Health minister Greg Hunt has told Sky this morning that he expects the AFL to be back “pretty soon”, after the Herald Sun reported this morning that the league was aiming for a return on 11 June. “I want to see community sport back, the AFL back, the NRL back, netball back,” Hunt said. “The AFL ... they have worked incredibly well in laying out a pathway, consulting with the players, consulting with the health authorities. “[AFL chief executive] Gill McLachlan said to me: ‘We will not proceed unless we have the clear indication that it is safe and it has the endorsement and support of the medical officers. “I think we will have the footy back pretty soon. I’ll leave the dates to the particular states that are reviewing the plans.” The Victorian government is set to announce an easing of some restrictions on smaller gatherings tomorrow, which could allow AFL teams to train in slightly larger groups than the two they are currently allowed. The Herald Sun reports that the league could resume with a blockbuster Thursday night clash between Collingwood and either Richmond or Melbourne on 11 June. South Australian premier Steven Marshall has also suggested AFL matches could be played in Adelaide when the season resumes. The two SA clubs – Adelaide and Port Adelaide – have been preparing to play matches interstate because of SA’s tight border controls and quarantine protocols. Western Australian clubs Fremantle and West Coast are facing the same situation. But Marshall is hopeful the SA government will be able to limit the rate of Covid-19 infections and ease restrictions by next month. “I think they are getting towards the end of their focus on this issue and I think they’ll be giving some clear direction to the AFL really soon,” Marshall told Sky Sunday Agenda. “It would be great to see the Adelaide Oval up and running again. It really depends on when games resume and what the level of community transmissions and new cases are in those other states. “If it was up and running today, then I think South Australian teams would be playing those first games interstate. If it happens later, community transmissions come down, it could be a different model.” 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. As parliament returns this week, we will be seeing increasing focus on whether the prime minister’s timeframe for the economic “snapback” is realistic. It was a point made by Labor’s industrial relations spokesman, Tony Burke, on Insiders this morning. Linda Burney, the shadow minister for families and social services, has issued a statement warning a sudden reduction in unemployment benefits in September would be “a recipe for disaster”. Burney is calling on the government to seek and release any modelling on the economic impact of “snapping back” the Coronavirus Supplement - the temporary payment that effectively doubles the jobseeker allowance. Burney said switching the jobseeker payment back to $40 per day in September could be the equivalent of “ripping almost $1bn a fortnight from household budgets” and would have a significant impact on the Australian economy. She said the government needed to explain “whether the nation is now edging closer to another economic cliff in the form of the prime minister’s promised jobseeker snapback”. “If the prime minister wants to snap back jobseeker, he should be upfront with Australian workers and Australian businesses as to its consequences.” When asked on Friday to give certainty to the millions of Australians receiving jobseeker and jobkeeper payments, Scott Morrison told reporters he wanted them “to be back in their jobs where they don’t need it” and “that’s what we’re aiming towards”. Burke confirms Labor will seek to challenge changes to IR laws made by the government in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. Last month the government changed the time required for employers to consult over changes to pay and conditions from seven days to just 24 hours. The change is only supposed to be in place for six months. With parliament returning this week, Burke says Labor will try to “disallow” the change in the Senate. I hope, procedurally, we’ll be able to get to that point this week in the Senate. There’s a few Senate procedural issues that that hinges on. But ultimately, this is a really dangerous change the government’s made, and it flies in the face of the cooperation that the union movement has been showing the government during this period. David Speers asks Burke if Labor believes the jobseeker and jobkeeper programs should be extended beyond September, when they are due to expire. Burke says he doesn’t believe “the hard deadlines that are there right now are going to be able to continue”. Unless you want people to suddenly be able to not pay their bills, unless you want people to suddenly vacate the premises where they live and handing back the keys to homes that they’ve mortgaged, then the government is going to have to look at extending this. Think of the alternative, and I don’t think that that is what we want Australia to look like in a few months. I certainly don’t believe the hard deadlines that are there right now are going to be able to continue. So there are some people who missed out the whole way through where this needs to be extended right now. Whether it be casuals, whether it be arts and entertainment. Burke is also taking aim at the government for calling for people to stay home from work even if they have only very minor symptoms. The government has said people like labour hire and gig economy workers can apply for two weeks of the Jobseeker payment – called the sickness allowance – to cover illness, but Burke says it will be too difficult to access. The government, when they say jobseeker is available, there are two problems with that. The first is that it is not available for everybody. And for example, if you’re a worker who is not eligible, maybe because of visa status, maybe because of your age, then it’s not just whether or not we want that person to be paid. We actually don’t want that person doing anything other than isolating. And if they’re in a real-world situation of ‘I’ll lose all my money’, I think we know what they’ll do. And the people who are eligible for jobseeker – I’m not sure that it passes the pub test where you can go down to Centrelink, register and wait for a long period, and eventually you’ll be reimbursed. If at the end point, people aren’t going to do that and think that they’ve only got a niggle in the throat and maybe they should go to work, it’s not simply a sick leave issue. It’s actually a public health issue. Tony Burke, Labor’s opposition spokesman on industrial relations and the arts, is being interviewed on the ABC’s Insiders. He wants the Morrison government to release guidelines for workplaces to practice Covid-safe practices if and when more people begin returning to work, and says there should be penalties for employers who breach those guidelines. “If you’re putting people’s health and safety at risk, there should be penalties attached to that,” Burke said. While most states, including New South Wales, have already loosened some restrictions, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been the most cautious in relaxing lockdown restrictions. But the Herald Sun is reporting that the Victorian premier will announce a loosening on the reigns tomorrow, with schools to resume in two weeks and groups of up to 10 to be allowed to gather indoors and outdoors. The Herald Sun is also reporting the AFL is aiming to return to the field by the middle of June. My colleague Naaman Zhou has been (virtually) sitting in the inquiry into the Ruby Princess fiasco this week, and has put together this step-by-step walk-through of how exactly the cruise ship came to dock and disembark in Sydney. Federal health minister Greg Hunt has confirmed the Australian government will back a European Union motion for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in China. The government has been calling for an inquiry for some weeks. Foreign affairs minister Marise Payne first flagged the need for an inquiry to be run at arms length from the World Health Organisation. It’s sparked a harsh response from China, Australia’s number one trading partner. “We support the EU motion which includes an independent investigation, regulatory work on wet markets and also the potential for independent inspection powers,” Hunt told Sky News this morning. Let’s keep going around the grounds to Queensland, where you’ll have no excuse not to visit your mum on Mother’s Day (sorry I haven’t called yet Mum, if you’re reading). From today up to five people from the same home are allowed to visit another household, with schools resuming as normal on Monday. Personal training sessions, retail shopping, weddings with up to 10 people and funerals of up to 20 inside or 30 outside are now also allowed in the sunshine state. Restaurants, libraries, pools and beauty salons can also reopen, with open house inspections and auctions allowed to proceed. Bars and gaming facilities will remain closed for now, but up to 10 people at a time can dine in at restaurants, pubs, licensed clubs, RSL clubs and hotels. Recreational travel for day trips up to 150km from home will be allowed. In the outback, where there have been no Covid-19 cases, people can travel up to 500km from home and up to 20 locals will be allowed to dine in pubs and cafes. We also expect Western Australian premier Mark McGowan to outline the easing of some restrictions later today. McGowan has hinted that he’ll focus on changes that will stimulate the state’s economy, though last week he seemed to indicate there were no plans to lift WA’s border closure. WA Health minister Roger Cook has cautioned any changes would be just the “beginning of a long journey”. “It won’t be a shortcut,” Cook said. “We will look at what we can do to ease restrictions in order to reopen the economy,” he said. No new virus cases were reported in WA on Saturday, leaving the state’s total number of confirmed cases at 552. Only seven cases remain active, with four people in hospital and one of those in intensive care. The state government has also announced a multimillion dollar fund to help boost research into Covid-19 and to ramp up its testing regime. The government will allocate $6m with similar cash coming from the private sector. NSW to ease restrictions Good morning, Welcome to Guardian Australia’s live coverage of all things Covid-19. Some big news in New South Wales this morning. The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has revealed that the state will begin unrolling some restrictions from Friday. The changes are all in line with the stage one “road map” outlined by the prime minister Scott Morrison on Friday. The changes, which Berejiklian is expected to formally announce at a press conference in Sydney later this morning, include allowing cafes and restaurants to reopen for up to 10 patrons and easing the restrictions on the number of people able to visit another person’s home from two to five. The changes will also mean 10 people can gather together outdoors. Children’s playgrounds will also reopen, as will outdoor gyms and pools with some restrictions. Religious gatherings will be allowed to host up to 10 people, as will weddings. Funerals can have up to 20 mourners indoors and 30 outdoors. The ban on regional travel will remain however, and libraries and community centres will remain closed.