Health News at Your Fingertips

So, when are students going back to school in NSW?

Simple enough question with a very elaborate and complex answer. Luckily, we have an explainer that breaks down the return to school plan for NSW:

We are on standby to hear from the national cabinet, but in the meantime, South Australia and Western Australia have both recorded zero new cases.

You take whatever positivity you can these days.

The permit system for authorised workers from the 12 LGAs of concern in western Sydney was launched last night, with many workers scrambling to sign up.

But the form to apply for the permit necessitates applicants register specific addresses they will visit, making the application all but impossible for delivery drivers or taxis.

The Transport Workers’ Union national secretary, Michael Kaine, described the permit process as a “shambles” and lamented the rollout so far.

The NSW government’s policy by press conference must end. The permit mandate was announced last week but the application system only launched late yesterday.

This permit shambles only causes more anxiety for transport workers who have been subjected to inconsistent rules, strict testing regimes and vaccine deadlines without a plan to help them get the jab.

To make matters worse, taxi and rideshare drivers aren’t authorised workers, meaning they can’t even get a permit to leave their LGAs for work. The premier is picking winners and losers through these inconsistent rules, and it’s crushing drivers’ ability to earn a living.

Kaine urged the government to rethink its approach to authorised workers, to prioritise them for vaccines and mandate paid vaccination leave.

Service NSW was asked about the complications and the struggles of applicants, but gave no direct answer. It instead just urged authorised workers to “carry their permit and supporting documentation with them at all times” and said more information would be available “shortly”.

Weekly Beast is always a must read, and this week Amanda Meade takes a look at the fallout from the ABC’s Four Corners report into Fox News.

You can read the piece here:

The ABC is reporting that four Victorian jockeys have been suspended for alleged breaches of public health orders after gathering at a holiday rental property with friends.

Jamie Kah, Ben Melham, Ethan Brown and apprentice Celine Gaudray have all been charged by Racing Victoria for breaching Covid protocols.

The four were at a property in Mornington on Wednesday after 9pm, and pleaded guilty at an inquiry for failing to comply with protocols.

In a statement posted to social media, Kah apologised and said she deserved the penalty:

I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed with myself.

There is no excuse for what I have done and I have let myself down, my family and friends, the racing industry and all Victorians who are doing the right thing in this lockdown.

Have you received a text message from the United Australia Party? You aren’t alone, and although it might feel like spam, the Australian Communications and Media Authority has clarified that it is not, technically, spam.

In a series of tweets, it says messages that are not commercial are generally allowed, but messages about “elections or political matters” are not commercial.

The key here is that if the message isn’t commercial, the sender does not need your permission to send you a message.

I didn’t receive the message, but I wonder if any of the recipients also thought it was not spam, and that it was fair the United Australia Party sent them a message without their permission.

A one-person anti-lockdown protest in Auckland has been shut down by police, after they were alerted to the protest on social media.

Police turned up at the location to find one person had arrived. The police spoke to the man, “encouraged” him to comply with restrictions, and he chose to leave.

Overall a safer end to the protest compared with some of the anti-lockdown protests seen here in Australia:

The Australian Human Rights Commission has released a statement on Australia’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan, saying it was “deeply concerned” for the safety of “Australians, Australian visa holders, and any family members of Australia’s Afghan diaspora who remained in Afghanistan”.

The commission is urging the government to expand its refugee resettlement program with a specific Afghan intake, after the PM said the allocation of 3,000 places to Afghan nationals was a “floor, not a ceiling”.

Commission president emeritus Prof Rosalind Croucher said the commission also had concerns about the change in circumstances for Afghan asylum seekers and refugees in Australia:

We have asked for an urgent reassessment of all Afghan asylum seekers who have not received a positive protection finding, in light of the changed conditions.

I commend the government’s recent announcement that no Afghans will be asked to return to Afghanistan while the security situation remains dire.

Given there are no real prospects of them returning to Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, the commission has also urged the commonwealth to consider their release into the community, where possible, and with appropriate conditions if necessary.