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Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk is at the XXXX brewery because it is law that the Queensland premier stand in front of the XXX sign wearing hi-vis at least once a year. Queensland has no new cases in the last 24 hours, but an old case has been added to its total of 1052 Covid cases. There are 18 active cases in Queensland. Anthony Albanese is campaigning in Eden-Monaro – he lays out what Labor’s main byelection line will be: I was say this to the people of Eden-Monaro. If you think the Government has been perfect, then you will make that decision. If you think the Government needs improvement, if you think they could have better prepared for the bushfires, if you think they could have dealt with the crisis while the bushfires were going better, if you think the recovery should have been better, then send them a message, send the Coalition government a message, because they, quite frankly, are taking the people of Eden-Monaro for granted. That’s why they’re engaging in all this self-indulgent behaviour. Victoria has recorded seven new cases in the last 24 hours. None have been come from Cedar Meats, although three previous tests have been linked back to the meat processing plants, so that cluster is now responsible for 88 infections. Still in the Covid committee, and Rex Patrick is asking about the denial of his FoI request – this is how he described it two weeks ago: In anticipation of the Senate COVID-19 Committee inquiry, Senator Patrick lodged a Freedom of Information request for the early briefings provided to Prime Minister Morrison on the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. “I was hopeful that the Department would release some useful information that would shed light on the Government’s early assessments and responses in January. A high level of transparency is essential if we are to learn all the lessons we can from the experience of this terrible pandemic.” However the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet has refused access to all of the requested briefings given to the Prime Minister at the beginning of the crisis. Patrick asks Phil Gaetjens if he can see the “hypocrisy” of denying the request while demanding China’s ruling party be transparent. Gaetjens says he does not see the hypocrisy. Peter Whish-Wilson is trying to find out what documents from the national cabinet will be made “cabinet in confidence” – he is talking specifically of any advice from the manufacturing taskforce in relation to gas regulation, it seems. The committee chair, Katy Gallagher, says he has run out of time. Whish-Wilson is not happy. Gallagher thanks him for the feedback: “It’s always welcome.” Whish-Wilson is appearing via video link so he is at a disadvantage. Fun fact, Michael Pezzullo, who heads up Home Affairs, also does not sit in on national cabinet. Even though he heas up the National Coordination Mechanism. Brendan Murphy seems to be the only first medical officer in the room – none of the other state or territory leaders take in their chief medical officers. The Liberal senator James Paterson (who has used his lockdown time to grow an iso-beard) asks the chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, about Kawasaki disease – a rare, potentially fatal, disease in children, which has been linked to a small number of children diagnosed with Covid-19 internationally. Murphy says there have been no cases linked to Covid in Australia but it is something they are watching, although he says the association between Covid and Kawasaki is not clear at this stage. When you have millions of the population infected, there are obviously more children and there does seem to be an association between an increased incidence of this condition and potentially covered positive children, it’s probably a reflection of probably in New York City, for example, they’re likely to be several thousand children infected because you’re dealing with potentially hundreds of thousands of people. So it’s it’s a very really rare association where it’s not clear. Kawasaki disease can be set off by other viral infections … We think that it’s it’s one of those rare things that is emerged because of this the huge burden of the infected load. In those countries, it may appear in other countries with large, very large volumes of infected people, but because it’s so rare, it’s unlikely to be seen in Australia. But we’ll obviously, we’ve got alerts on us and we’re clearly watching it. It’s Kopika’s fifth birthday. It’s the third birthday she has spent in detention, along with her family, after they were taken from Biolela. She is now with her family in the Christmas Island detention centre. So far, questioning of PM&C head Phil Gaetjens is around who attends national cabinet, in terms of public servants. Greg Hunt does not sit on the national cabinet (which we knew, given he has held press conferences, while national cabinet was being held) Labor’s Katy Gallagher and Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick will ask the Senate today to schedule Senate estimates in the week from 15 to 19 June. If the motion is successful, Senate estimates committees will hear: On 15 June and 16 June from the environment and communications, finance and public administration, legal and constitutional affairs, and rural and regional affairs and transport portfolios On 17 and 18 June from the community affairs, economics, education and employment, and foreign affairs, defence and trade portfolios On 19 June from the Indigenous matters and on Murray-Darling basin plan portfolios The Senate select committee on Covid-19 hearing has begun – the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary, Phil Gaetjens, is up first. He is reading his opening statement, which is a recap of what has been done so far. “This crisis will be a marathon not a sprint,” Gaetjens said of his message to Australia’s public servants. Australia’s biggest bank, the Commonwealth Bank, has set aside an additional $1.5bn for loans that go bad due to the coronavirus crisis. In a quarterly trading update out this morning, its chief executive, Matt Comyn, said despite the pandemic the bank had performed well in the three months to the end of March, making a profit of $1.3bn. The bank is the last of the big-four banks to report on the impact of the virus on its business, and its provisions bring to a total of $5.8bn the amount the group – CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ – expects to suffer in bad loans due to the crisis. Comyn said: Today’s announcement of an additional credit provision of $1.5bn for the potential longer-term impacts of Covid-19 further reinforces our already strong provisioning and balance sheet settings. The strength and resilience of the bank remained evident through the March quarter. Our people have continued to serve our customers diligently and professionally under challenging circumstances.