Health News at Your Fingertips

Health authorities in Queensland have announced four new Covid deaths on Sunday.

There are 496 people in hospital with Covid across the state, 45 of who are in intensive care.

There were 7,311 new Covid-19 cases announced on Sunday.

I’m going to hand the blog over to the brilliant Elias Visontay to bring you the news over lunch!

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has said his government will commit $200,000 to local organisations supporting the LGBTQI+ community after national debate around the federal government’s religious discrimination bill.

“The recent unnecessary, hurtful public debate around legal protections for young LGBTQ+ Australians has had a significant impact on their wellbeing and that of their families and loved ones,” Andrews said in a statement.

The extra support will help organisations such as Switchboard Victoria, Thorne Harbour Health and Drummond Street, Transcend and Parents of Gender Diverse Children manage increased demand for mental health services, referrals and peer support.

Our friends at AAP have more on Adelaide’s North-South corridor announcement this morning.

The Morrison government is injecting an additional $2.26bn into Adelaide’s so-called North-South corridor, a project that will deliver 78km of non-stop motorway once complete.

The new funding will bring the federal government’s total commitment to the project to $6.8bn.

“Our government, together with the Marshall government, is getting on with delivering what is the most significant infrastructure project ever undertaken in South Australia,” prime minister Scott Morrison said in a statement on Sunday.

“The investment in this project alone is expected to support around 4900 jobs and slash travel times by up to 20 minutes between the River Torrens and Darlington and help ensure South Australians get home to family and friends safely.”

SA premier Steven Marshall said the partnership with the Morrison government enables projects that make a real difference to the everyday lives of South Australians.

“This once-in-a-generation project is going to create a record number of jobs for South Australians and underpin the construction industry for the next ten years,” Marshall said.

The Tasmania Fire Service has issued a watch and cct bushfire warning for Pipers Brook, Lebrina, Wyena and Golconda in Tasmania’s north.

This fire is travelling north-west, towards Ferny Hill Road in Golconda, and is expected to impact these areas by within the next two to six hours.

“Weather conditions predicted … include unpredictable gusting winds and are expected to challenge fire crews on the fire ground,” the TFS said in a statement.

Olympian Jemima Montag has broken a longstanding Australian record in the 20km walk, AAP reports.

Montag has eclipsed Jane Saville’s record set in 2004 with a stunning performance at the Oceania and Australian 20km race walking championships.

Montag clocked one hour 27.34 seconds in Adelaide on Sunday morning, a time some 10 seconds inside Saville’s previous benchmark.

“It feels surreal at the moment,” Montag said.

Montag finished Sunday’s race more than four minutes ahead of her Tokyo Olympic teammate Rebecca Henderson (1:31:44).

In the men’s 20km walk, Declan Tingay captured his maiden national title – he clocked 1:20:44 to also earn selection for the world championships.

Victorians could join other Australians for the easing of Covid-19 rules, with Premier Daniel Andrews eyeing changes to check-in codes, AAP reports.

“The use of QR codes is under very active review at the moment, as are all of our rules and we hope to make some announcements quite soon,” the premier told reporters on Sunday.

Now that we’ve hit the peak of Omicron, now those cases are coming down, we do have some room to make some refinements and adjustments.

Andrews said Victoria aimed to be in lockstep with NSW on rules and the state’s northern neighbour was planning to ease check-in requirements by the end of February.

Victoria’s density limits also being reviewed, he noted.

QR coding at the moment is not being used for the purposes of contact tracing because there is no contact tracing.

“What it’s used for at the moment is to validate that a person has the green tick [vaccination] and can be in certain locations. For consistency’s sake, QR coding still operates in some settings where you don’t need to be vaccinated, like the local supermarket.

Perrottet once again reflected on the government’s loss in Bega. He acknowledged that the community was hard hit by the bushfires, implying that could have played a role in last night’s outcome.

It’s the community in Bega that’s gone through a very difficult time off the back of the bushfires. And I will look into that … I certainly felt that on the ground. I met with many people in that community who are still doing it tough. I mean, the recovery in those areas from the bushfires is still ongoing and the feedback on the ground, is it will take many years. So I – we can certainly – certainly reflect on that.

Perrottet reflected on his government’s handling of the pandemic.

He criticised the Western Australian premier Mark McGowan for taking the populist approach to restrictions, saying he was a “highly popular premier with a lockdown mentality”.

Now, that works in the short term, it doesn’t work in the long term. And ultimately in a pandemic or in any situation like the one we found ourselves in you have got to make sure you are always doing what’s right. Importantly you have got to communicate that, you have to take the community with you.

A journalist asked Perrottet if he took any personal responsibility for the break down in communication in Bega given that he wasn’t there meeting people in the days leading up to the byelection.

He pointed out that he had been in Bega previously, but also defended his absence, saying “my job is to government for the state”.

But he said he takes responsibility for the result.

I’m the leader of the government and my job is to communicate clearly where our state is going, and on – and ensure we continue to move forward. That’s exactly what we are doing. Ultimately as a leader it falls on me. It is my responsibility. But I am incredibly confident in the direction of our state. I’m incredibly confident in our people to move forward.

Perrottet also added that byelections are “notoriously hard for governments”.

Perrottet says there are “certainly lessons to be taken” from the Liberals’ likely loss of Bega.

There is certainly messages for us to look at in terms of what we are doing on the ground and we are doing a lot …

In addition to that, I think ultimately when you are in a pandemic you are going to make decisions that time to time will be unpopular. Our job as a government is to take our state through and we are doing that …

Every seat is different. But obviously Bega was particularly disappointing yesterday.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking in Sydney about the government’s byelection results, including the likely loss of Bega to Labor.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 40 deaths from Covid 19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 458
• In hospital: 50 (with four people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 22
• Cases: 6,686
• In hospital: 1,614 (with 93 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 18
• Cases: 7,223
• In hospital: 465 (with 62 people in ICU)

There are now 50 people in hospital with the virus. Four patients in the ICU, of which two require ventilation.

Some advice from the Liberal party’s James Paterson ahead of Valentine’s Day tomorrow:

A moment of lightness (actually I can’t tell if this is a funny story, or a sad sign of the times) for your morning:

The BBC has reported that authorities in New Zealand have been playing Barry Manilow’s greatest hits, along with the Macarena, in an attempt to dislodge anti-vaccine mandate protesters camped outside the parliament building.

Apparently the demonstrators responded with the song We’re Not Gonna Take It by the Twisted Sisters.

Federal minister Keith Pitt has played down the impact of Saturday’s results on the federal election in a few months time, AAP reports.

“Generally these things don’t reflect into a federal result. Voters know the difference between each level of government,” Pitt told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program

He also brushed off comments by NSW treasurer Matt Kean who said the recent dramas around the federal government didn’t help the Coalition brand heading into the four byelections.

“If Mr Kean is looking for someone to blame he might want to have a look in the mirror.”

The byelections came after a week in the federal parliament where five Liberal MPs crossed the floor on a Labor0amended sex discrimination bill, as part of the Religious Discrimination Act, and alleged leaks from the cabinet.

But Pitt insists the ministry is a very strong unit, while adding that Coalition MPs are entitled to cross the floor, whereas they would be expelled if they were in the Labor party.

But he was disappointed by those who crossed the floor because they did not tell their colleagues or the prime minister of their intentions.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said this government is driven by “disunity, dysfunction and dishonesty” and needs some time in opposition.