Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

Australia politics news live updates: calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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Australia politics news live updates: calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

12.57am GMT 00:57 New guidelines here – hopefully will help families see their loved ones: Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) [NEWS] New visitation guidelines for aged care residents. Senior Australians in residential aged care will have greater access to visitors and reduced lockdowns under new visitation guidelines response to the pandemic. Read more at: … Read more

Australia live news update: nearly identical return-to-school plans for NSW and Victoria; no rapid tests for Qld students; 58 Covid deaths recorded

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Today the government has announced its return-to-schools plan. It has announced a number of measures, a number of risk mitigation strategies. We will clearly be monitoring the implementation of those measures and importantly the effectiveness of those measures with a view to seeking urgent adjustments and improvements should they be required in order to offer … Read more

Australia live news update: NSW bans singing and dancing in venues and suspends elective surgery; Coalition defends Djokovic visa decision

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Some more details from that Victorian press conference first: The Victorian government says it hasn’t seen correspondence between the federal government and Tennis Australia that stipulated Novak Djokovic would not be allowed to enter the country if he did not meet Atagi criteria. Since the tennis star landed in Australia on Wednesday night the federal … Read more

Australia Covid news live update: millions more Australians eligible for boosters; Morrison warned about rapid test shortage months ago

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9.45pm GMT 21:45 Brett Holmes is the General Secretary at NSW Nurses and Midwives Association. He is in The Sydney Morning Herald this morning talking about the situation in NSW hospitals. Here are a few lines from it: “Over the weekend, an ICU nurse at an outer-metropolitan hospital declared, “We are falling like flies.” In … Read more

Australia news live update: more than 32,000 new Covid cases recorded nationwide; NSW hospitalisations pass 1,000

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5.26am GMT 05:26 There may be few or no official restrictions, but word is it feels very much like a “soft lockdown” in Sydney today. james hennessy (@jrhennessy) Currently I Am Legending a frosty schooner in a totally deserted beer garden pic.twitter.com/D8f6uRpB2t January 2, 2022 5.01am GMT 05:01 Residents in Melbourne’s outer south-east are being … Read more

Australia live news updates: Pfizer provisionally approved for five to 11-year-olds; Victoria records 980 new Covid cases and seven deaths

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This is the key point. This is the key point, we saved more than 700,000 jobs. And as a result, unemployment now is at 5.2%, lower than when we came to government.Now, the way to get higher wages is to get a tighter labour market. We’re starting to see workforce shortages which will have some … Read more

Australia politics live news: Penny Wong defends Labor on China; Scott Morrison faces growing backbench unrest

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It’s the first hump day on the last sitting fortnight of the year, which means nothing other than we are all one day closer to this being over. Which no one seems to want more than the prime minister. It hasn’t exactly been the greatest of times for Scott Morrison. After launching the pseudo-election campaign, … Read more

Australia politics live update: Albanese says PM ‘responsible’ for not condemning protesters’ violent threats; parliament returns

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As I said here before, we want to look forward not back, and looking back is looking at lockdowns. That’s why booster shots is so important and we have been able to secure that vaccine so people should be encouraged to get the booster shot when they are eligible, but I think we can live … Read more

Australia news live updates: more storms to lash NSW as flood risks remain

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International students returning after almost two years separated from Australian campuses during the pandemic will hopefully be the first of many, says the head of the nation’s peak university body. The contingent has arrived on flights touching down in Sydney and Melbourne from Singapore as part of the two-way travel bubble between the two countries. … Read more

Australia news live updates: NT to decide if Covid lockdown extended, Labor accuses Morrison of ‘impacting national security’

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Hello, and welcome to the live blog for Sunday, 7 November. I’m Josh Taylor and I’ll be bringing you all the news this morning. Yesterday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said Australia is on track to “have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world”, after the vaccination rate for people aged 16 years … Read more