The day that was, Monday 31 January
That’s where we will leave the live blog for today. Here’s some of what made the news:
- There were 91,289 vaccine doses administered in Australia on Sunday, with 49.6m administered in total.
- More than 95% of people aged 16 and over have had at least one dose, and 93.3% are double vaccinated. A total of 7.7m adults have received more than two doses, with 65,620 being administered on Sunday.
- There were 33,869 new cases reported on Monday: 13,026 in NSW, 10,053 in Victoria, 7462 in Queensland, 1,505 in South Australia, 537 in the ACT, 504 in Tasmania, 760 in the Northern Territory and 22 in Western Australia.
- The death toll is 3,760, up 44 on the previous day: NSW 1,393 (+27), Victoria 1,996 (+ eight), Queensland 199 (+ three), South Australia 117 (+ six), ACT 26, NT two, Tasmania 18 and WA nine.
- Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has said the government’s slump in Newspoll (44-56) sends a message that people are still doing it tough during Covid-19, while NSW treasurer Matt Kean says small business will be very disappointed that the federal government declined to partly fund a support package for small businesses.
- The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, returned a negative Covid-19 test after she was deemed a close contact of a positive case.
- Country Liberals senator, Sam McMahon, confirmed she resigned from the party on Friday.
- Queensland has announced that Tony Fitzgerald will lead a six-month inquiry into the state’s corruption body.
- The HMAS Adelaide, currently assisting with recovery operations in Tonga, has suffered a power outage, however Defence says back-up power is on for critical systems and it has not disrupted the recovery effort.
We will be back with you again tomorrow.
Updated
Aged care workers will receive two pre-election bonus payments worth up to $800, as the government seeks to claw back public support for its troubled pandemic response.
Ahead of a major speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has announced that the bonus will be paid to more than 230,000 aged care workers in government-subsidised home care and to residential aged care staff providing “direct care, food or cleaning services”.
The first payment will be made this month, and the second in early May. The latest date the election can be held is 21 May.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal president Justice David Thomas has resigned from the role, AAP reports.
Thomas was appointed president of the tribunal and a judge of the federal court of Australia in June 2017.
He will remain as a judge of the federal court.
Attorney general Michaelia Cash said Thomas, who has been on leave, had provided strong leadership at the tribunal.
Federal court judges Susan Kenny and Berna Collier will act as AAT president.
The tribunal has not been without controversy in recent years, with claims Coalition-appointed members had been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars despite failing case finalisation benchmarks.
There have also been concerns about conflicts of interest not properly being disclosed.
The AAT provides independent merits review of a wide range of administrative decisions made by the federal government.
Updated
