8.42pm GMT 20:42 Former federal Labor MP Craig Thomson is facing new charges this morning following his arrest over an AVO breach yesterday. Thomson has been charged by police with fraud over Covid-19 business schemes, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Thomson allegedly falsified information to obtain $25,000 from the NSW state government Covid-19 small business … Read more
Victoria’s Covid-19 quarantine hotels will close within weeks as a purpose-built quarantine centre at Mickleham begins operations, reports AAP. The state’s quarantine agency Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) says medi-hotels to quarantine sick people will cease operations by the end of this month and hotels will not be used at all by the end of March. … Read more
I am angry because I have spoken to the families of aged care residents who have had enough. Richard Colbeck must resign today. If Richard Colbeck does not resign today the prime minister should sack him. He is simply incapable of fulfilling the task of looking after the interests of old, vulnerable Australians. What we … Read more
The supply of housing is fixed. Demand goes up – what happens to the price? It goes up. And there’s nothing that we can do with monetary policy to offset that. And probably, and maybe last year or the year before, I was asked a similar question. I think that we have higher housing prices … Read more
Unmesh Desai recalls feeling righteous frustration as he sat opposite the head of the Metropolitan police on Tuesday morning. For months Cressida Dick’s force had refused to investigate what appeared to be unambiguous breaches of Covid regulations at Downing Street. “The perception is that you’re covering for those in power,” Desai told the commissioner. Arms … Read more
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
The real challenge of the impact of staff who have to furlough, staff who are in isolation … it’s averaging around 5,000 healthcare workers every single day alongside the surge in hospitalisation as a result of the Omicron variant wave … We may well be at the peak or reaching the peak, that impact will … Read more
Here’s a summary of all the Covid numbers from the day so far: Victoria reported 22,429 new Covid cases and six deathsRoughly half the positive cases were reported from PCR test results, and half from rapid antigen tests. There are 1,229 people being treated in hospital with Covid in Victoria, including 129 in intensive care. … Read more
Hobart grandmother Susan Neill-Fraser is appealing to Australia’s highest court for a second time in a bid to have her murder conviction overturned. The 67-year-old was sentenced to 23 years in jail for killing partner Bob Chappell aboard the couple’s yacht, the Four Winds, on Australia Day 2009. Her appeal before Tasmania’s court of criminal … Read more
We are now going through the transcript of the interview between Djokovic and Border Force officers. The visa was cancelled at 7.29am, and Djokovic was informed at 7.42am. He had been asking for until 8.30am to respond to the cancellation notice, and needed to speak to people. The government made the decision on the basis … Read more