Australia politics live news: government faces net zero ‘plan’ fallout; Covid vaccine booster shots approved; overseas travel for fully vaccinated




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The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has been giving evidence about vaccine misinformation at Senate estimates.

First, Labor asked specifically about TGA head John Skerritt’s criticism of pamphlets distributed by Clive Palmer, but he declined to answer, citing a concerns notice he received from Palmer’s lawyers about possible defamation action in the Queensland supreme court.

Asked about United Australia Party MP Craig Kelly, Skerritt confirmed he had written to him warning “incomplete extracts from the database of adverse event notifications, suggesting several hundred deaths caused by the vaccine … was quite misleading, dangerously misleading”.

There is a lacuna in the TGA’s powers to regulate advertising, that doesn’t allow it to intervene on Facebook and YouTube ads, so instead Skerritt has written to YouTube asking them to consider the material.

Labor senator Nita Green asks if the government could close this loophole, and aged care minister Richard Colbeck said it “understands the importance of good information with respect to vaccines” and will consider it.

So is misinformation risking lives? Skerritt:


I won’t venture into opinion. But, as we’ve heard, vaccinations – just look at the south-western Sydney data – save lives. If people are discouraged from taking vaccines based on false, incorrect, or fabricated information – while respecting their ability to make their own decisions – their lives are endangered.

Green then lead witnesses through Liberal senator Gerard Rennick’s social media posts about Pfizer –which Colbeck said he hadn’t seen, but does not agree with.

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Defence officials have confirmed the government is no longer planning to build a Pacific Support Vessel in Australia. Instead it will be bought off the shelf so it is ready for use in the south-west Pacific next year.

Officials said the “changing strategic circumstances” had “put an emphasis on delivering that capability into the Pacific quicker, so the government has made a decision to purchase that vessel from the commercial marketplace to have it in south-west Pacific next year”.

Penny Wong says the government has reneged on a promise originally made by the then defence minister Christopher Pyne to build it in Australia. Pyne said in 2018 the vessel “could be assisting with preparations for natural disasters, resilience support, or it could respond to natural disasters as they occur”.

Wong says ministers didn’t openly announce the change of plans. The foreign minister, Marise Payne, who is at the table during defence estimates, says:


Senator, I don’t regard it as reneging on the commitment, as you put it.

Wong:


Don’t you love this government, everyone? You know, it’s amazing. They say we’re not doing what we said but we don’t regard it as reneging on commitment. Oh that’s magnificent, that really is magnificent. It’s worthy of satire.

Payne:


It is the government’s view that this vessel should be delivered and be operational as soon as possible.

Like other large hulled vessels, Payne says, “the fastest way to do that, senator, given the rate of shipbuilding currently under way at Osborne [in South Australia] and Henderson [in WA] … is with this purchase to deliver it to the Pacific next year”.

Pressed over the previous commitment, Payne says: “I accept a commitment was made of that matter, senator, and the circumstances have changed.”

An argument ensued and the chair, Eric Abetz, briefly suspended the hearing.

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Victoria Covid update

Victoria’s Covid commander, Jeroen Weimar, has given an update on the state’s numbers, warning of a rise in cases in regional Victoria, and especially among the “younger cohort”.

Weimar said around 17% of the 1,534 cases recorded yesterday came from the regions, with authorities particularly concerned about a growing outbreak in Albury-Wodonga.

“Let’s be very clear: it is a significant outbreak happening in Wodonga at the moment.

“We have literally hundreds of cases on the Wodonga side of the border and two or three times that number on the Albury side. They are very interconnected communities. We deployed additional testing resources up there last week. We are working closely with a large number of schools impacted with students moving around the community and being positive.

“It does feel like we’re at sort of a plateau at the moment. The plateau is higher than we’d like, but it is … slightly under the Burnett modelling,”

It comes as the state looks to lift restrictions on travelling to the regions from Friday evening.

Weimar was also asked about restrictions on retail settings, with journalists quizzing him about why unvaccinated people are allowed into retail settings.


We would expect any retailer to be able to set an appropriate framework within their environment about who they serve and who they don’t serve. I can’t comment on the legality of measures they can take to ban people from coming in.

It’s a question of timing and giving people enough time and space to get that vaccination job done. We would absolutely discourage anybody who is not vaccinated from going into any of those retail settings.

Victoria Covid commander Jeroen Weimar

Victoria Covid commander Jeroen Weimar says there is ‘a significant outbreak’ happening in Wodonga at the moment. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP

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