Health News at Your Fingertips

The federal Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who represents part of the northern beaches, says the lockdown in the area should end.

A teenager is in hospital after a New Year’s Eve knife attack near Geelong, while another man has life-threatening injuries after a party was gatecrashed in Melbourne’s south-east.

A 48-year-old man was airlifted to hospital with critical injuries after the incident in Cranbourne West, while two other men, aged 41 and 30, suffered serious injuries.

More than a dozen serious assaults were reported to police overnight, but police deputy commissioner Rick Nugent said it was the quietest year the force had seen in a long time, reports AAP.

The threat of coronavirus transmission was a reality check for people, with many deciding to celebrate at home this year.

Nugent said:

I noticed a shift, and understandably so from what we’ve been through – no one wants to go through that again.

As always there are a small number of people who do the wrong thing and this year was no different.

A 16-year-old boy was the victim of a knife attack in Ocean Grove and was taken to hospital in Geelong.

One person had been arrested over that incident, while four people were arrested over the Cranbourne West assaults, he said.

Illegal fireworks were also a problem for police, with 10 incidents reported and three people arrested.

Two people suffered hand and face injuries after setting off fireworks in Lorne, and another two suffered similar injuries in Gippsland.

Nugent said:

No matter how many times you say it, we just continue to see the injuries. That’s the sad part.

A dance party in St Kilda attracted more than 100 people at one point, but crowds quickly dispersed when police arrived.

Seventeen people were arrested across the state overnight for being drunk in public, while 25 were arrested for drug offences and five for weapons offences.

A man has has been found dead after going for a swim in a river north of Brisbane early on New Year’s Day.

Police discovered the 20-year-old man’s body about 80 metres away from where he was last seen swimming in the Mary River near Gympie just after midnight, AAP reports.

A group of people were shining headlights on the water near their campground and say they saw the man, who then disappeared.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service deployed three swift-water rescue crews, but were unable to locate him.

Divers and State Emergency Service personnel also helped search for the man.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has commented on the change to the national anthem.

Here is part of her statement:

Changing of the lyrics in Australia’s national anthem is a small but important step in bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together.

This change, and PM Morrison’s explanatory statement, indicates that the government is grappling with the issues that alienate Aboriginal people from the rest of Australia. They should be congratulated for doing so.

Importantly it recognises that Australia is not ‘young’ but home to the oldest continuing living culture in the world. Now when Australians sing the anthem, it is in the knowledge that the history of this country extends hundreds of generations before invasion and federation.

While it is an important step, it is only a symbolic one. You don’t bring this country together by changing one word in our national anthem. I urge PM Morrison not to stop here but take the nation on the far more important step of striking a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

We have confirmed two new cases in Victoria: they are close contacts of positive cases from Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock.

NSW authorities mentioned earlier in their press conference that there were two people who had entered NSW from Victoria and had since tested positive.

These are the two positive cases. The pair are back in Victoria isolating.

They had been on a trip to NSW when they were notified that they were primary close contacts of the cases from the Thai restaurant. They went on to test positive.

NSW authorities said this morning the pair had been in Bermagui and Eden on 30 December and 31 December. Both areas have now been listed as hotspots.

The Victorian government says they were will be handling the cases, including contact tracing. It says there is currently no suggestion the pair did anything wrong.

They will release further details later today.

Hi everyone, Luke Henriques-Gomes here. Thanks to Elias for his work this morning. I’ll be with you for the next short while.

I might start with a quick recap of today’s events.

• NSW recorded three new local cases, in Western Sydney. Investigations are ongoing.
• Victoria recorded five new cases in the past 24 hours, but these had already been revealed yesterday.
• Victoria’s decision to impose a hard border to all of NSW from 11.59pm tonight led to massive queues at the border overnight. People will be turned back from tomorrow.
• The Sydney festival cancelled some events due to border closures.

That’s it from me, Elias Visontay. I hope your 2021 has been pleasant so far.

I’ll be handing the blog over to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes, who will take you through the next part of the afternoon.