AAP has more on the Victorian spike in Covid cases: Victoria has recorded 21 new cases of coronavirus, the biggest increase in more than a month. Health Minister Jenny Mikakos on Wednesday announced the state’s infection tally had increased to 1762. Of the 21 new cases, 15 are returned travellers in mandatory hotel quarantine. Ms Mikakos said two of the remaining six new cases have been linked to known outbreaks while the others were detected through routine testing. A staff worker from Stamford Plaza Hotel, which houses returned travellers, became infected with COVID-19. Another positive test from a resident at aged care centre Rosstown Community in Carnegie has put the centre into lockdown. The 53-bed facility run by Glen Eira council will have to undergo deep cleaning and contact tracing Meanwhile, a childcare worker has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the closure of the Melbourne centre. A health department spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed a staff member from Inspira Early Learning Centre in Gladstone Park had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The worker attended the centre while infectious for two days last week and families have been notified, while the centre has been closed for cleaning and contact tracing for at least a day. The new confirmed case follows the closure of a third Victorian school this week, after a child tested positive to coronavirus. The student at Strathmore Primary School was one of nine new COVID-19 cases recorded in Victoria on Tuesday. The primary school was expected to remain closed for 24 hours on Tuesday while it was deep cleaned and close contacts were traced. Pakenham Springs Primary School and St Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows were closed on Monday after two students at each school tested positive. The four students are part of an extended family cluster that increased by one more case on Tuesday. A total of 12 people in the family have now contracted coronavirus after attending gatherings across homes in Broadmeadows, Coburg and Pakenham. Queensland has recorded one new case of the coronavirus, but the woman who tested positive has been quarantining in a hotel since her return from overseas travel. Stadiums will be able to hold 2000 people from this weekend, which should just cover all the Suns fans. The Victorian press conference has moved on to the South Australian decision to allow people from WA, Tas and the NT into SA (and maybe Queensland from early next week) but not Victoria or NSW. This moves the presser into some very Melbourne v Adelaide areas. Daniel Andrews: I don’t want to be offensive to South Australians but why would you want to go there? Holiday here. The best experiences in our nation are right here in Victoria. Go skiing, go to the wine country, go to the beach, whatever it might be. Victorians I think will be very keen to be close to home this weekend. It will be good for jobs, particularly a shout out to bushfire affected communities. Whether it be in a high country or the far East of the state and if you are in a position to get away, even if it only a few days, stay-at-home, don’t get too stressed they won’t let you into Adelaide, why would you want to stay there? For those who have family in SA, Andrews says: They will have to speak to the South Australian government was up I can’t control that. What I can say is we have the virus presenting differently here, we are taking steps. It is terrific news for them that they have it under control but we are a different place at the virus has presented differently here and we will only do things that are safe. And I am sure that the South Australian government are absolutely motivated by the same things. If they are taking a cautious approach, as we are, I am not going to criticise that. I’m just making the point that the best July school holidays is right here. Leadership is broken. From the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality to the marginalisation of minority communities around the world, our leaders are failing us. Self-serving and divisive, they are gambling with public health and the future of younger generations. We have to make them raise their game. This is what the Guardian is for. As an open, independent news organisation we investigate, interrogate and expose the incompetence and indifference of those in power. Your support helps us produce quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism every day - and publish it free so everyone can read. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. For those looking for international Covid-19 coverage, you will find it covered off, here Back to Daniel Andrews, who is being asked about ministerial staff who are alleged to have been involved in party business for the ministers in question: I’ve made my expectations clear. No minister is in any doubt about what I require of them. It would be easy for me to reflect upon the conduct of the staff members you have just mentioned, in former ministers’ officers. I know you would like me to do that and I might even like to do that, I might even quite like to do that. But it would not be appropriate for me to do that because as you know, these matters are currently the subject of work that is being done by IBAC and Victoria Police and I just will not cut across that, lest anything I say be seen as interference or anything I say might limit or put at risk the proper processes that those organisations are following. Yesterday we brought you the story of how campaigners and legal advocates are warning that Australia’s efforts to tackle modern slavery are at risk of being thrown off course because the government’s newly appointed expert panel is dominated by business interests. The expert advisory group’s purpose, according to assistant minister Jason Wood, is to “provide strategic advice to government to support the effective implementation of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and drive best-practice responses to eradicate exploitation in our supply chains”. But Michele O’Neil, the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, told us yesterday the advisory group was “incomplete and ill-informed without workers’ voices at the table”. Keren Adams, a legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, also voiced concerns about “the total absence of representation by either trade unions or civil society organisations but really any organisations that are working on the ground with people who are meant to be affected by these laws”. Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, raised the issue during the Senate’s matter of public importance debate late yesterday and has also written to the government to call for a broadening of the membership. We can now bring you a response from the Australian Border Force. An ABF spokesperson said the government wanted to ensure the Modern Slavery Act drove “long-term change” and so “feedback from businesses required to comply with the Act is vitally important”. But the spokesperson argued the advisory group complemented the work of the government’s existing national roundtable on human trafficking and slavery, which began in 2008 and includes many civil society groups and non-government organisations and the ACTU. Why are branch members suspended from voting on candidates until at least 2023? Daniel Andrews: Well, in my judgement, cleaning this up will take some time. And you have got to break the business model of those who would seek to undermine the integrity of our systems. And if we just have a pause for a few months, then I can’t be guaranteed, we can’t be guaranteed, that we will get the profound reform we need. How will Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin work out who the actual members of the ALP in Victoria are? Daniel Andrews: Those matters are to be determined by the administrators. They have a charter, a very clear set of dates they have to work too. I’m not going to prejudge that. What I will say is, it would be unacceptable to me to get to a position where we were not, where we didn’t have processes that, for instance, require people to essentially re- sign up to attend in person, to pay by traceable means, to reconfirm their commitment so that they know they are members of the party, they are willing participants in this process, they are genuine, if you like, and that they are self-funded stop at the very least, that is the process we are going to work towards. We are going to deliver that. As for some of these other matters, I am not going to prejudge the work those administrators will do. They will be conscious to make a number of difficult calls and to get that balance right. At the very least, you can assume that the National executive will make a whole range of decisions that would otherwise have been made, for instance, by the state conference of the Victorian branch. On the criticism that democracy has been taken away from members of the ALP, Daniel Andrews says: I make the point - and some will say that this is not a democratic initiative, well, there’s no democracy if you can’t have faith and trust in the voter’s role. And I’ve come to the conclusion that that’s the position we’re in. I won’t settle for that. We need to clean this up and we will. Dan Andrews then apologised to Labor members: I’ve got a message for all of those true believers, those genuine hard-working local branch members, who hand out how-to-vote cards, who make phone calls, who knock on doors, who debate policy – I thank you for your work and your passion. I apologise for your pain. And I guarantee you that when this reform work is finished, not only will your voice be heard, but it will be louder than it has ever been. These matters need to be dealt with. This is the plan to do it. Jenny Macklin and Steve Bracks are the people to lead that work and I wasn’t debating with people whether we took these steps. These were my requirements and they have been unanimously endorsed by the national executive. As reported, each Victorian member of the ALP will have to show they are genuine: We have got to go through a process where each and every rank-and-file member re-establishes that they are genuine, consenting and self-funded members of our great party. The processes, the detail of how that will be achieved is a matter in the first instance for Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin. And I want to make it clear to you that I don’t think there could be two better people to do that important work. They are outstanding Victorians and I ask them to do this work and I’m grateful that they agreed and that the national executive has unanimously appointed them into those administration roles. They won’t waste any time doing their important work. They will begin work and have recommendations and further detail about that pathway to integrity in our internal processes and confidence in the efficacy of our membership lists and our members. Daniel Andrews holds press conference The Victorian premier is speaking about the national executive takeover: Our values are very clear and that is to work hard to deliver progressive change, to provide the services, the supports, the policies that working men and women right across our state rely upon every single day, to look after those who are disadvantaged, to get on and deliver the agenda that we took to the community and to make sure that we keep Victoria strong and safe, even in the most difficult of times. I won’t have that agenda diminished. I will not have our work distracted from. I will take the action that is necessary to deal with these issues, and that is why yesterday I put to the National Executive of our party a detailed plan, an unprecedented plan, to re-establish the probity and integrity of membership in the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. I am pleased to say that that plan, unprecedented as it is, was unanimously supported by the National Executive of the party. Because this seems an actual thing people are talking about - here is an Egyptologist. Not everything you see in movies is real. Victoria records 21 new Covid cases Victorian health authorities have an update on that state’s Covid situation. 15 of those people are in hotel quarantine. Another works at a hotel. This seems an incredibly stupid take from someone who is actually quite smart.