Speaking of Queensland, Bob Katter wants to call off the Queensland bid for the 2032 Olympics “as it’s a waste of money and resources while the economy tanks from the Coronavirus and thousands try to survive without work” If it was a stupid idea to sink Billions into a Brisbane Olympic games before Covid-19, then it is infinitely more stupid now.” Should we spend the next decade restarting a manufacturing sector, commencing nation building infrastructure and getting Australians back to work? Or should we spend the next ten years preparing for a two week sporting event?” The strange capitalisation of billions, is his own. Just to be clear, NSW may be opening up for travel from 1 June, but Queensland is still saying no. Victoria also didn’t close its borders, but it still has physical distance restrictions in place, so you need a reason to travel in Victoria and holidays, at this point, isn’t one of them. Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young told the state’s tourism industry to aim for September, but warned that was not a guaranteed either: The very, very earliest, and only if everything went absolutely perfectly, we might be able to think about opening up our border in July,” she said. If the tourism industry wants a more realistic scenario they should be preparing for September.” ...Having said that, I can’t even commit that September will be possible. It depends what happens between now and then.” Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are all saying the same thing. But it is only Queensland which is getting heat for it. It’s almost like there is a state election around the corner. It’s been an awful 24 hours in Brazil. The country still doesn’t have a health minister, after the previous one resigned one month ago. 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. Dr Jeannette Young says the border closures were necessary to protect the state’s population, and people need to remember that the coronavirus is different to other pandemics the world has seen, given it is contagious and potentially fatal. She says that means the border closures will be assessed but she won’t be rushing to advise the government to reopen them: This is a really new way of managing a pandemic, so I was here in 2009 managing the swine flu pandemic, and that was totally different. We did not have the testing capacity back then. We did not have the ability to quarantine. Our borders remained open. There were so many different variables. We’ve got totally different levers to protect Queensland today, and that’s a very, very good thing, because this is a very different pandemic to a flu pandemic. We know the mortality is higher. We know the consequences are worse. So it’s a good thing we’ve got all these extra levers. But there are a couple of things that will protect Queensland. The first is the testing capacity. The second is our ability to contact-trace. We have got enormous resources in this state to contact-trace. And please, could everyone download that Covidsafe app? Because that’s another tool that we now have that technology has given us that we didn’t have back in 2009, and we need to use it. But it will only be effective if the vast majority of people download it. It will help. Every single person who downloads it helps, but it will be most effective if the majority of people do it. The Queensland chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, is also holding firm in her advice that Queensland maintain its border closures: I believe one of the things that has protected Queenslanders the most, as we’ve been managing our response to Covid-19, is the closure of the international border, and the requirement that anyone coming from overseas goes into 14 days’ quarantine. That has been absolutely critical. Then, when we started to see increased cases coming across the border from, in the main, New South Wales and Victoria, closing our border to those two states was incredibly important. We have not seen, since that decision was made, any further cases here in Queensland due to people from New South Wales or Victoria coming into Queensland, which is good. But we need to hold firm, and we need to manage our domestic borders very, very carefully. I know - I see the exemption requests every single day from people who live in other states who want to come to Queensland and, whenever there are compassionate reasons – a relative is dying or there’s an awful situation – of course I grant those exemptions, and people come and they’ve been very good at quarantining here in Queensland. We need to remain firm, and make sure that we manage our borders as we go forward, because Queenslanders have done a fantastic job. All the 77 residents in the Rockhampton aged care home where a worker tested positive for Covid-19 have been tested for the virus – and all have returned negative results. As have all the employees. The residents have been moved into private rooms as a precaution. Woman develops symptoms and returns positive Covid-19 result two months after returning from travel In Queensland, the chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, says a Brisbane woman has been diagnosed with Covid-19 after developing symptoms two months after returning from overseas travel: So one new case confirmed overnight in Queensland – a lady in her 70s, who lives in Metro North. She returned from India via Singapore two months ago and has now tested positive after developing some mild respiratory symptoms. At this stage, we’re not sure whether that is a persistent case, or whether she’s acquired it here. We think it most likely that she acquired the case in India, but we’ll now have to do a lot of work to work through that, some additional testing and also we’ll have to talk to her and look at contact-tracing. So all that work has started. Yesterday, Simon Birmingham said it was for others to determine if the Chinese government decision to level the tariffs was in retaliation to Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins and first response to the coronavirus pandemic. He can do that – acknowledge it at least – because he is a more senior minister. David Littleproud, is still holding on to the “totally unrelated” line. David Koch: Right. OK. Well, we’ve angered the Chinese with some pretty blunt remarks in the past. You said yesterday we shouldn’t read it to the fact that the barley tariffs have come at the same time as the increased diplomatic tensions with China over coronavirus. Do you honestly, hand on heart, scout’s honour, believe they’re unrelated? Littleproud: Yeah, Kochie. I do. Koch: Really? Littleproud: I mean this has been in place for 18 months. And in fact, we extended this a further six months and that was the extent to which we could extend it. The juncture at the point in time has come at a critical point in terms of Covid-19, we respect that, but I think to speculate outside of that is dangerous. We’ve got to keep to the course and look at each one of these cases on an individual basis. And you alluded to the beef situation, those four abattoirs. Let me just put into perspective, one of those abattoirs is in fact partially Chinese owned, so they’ve imposed this temporary ban on one of their own companies here in Australia. So I think we just need to take a calm look at these and look at them individually and make determinations from that. Australia to wait 60 days before appealing China barley decision at the WTO David Littleproud was on the morning interview circuit again this morning. He said Australia would keep working with Beijing, using the 60-day time period nations have to try and appeal decisions such as the one China has imposed to place an 80% tariff on Australian barley, at a local level, before heading to the World Trade Organisation. This is what he told the Seven Network: We are working within Beijing at the moment. I have agricultural councillors and trade officials from Simon Birmingham’s office in Beijing working with officials now. So we’ll work constructively through a set process and it’s important to respect that process. We’re fair traders, we’re a fair nation within the global community and it’s important we live up to responsibilities, we’ll stick to the process. But that’s only 60 days and then once that’s completed, we’ll make a determination at the WTO. Qantas CEO defends decision not to enforce social distancing on flights Matilda Boseley Qantas CEO Alan Joyce spoke on ABC radio this morning, confirming the airline would turn people away from flights if they are displaying symptoms of Covid-19. “If you are not feeling well you wake up for your flight there will be no cost of changing your ticket and we will be asking people to do that,” he said. Joyce defended the airline’s decision not to enforce social distancing onboard its flights. Other airlines have opted to leave middle seats in economy class free to allow space between travellers, but Joyce said this wasn’t being considered. “This idea of the middle seat and the middle seat taking around isn’t social distancing. It’s a 60cm difference between two people. To get the full metre squared, you will end up with 22 people on an aircraft of 180 seats and the airfares are nine to 10 times as much.” However, epidemiologist has slammed the decision not to make mask wear compulsory, saying it “fails the test of logic”. You can read the full report below. [continued from previous post] The statement continued: The number of women in Australia who have died at the hands of a current or former partner persists without any significant reduction since 2010. A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare noted that one in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous partner since the age of 15. One woman was killed every nine days and one man every 29 days by a partner between 2014-15 and 2015-16. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed additional dangers for the victims of domestic violence, with a dramatic increase in demand for services. Eleven women have been killed in domestic violence incidents since lockdown was implemented in early March. The Law Council has welcomed the government’s announcement of $20 million earmarked to support people affected by domestic violence as well the Help is Here campaign, and the rolling out of extra measures to ensure people experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence know where to get help during the coronavirus pandemic. But a valuable opportunity to examine and improve the programs that are working well to support and protect the vulnerable members of society, has been lost. Chronic underfunding of the family law system by successive governments over many years, continues to leave vulnerable families in crisis. The Law Council of Australia has been absolutely scathing in its assessment of a bipartisan Senate committee inquiry into domestic violence in Australia. Before the pandemic hit, the deaths of Hannah Clarke with her three children, Trey, Aaliyah and Laianah in February brought the nation to a standstill. The parliament responded with another committee – there have been many, many inquiries over the years into domestic violence in Australia, but this one was supposed to carry all that work forward. The Law Council president, Pauline Wright, says it failed: The Law Council of Australia is appalled at the lack of commitment shown by the majority report of the bipartisan Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee in tackling domestic violence. The release of the committee’s majority report Inquiry into domestic violence with particular regard to violence against women and their children represents a sad failure of regard for the lives of those Australians lost to domestic violence, and those who will be in danger in the future. The Law Council commends senator Rex Patrick on the substance of his dissenting report and for calling out the failings of the committee in meeting its responsibilities, both as a committee of the parliament and to the people of Australia. The majority report was delivered three months ahead of schedule, without the committee accepting submissions or holding public hearings. As a result, the report amounts to little more than a literature review, posing a number of obvious and often stated questions. This demonstrates a lack of commitment by decision-makers to address a serious community problem and a significant cause of death in Australia. NSW reports four new Covid-19 cases NSW reported four new cases of coronavirus from more than 7,000 tests in the last 24 hours. All four people who were diagnosed with Covid had recently returned from overseas travel and were in quarantine. NSW never closed its borders (neither did Victoria) unlike the rest of the nation. But it did restrict travel within the state. That was loosened, slightly, when the definition of care allowed for travel to a family or friend’s house. The 1 June announcement now means you don’t need a reason to travel throughout the state, and can once again, book a holiday spot. It might just take a little more planning: Gladys Berejiklian: So whilst it’s good news, please treat the good news with caution, be extra organised, plan ahead, book ahead, do things online, as far as possible, make sure that you are – you keep your family safe and those around you safe. Whilst it’s great news for people across the state, and of course, New South Wales is always open to welcome people from other states. We intend to keep our borders open. We think that’s best for New South Wales but also best for Australia. We’ll play our part as the largest state, traditionally the economic powerhouse of the nation, to make sure we engage as much economic activity as possible. We don’t want to see job numbers to crash as they did in April. We want people to be realistic, a Covid-safe environment will look and feel very different.