

What scuttlebutt goes around really doesn’t distract me, all you’ve got to do is look at someone’s Twitter feed and you can see more bile that comes through ... which is another problem.

As long as you keep focusing on the things that matter, that’s all Australians expect of us ... whether it’s stopping the boats ... with Anthony Albanese, what you see is not what you’re going to get ... what you see on the other side of the election is what you’re going to get ... the guy’s all over the shop.

Updated

Hadley continues:

The Newspoll was saying in 2019 you were going to get bashed up and it didn’t turn out that way.

Morrison vehemently agrees:

I know a lot of tradies listen to you, Ray. There are more apprentices in trade training than ... when records began in 1963.

... We increased the wage subsidies for them and I’ve spent the last two years meeting those apprentices ... and they’re still on the tools, they’re still in the jobs.

On economic security, you’ve got Josh Frydenberg or you’ve got sneaky Jim [Chalmers]. In defence you’ve got Peter Dutton ... and someone most people wouldn’t have heard of, Brendan O’Connor ... You vote Labor, you get Labor.

Updated

Morrison says the line of questioning at yesterday’s Press Club was “pretty brutal”, but it didn’t come as a surprise:

I’m happy to face the music, I’ve been doing it all throughout my political life ... it was pretty brutal yesterday but I thought it would be, frankly. If they’re prepared to provide the same blowtorch to Anthony Albanese then fair enough, that’s a matter for them.

The PM is up on 2GB with Ray Hadley now.

Hadley begins:

I don’t often feel sorry for people, I felt a bit sorry for you yesterday.

Updated

More from Peter van Onselen on those leaked text messages.

He has also confirmed they were sent during the time of the 2019/2020 bushfires.

Updated

There have been a total of 1,399 deaths in NSW over the course of the pandemic.

Updated

Some 61% of cases in Victoria in the past fortnight have been people in their 30s and under. We will see how the caseload changes with students returning to school.

Turning to Victoria, hospitalisations have declined for the seventh day in a row.

There are 83 fewer people in hospital with Covid-19 since yesterday, and seven fewer people requiring intensive care. Ventilation numbers are staying relatively stable at 31. But there have also been 25 deaths overnight.

Updated

It appears there has been an earthquake in Darwin following heavy rain and storms overnight.

We are still seeing a steady decline of hospitalisations in NSW. ICU patients are down 8.6%. But it comes with 27 deaths overnight.

Updated

Victoria records 25 Covid deaths

Victoria’s case numbers are also in. There have been 14,533 new Covid cases detected overnight from PCR and rapid antigen tests.

Sadly, there have been 25 deaths recorded overnight.

There are 768 people being treated in hospital with 99 people in ICU, including 31 requiring ventilation.

Updated

NSW records 27 Covid deaths

NSW case numbers are in.

There have been 11,807 new Covid cases reported overnight from PCR and RATs and, sadly, 27 more deaths.

There are 2,622 people being treated in hospital including 170 requiring intensive care.

Updated

Music manager Glenn Wheatley dies

If you missed it, Glenn Wheatley, who managed high-profile Australian artists including Little River Band, John Farnham and Delta Goodrem, has died aged 74, reportedly after being hospitalised with Covid-19.

Updated

On those leaked text messages:

“Not actually all the milk even comes from a cow any more.”

Updated

Grace Tame condemns 'civility for the sake of civility'

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has broken her silence on her frosty exchange with the PM at The Lodge – condemning “civility for the sake of civility”.

Updated

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has weighed in. This morning, acting employment minister Stuart Robert said border closures were only partially responsible for the low unemployment rates, and it had been accompanied by investment in training at “unprecedented levels”.

Updated

The Labor leader’s response to Scott Morrison’s assertion the unemployment rate will “have a three in front of it” by the middle of 2022:

He’s been chatting education this morning on Facebook live.

Updated

Speaking of which:

Scott Morrison is asked about those leaked text messages between a cabinet minister and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian put to him at the National Press Club that suggested he was, among other things, a “horrible person”.

Berejiklian said she didn’t have a recollection of the messages – again, not an outright denial.

Morrison’s response is to turn it on the questioner:

I can’t speak about it because I don’t know anything about it, Gladys doesn’t know anything about it and those that are raising it, well, frankly, there are a lot of questions being asked about them at the moment.

Updated

Scott Morrison is now up on AM.

He is asked why an $800 bonus for aged care workers has been lamented as “not enough” by many in the sector:

That is being dealt with by the Fair Work Commission ... we have a process for setting wages and that is being done ... it’s not the first time we did it, we did it earlier in the pandemic and the same union leaders criticising us now told us it was a very good initiative ... we’re providing that extra support to keep people there in the aged care facilities.

That help has been coming and it’ll continue to flow. It’s incredibly tough in the aged care sector during this pandemic ... I’m not disputing the fact it’s really tough for the aged care sector providers, it’s really tough for the staff ... where more can be done, we will be doing it ...

Pandemics are tough, they’re really tough, and they’ve been toughest on those working in our health sector and in aged care.

Updated

Asked why rapid antigen tests took so long to arrive in Australia, and remain in short supply, Scott Morrison said they were only approved for home use in early November:

Right throughout this pandemic it’s been put to me over and over again, are you following the health advice? Are you listening to the health advice? Health advice was that the TGA would need to approve ... and I am not criticising them at all, because rapid antigen tests are not as good as PCR tests. Because PCR tests are reliable and the Delta phase of the variants, the Delta phase, PCR tests was the best thing to do. Omicron changed all of that and no country in the world could avoid Omicron.

Updated

Scott Morrison: 'I am just normal white bread toast'

The PM is asked about the question he was unable to answer yesterday – the cost of basics like bread and petrol and, in this day and age, rapid antigen tests. Scott Morrison says he “didn’t hear” the question about RATs.

To be honest, I heard bread and milk on the question yesterday, it was a pretty robust and torrid time at the press club yesterday, I must admit I didn’t hear the question about RATs, that’s the honest truth. Didn’t hear it. It’s about $15 to $20 and they can be less than that ... if it gets above that they will be coming after those who are price gouging, so to be honest I didn’t hear that part of the question, I heard bread and milk and for the record, it depends which bread.

How many types of different milk, not actually all the milk even comes from a cow anymore ... there are so many different things that people have available but if it’s two, three bucks, you can get petrol from $1.60 to $1.80. That’s what it is. It’s one of those old things they do with the press club to make a bit of a headline.

Asked if he is a “sourdough or multigrain”, Morrison says:

I am just normal white bread toast. That’s me.

Updated

Meanwhile, Scott Morrison has appeared on Sunrise this morning after his National Press Club address yesterday afternoon.

He was immediately asked about those leaked texts between a cabinet minister and Gladys Berejiklian. Had he spoken to the former NSW premier?

No, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that but I appreciate what Gladys said yesterday in our own dealings with each other ... I think we work very positively and I think we work very well together as a premier and PM to do very great things from New South Wales in particular ... I can’t speak to the other things that are all anonymous and she doesn’t recollect it but it’s certainly not a conversation we have ever had.

People say nasty things about the prime minister all the time, they say nasty things about people in the media – just switch on social media. You will get yourself quite a giggle and I get one all the time. It goes with the job.

Updated

Patricia Karvelas asks Stuart Robert a question that stumped the prime minister yesterday afternoon – what’s the price of bread, milk and petrol?

Robert says he’s a “big french baguette guy” and the last time he filled up it was $1.69.

But with the amazing choice we have these days, there’s a lot of price disparity. Robert says his milk is around two bucks, but his children are into almond milk and beans – “I think it’s soy.”

Asked why Scott Morrison couldn’t answer the question, Robert says if the PM’s wife Jen was sitting with him “she’d be able to rattle off all the things they buy”.

Updated

Acting employment minister Stuart Robert is up on Radio National. He says “as a goal” the government wants to see the unemployment rate drop below 4% no later than the second half of this year.

We’re seeing a generation of skills coming through that we hadn’t seen for a long, long time ... this is something we are very committed on seeing happen because it just changes lives ...

The economy always throws up jobs that meet demands and needs ... the economy will move around, there will be a portion that are part time, there are a portion that are casual ... it’ll be right across the board.

Asked how vital the shut borders have been to low unemployment, Robert says:

No, the borders have been closed, so there’s been less visa holders, [but] there’s been a greater investment in training at unprecedented levels ... we’re seeing a great rate of economic activity ... huge investment in training and, of course, we’re seeing the borders being closed but they’re open now.

Updated

Good morning

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has responded to prime minister Scott Morrison’s National Press Club address, downplaying his confidence Australia’s unemployment rate would drop below 4% by next year.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the casualisation of the workforce had contributed to the low unemployment rate, which is now sitting at 4.2%. She said lowering unemployment rates didn’t necessarily translate to better pay or job security for workers.

This came after former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian released a statement in response to an explosive question at the address that she had called the PM a ‘horrible’ and untrustworthy person in leaked text messages. Berejiklian said she had “no recollection” of such messages – not an outright denial by any means.

Meanwhile, the government’s handling of Covid-19 in aged care will be put under the microscope when a parliamentary committee meets today. Aged care minister Richard Colbeck will be grilled by senators after large outbreaks at aged care facilities across the country, as well as shortages of rapid antigen tests and protective equipment for staff.

It was revealed last month that the minister said he was unable to attend a Covid-19 committee hearing on the same day he attended the Ashes Test match in Hobart.

And a supercell thunderstorm rolled through Brisbane and Logan yesterday afternoon, leaving tens of thousands of properties without power. Cleaning up continues in the area, with roofs ripped off some homes and reports of a tornado that briefly touched the region. More wild weather is expected today.

Caitlin Cassidy here to guide you through this morning’s news. There’ll no doubt be more fallout from the press club address, so let’s dive on in.

Updated

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