Health News at Your Fingertips

Melbourne’s Royal Children’s hospital is on high alert after a Covid-19 positive person visited the neonatal ward. A spokesperson for the hospital spoke about the matter this morning:

We have had another exposure in our Butterfly ward, which is our neonatal intensive care ward, and that was the result of a positive parent who came into the hospital …

There were 29 babies in at the unit at the time, so all families of those 29 babies have been contacted and have been tested, and continue to be tested and checked. And they have been no transmissions for babies as a result of that exposure, which is great.

She also announced the start of a new outbreak prevention program, where visitors to the hospital will undergo rapid antigen Covid-19 tests:

This morning we come to you to let our community know that we are commencing with rapid antigen testing for our visitors to the hospital, especially those parents going into clinical wards.

We know that mums and dads need to see their children, and children need to see their mums and dads, especially when they are in hospital, but we need to protect everyone, given the rising numbers of Covid in the community.

The NSW press conference will be at 11am AEDT.

The NSW numbers are a slight jump up from yesterday, but nothing overly dramatic.

Here is a look at today’s cases on the outbreak graph:

The NSW numbers are in and the state has recorded 444 local cases of Covid-19.

Sadly, four infected people have died.

So there has been a bit of drama in the South Australian parliament, with a Liberal party defector somehow taking the Speaker of the House role in a late-night upset.

Dan Cregan, who left the Liberal party to sit on the crossbench last week, managed to take the job in a secret ballot.

This came after Labor and several independents teamed up to pass legislation which made it a requirement that the Speaker be independent from the two major parties.

While the upset won’t cost the Liberals the government, it’s a considerable blow as the the state election looms next March.

The federal government is chipping in to support the push to increase Tasmanian tourism in the lead-up to Christmas.

It is offering $3m in holiday incentives, with 10,000 $300 vouchers available for residents of South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland who book a holiday in November and December.

Here is what federal tourism minister Dan Tehan had to say about it:

A recent Tourism Australia Travel Sentiment Tracker found 59 per cent of Australians want to take a holiday in the next six months.

Pent-up demand combined with this innovative voucher program represents a fantastic opportunity for Tasmanian tourism to welcome back visitors and give local businesses and the economy a much-needed boost.

Australians want to travel again so they can visit family and friends and take a holiday, in places like Tasmania. All Australians can help to make that a reality by getting vaccinated so we can reach our 80 per cent vaccination targets to trigger the resumption of travel.

Former senator Nick Xenophon is looking to make a return to federal politics after a more than four-year absence, reports Andrew Brown from AAP.

The South Australian powerbroker plans to run as an independent for the upper house at the upcoming election.

He told ABC radio this morning:

Like Al Pacino in The Godfather, once I thought I was out, they try to drag me back in …

I would run as an independent – it’s where my natural habitat is as a pesky independent.

His decision to throw his hat back into the ring follows a long-running legal battle with the US footwear company Dekkers over use of the term “ugg”.

The Sydney bootmaker Eddie Oygur was sued by Dekkers in 2016 for selling 13 pairs of ugg boots to US customers, after a US court found Dekkers had the sole rights to using the term “ugg”.

While the federal government has contributed $200,000 to fight the case, Xenophon said the commonwealth had fallen short of assisting Oygur as a “friend of the court”, which means there’s little chance an appeal would be heard by the US supreme court:

“The [Australian] government is being so out of touch on this. I don’t know why they won’t do what’s needed for every ugg boot maker in the country.

Xenophon resigned from politics in 2017 at the height of the dual citizenship scandal, after he announced he was unsure whether he was a dual citizen, which would have made him ineligible to run for parliament.

But the high court later found Xenophon was validly elected and able to run for office.

Xenophon said he had spoken about his potential move with Stirling Griff, who was his replacement in the Senate as part of the Nick Xenophon Team, before the party name was changed to Centre Alliance.

The ABC is reporting that the Victorian case number will be in the 1,500s today.

We shall know for sure when the numbers are released in about an hour.

A majority of Australians are worried about the threat posed by global heating and want serious action to address it, but Queenslanders are less concerned than people in other states, according to the latest Climate of the Nation report.

The authoritative annual survey of 2,626 voters – now in its 14th year and managed by the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute – suggests three-quarters are worried about the climate crisis, the largest proportion in its history.

As cabinet meets on Wednesday to consider a new climate roadmap the prime minister, Scott Morrison, wants to unveil before the Cop26 talks in Glasgow, the poll suggests a clear majority – 69% – want the Morrison government to put Australia on a path to net zero emissions. The same proportion wants the Coalition to do more to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.

You can read the full report by Katharine Murphy and Adam Morton below:

ABC radio host Fran Kelly is not copping Bridget McKenzie’s politicking this morning.

McKenzie:

We represent the poorest of marginalised people in the country, out of sight out of mind, outside of big business out of sight of [Greens leader] Adam Bandt.

Fran Kelly:

Big Business! Big businesses?! The mining companies are out the in regions. What are you saying?

McKenzie:

We have been out of sight out of mind of the Greens, the Labor party, big business. The National party has done our job over the last decade. And all we’re asking is that we are respected, as the second party of government.

Federal Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie is on ABC radio now, trying to convince people that the net-zero emission debate … isn’t about climate change?

Here are the reasons she gives as to why the decades-long delay on meaningful climate change action from Australia is actually a good thing:

We’ve actually been able to avoid very bad outcomes for our country and our communities.

We don’t have a carbon tax*, the big emitters like India and China are now going to be included in that global infrastructure. And we now have a framework, where countries like Australia can put forward plans to reduce emissions that are in our national interest.

We’ve had that for quite a while in the sector, and agriculture has created jobs in the region, which is something the National party is very very keen on, and we’ve cut our emissions by 20%.

So, this actual debate isn’t about climate change, it’s about regions.

*Weird flex.

Good morning everyone, it’s Matilda Boseley on the blog with you this morning. Get yourself a cup of coffee and settle in, because right off the bat we are talking about climate change.

Yep, today the federal cabinet will thrash out the details of a plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050*, and potentially a more ambitious medium-term target. But first, the prime minister needs to find a way to placate the Nationals about regional jobs and power prices.

At the moment, the Coalition has a 2030 target of reducing emissions by between 26% and 28% below 2005 levels and a “preference” to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Watch this space.

Now to the states and the ever-present Covid-19 situation, where we actually have some good news.

NSW is now rapidly approaching its next vaccination milestone, 80%, just three days after the state’s 70% reopening.

75.23% of residents over 15 are fully vaccinated and 90.77% have had at least one dose. That means NSW could reach the 80% fully vaccinated milestone by Sunday, and potentially start the next phase of reopening next week.

Victoria is also slightly ahead of schedule, with the state expected to reach 70% in the next week or so and the ACT could well achieve almost complete vaccination coverage, upwards of 99% of the eligible population, by the end of November.

The territory is also set to relax its lockdown at the stroke of midnight Friday, with 98.2% of over-12s in the ACT having received a first dose (72% are double dosed).

OK, with all of that going on, let’s not delay any further and jump right into the day!

*Known in environmental circles as “the bare minimum”.