NSW records 92,264 Covid cases and 22 deaths with 2,383 in hospital; Victoria reports 37,169 cases and 25 deaths with 953 hospitalised; Novak Djokovic visa saga an ‘international embarrassment’ says Labor. Follow all the day’s news
- Covid patients occupy one in three ICU beds in NSW as nurse shortages soar
- ‘Code red’: Melbourne businesses say Omicron wave more damaging than lockdown
- Novak Djokovic faces fine or prison for breaking isolation while Covid positive
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Anthony Albanese is laying the blame of Australia’s Covid predicament squarely at Scott Morrison’s feet:
How is it we have got to this point? The rapid antigen tests were approved last September.
The national plan made it clear that once we opened up there would be an increased number of infections and we needed to make sure we planned for it. We needed Scott Morrison to do his job.
Working people have been saying that they needed access to testing, for example, for months after months. The Transport Workers’ Union wrote to the government last September about supply chains and the disruptions that could occur if they didn’t get access to rapid antigen tests and now we know this government only ordered en masse rapid antigen tests this week. It’s extraordinary their complacency.
We have had a grand slam of failures from this government, whether it’s tracing, testing, and quarantine. On each occasion they wait until … a problem becomes a crisis before Scott Morrison acts.