In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. In sports news, overnight the Albury council voted against Melbourne Storm using their facilities. The NRL team relocated up to the NSW border town after they were refused permission to practise in Victoria. A little more from Charmers JobKeeper has the capacity to do aheap of good in our workforce and in our broader community as well.... but the confusion around it, the poor communication, the fumbled implementation, the exemptions from theJobKeeper payments, means so many more Australians will join the unemployment queue as a consequence of these decisions than is necessary. So when unemployment spikes in the next little while, and it will, Australians need to know that that unemployment rate is higher than it needed to be because of the way the Government has gone around this. The federal shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has criticised Josh Frydenberg’s management of the jobkeeper program. Jobkeeper is a good idea, being badly implemented, badly communicated, and too many workers are left out and left behind ... When the treasurer says that this program is coming in under budget, what he really means is that it is too hard for too many businesses and too many workers to access the scheme itself. The federal minister for agriculture, David Littleproud, is speaking now. He is advocating for an additional levy on all Australian dairy products, similar to those now imposed on milk, to support farmers. We’ve lost over 500 dairy farmers in the last 12 months. There is considerable structural reform that needs to take place within the dairy market ... Australians need to understand that dairy farmers don’t get that full 10 cents. They’re only getting a small portion of that ... Some of it goes into butter and cheese and yoghurt and some of the branded milk doesn’t also have that levy. So we asked the supermarkets to work with processors to ensure there is a better mechanism to get more back to the dairy farm gate to help dairy farmers survive through the drought, the fire and now Covid-19. The numbers so far So here is what we know about the new Covid-19 cases across the country. Victoria – 17, including four connected to Cedar Meat NSW – nine, with five still under investigation Tasmania – two, including one health care worker Queensland – zero Two new Covid-19 cases in Tasmania Tasmania’s health minister, Sarah Courtney, said two more people had been diagnosed with Covid-19 overnight. One patient was a direct contact of an existing case and the other a healthcare worker from Launceston general hospital. Courtney said that person had not been at work for nearly a fortnight. We had said before that it wasn’t going to be unexpected if we got further cases and, while it is always hopeful that we won’t, we need to be mindful that this disease does exist in Tasmania. Tasmanians need to be vigilant. And to that end, I’d like to remind Tasmanians how important it is to be aware of your symptoms. Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, has confirmed that the state has recorded 17 additional Covid-19 cases overnight. Of these, four are linked to the Cedar Meats outbreak, taking the total for that cluster to 49. Seven of today’s cases are overseas travellers in mandatory quarantine. Six remain under investigation. So we’ve had no new deaths reported overnight. There are now eight people with coronavirus in hospital in Victoria, six in intensive care. More than 10,000 tests were conducted in the state yesterday. Inquiries into the Ruby Princess cruise ship continue today. Yesterday it was revealed that a senior doctor onboard told a NSW Health employee that “we just have to stop all cruise ships” from as early as 8 March. My colleague Naaman Zhou is back on deck covering the inquiries today. Victoria’s opposition leader has taken to Twitter with a fairly searing condemnation of the state’s handling of the Cedar Meats cluster. Victoria reports 17 new cases of Covid-19 The ABC is reporting that there are 17 new cases in Victoria today. Four of them have come from the Cedar Meats cluster. The rest are from people in hotel quarantine or are still under investigation. More information to come on this one.