Health News at Your Fingertips

Senate inquiry into Afghanistan:

The Senate inquiry into Afghanistan issues has turned to the recent release of the former Afghan solider who murdered three Australian soldiers.

Hugh Jeffrey, a first assistant secretary at the defence department, said the Australian government became aware of Hekmatullah’s release from Qatar “through highly sensitive intelligence which the government is not able to comment on directly”.

The precise circumstances of his release are unclear.

Penny Wong wanted to know when the Australian government first became aware of the release. That question will be taken on notice, but the chief of the ADF, General Angus Campbell, said he understood army advised the families of the victims “over the weekend in coordination with other interested parties”.

Geoff Tooth, an assistant secretary at Dfat and a former head of mission in Kabul, said Australia had made “around 180 representations” on the issue of Hekmatullah over the last couple of years, at all levels of government. That includes representations made by officials and at the highest levels.

When asked whether the Qatari government had put Hekmatullah on a plane to Afghanistan, officials also said they would take the question on notice.

Some 70,000 Victorians have downloaded the Victorian Services app and acquired their vaccination certificate online, Martin Foley says:

It’s a seamless and quick process. I think that speaks volumes of the desire of Victorians to get on and support the vaccinated economy trial. They want to get back to the life they know awaits us to a high vaccinated support in Victoria.

He says NSW’s reopening today will be a “live laboratory” for Victoria to trial its own easing of restrictions amongst the fully vaccinated.

In the minutes after midnight struck on Monday morning, Sydneysiders descended on pubs and met with hairdressers as they sought to make the most of their 107-day lockdown lifting.

The new freedoms for fully vaccinated residents that came into effect on Monday – as part of the 70% vaccination coverage milestone on New South Wales’ reopening roadmap – also include allowing visitors to the home, abandoning the 5km travel limit and the reopening of most retail and service businesses.

Read the article below to find out all the freedoms that fully vaccinated people in NSW now have.

It looks like unvaccinated Victorians will be locked out of public life for several months yet. Health minister Martin Foley says if you choose to remain unvaccinated, you place yourself “outside of that process” but also place Victorians at risk.

Our public health orders are now focused on staying with the vaccinated economy processes to protect Victorians and to safely and sustainably reopen … in terms of how the public health orders are planned out now, we’ve got no plans to change those.

The emphasis is totally on supporting the vaccinated economy plans while supporting our public health and health systems. What is going to happen in three, four months time, let’s wait and see what happens in three to four months.

Martin Foley is asked about ongoing Ibac proceedings into the alleged misuse of taxpayer-funded staff community grants, which kicked off today with witness Labor MP Anthony Byrne. Should the premier step aside if he is the subject of an inquiry?

As expected, Foley says it would be inappropriate to run commentary on a live process:

I’m not here to run the commentary on an independent commission that has clearly now started its public hearings. That’s a matter for Ibac and it would not be appropriate for me to run a commentary on a live series of matters and I won’t be.

Afghanistan Senate inquiry:

Two-thirds of the 4,100 people airlifted from Afghanistan in the military evacuation operations in August were women and girls, Australian government officials say.

The department of foreign affairs and trade is among several departments currently giving evidence to the Senate inquiry into Australia’s engagement in Afghanistan.

Simon Newnham, an acting deputy secretary and crisis coordinator at the department of foreign affairs and trade, said 4,100 people were airlifted on Australian-run evacuation flights “amidst the most challenging of circumstances”.

Two-thirds of the evacuees were women and children.

Newnham said Dfat acknowledged the “desperate circumstances” of those who went to the airport in the world seeking to depart, as they suffered crushing crowds, violence, and the “depraved terrorist attack of 26 August as the evacuation window closed”.

A generation of Afghans have seen a better world, but much of this progress is now at risk, and with our partners we will do what we can to ensure as much as possible is preserved.

Victorian press conference:

Martin Foley is asked whether it is a double standard for 10,000 people to be able to attend the Melbourne Cup before all students return to school. It will also come at a time home visits remain off the cards for fully vaccinated adults.

He says the “safe, steady and sustained” reopening of schools has always been the government’s priority:

We know in regulated settings throughout the global pandemic, particularly in this Australian context, if you have a Covid-safe plan in place, if you have the bubble arrangements, if you have the active cooperation of responsible partners like the VRC and Racing Victoria, you’ll have a safe event. What we’ve seen throughout the course of this pandemic, it’s in private settings that we let our guard down.

A recurring concern for businesses reopening in Lakemba was how they would be managing vaccine certificate checks.

Some told me they’d be directly barring entry for the unvaccinated, and others were more cautious, saying they were worried about having to kick people out.
Jaylan Gul, who works at Urban Culture Lakemba, a popular fashion retailer, said she felt it was a little unnecessary.

I feel like I’m asking for something private, to ask if people are vaccinated. It feels unnecessary.

I don’t think I can find it in my heart to kick someone out, but if my job requires me to do it, I’m just going to have to do it.

On the other hand, Sandy Kourouche, who works at Big Sahara Cafe, said she was ready to deny people entry if they weren’t vaccinated.

I’m a little worried how people will react, and we’ve already had some problems with that, and with implementing the restrictions. I’ve had to tell some of my customers they can’t sit together, I have to keep telling them ‘we might get fined’.

We’re nervous about the police coming and fining us, but we do our best to avoid these things.

More from the streets of Sydney:

Dewey Nipatpokai, at Toby’s Coffee Estate on Castlereagh in Sydney’s CBD, says today feels both “great” and “weird”.

We got used to only doing takeaway. So it was weird this morning, setting up shop with signs and cleaning tables.

Nipatpokai says he looks forward to going back to normal but is nervous when he sees people not following Covid-safe rules.

A lot of people just sit down, without showing their vaccination passport. They’re impatient, and even though it feels like we are getting better, if we keep acting like that we fear we might go back down into lockdown again.