Health News at Your Fingertips

Queensland has recorded 1,901 new Covid-19 cases overnight, with the state reporting 459 people in hospital on Monday morning and 25 in ICU.

The state has not reported its deaths on Sunday and Monday but will include these numbers in Tuesday’s release.

And that’s the statement from Anthony Albanese and Daniel Andrews at the opening of a mRNA vaccine production facility at Monash University.

There is an expectation that the prime minister will also hold a press conference following the event, although the details are yet to be confirmed.

Australia needs to be more self-reliant, PM says

Anthony Albanese is speaking now and begins with a joke about how he was suspended from Sydney University for “various political activities” but is now welcomed as a hero.

Albanese says the “future is made in Australia” and that the lesson from the pandemic has been that Australia needs to maintain a minimum of sel- reliance.

There are a range of lessons from the pandemic, but one of them is we need to be more resilience and more self-reliant, we need to make more things here, we can’t continue to assume that it’s OK to be at the end of global supply chains because we know that what Covid represented, of course, was that a massive global disruption to those supply chains and that Australia has become, I think, particularly vulnerable. We have become complacent for a long period of time, that it was OK for us to just meander along. It’s not.

The press conference has started now with Daniel Andrews speaking about the partnership between Moderna and Monash University to establish onshore manufacturing of mRNA vaccines in Australia.

Andrews and prime minister Anthony Albanese are speaking at the site of the new facility.

Once operational the facility will produce 100 million vaccine doses every year.

This will be the only facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

When we think about great science, we think about London and Oxford. We think about Boston and we think about Melbourne.

Just before this press conference gets underway I just want to create a short list of what is being reported on Monday about the ministerial arrangement set up under the former Morrison government:

• Scott Morrison was sworn into the health portfolio;

• He was also sworn into a ministerial position overseeing the entire Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources portfolio;

• And the former PM was sworn in to the finance portfolio – and Matthias Cormann says he had no idea;

• Nationals leader David Littleproud says he didn’t know the former PM held dual roles.

I may have missed something, but one thing is clear: the more we learn, the more questions there are.

Northern Territory schools to open during strike

Northern Territory schools to be hit by strike action this week will all remain open, authorities say.

The NT Department of Education says it has been advised of the four-hour industrial action planned for Friday over the public sector’s four-year pay freeze.

The walkout will involve schools across Darwin and Palmerston as well as those in Humpty Doo and Taminmin.

The department says principals will communicate arrangements for their schools with parents and carers.

The industrial action is scheduled for the day before the byelection for former chief minister Michael Gunner’s seat of Fannie Bay.

– from AAP

Woman in hospital after cow attack in Kemps Creek in Sydney

No one with Covid-19 has died in the Northern Territory overnight, with the state recording 100 new cases on Monday morning, 31 people in hospital, and 1 in ICU.

Proposal for specialist Indigenous-run prison in NSW

New South Wales corrective services is reportedly investigating the possibility of establishing a specialist Indigenous-run prison.

The Daily Telegraph reports a “masterplan” is being developed to establish the facility and have it operated and managed by an Indigenous organisation.

It would house Indigenous prisoners and be staffed by First Nations people.

A location for the prison has yet to be chosen and while it was still being developed it is suggest it could be expanded into regional areas across NSW.

It’s looking increasingly like the upcoming press conference called by prime minister Anthony Albanese is going to be a big one with a lot on the agenda.

Beach Energy cashed up for gas expansion

Oil and gas company Beach Energy has reported increased earnings and cashflow on rising gas prices and high demand, giving more fuel to expand.

The company on Monday reported an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $504m, up 39%, on higher prices and revenue, reduced depreciation from lower production, and “minimal” exploration expensed.

Total revenue rose 13% to $1.8bn and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 17% to $1.1bn.

Beach, which has its headquarters in Adelaide, is planning several gas projects including in the Otway Basin, offshore South Australia and in Victoria near the Twelve Apostles.

-from AAP

Peter Hannam

A traveller’s view of Sydney airport chaos

Those waiting in queues at Sydney domestic airport on Monday morning might be wondering if they had been better served by turning up early – but not so according to Guardian Australia economics correspondent, Peter Hannam, who dove into the weeds:

On Friday morning I rocked up for a Melbourne flight on Rex, departing at 7am. I was at the airport a bit over 75 minutes prior to the flight, figuring that there wouldn’t be a big crowd so early on.

When I arrived, the overflow room, that now looks a little like a cattle yard, was pretty much empty.

But as soon as you joined the main column of passengers, you found airline staff walking up and down, pulling people out as each flight departure time neared. They held signs and called out: “All passengers on flights at 6.30am or earlier, come forward now.”

In other words, there was no real advantage in turning up early as latecomers were continually extracted from the main line and given express treatment at security. There was also only an occasional check to see if queue-leapers were actually on a flight at that time.

Turn up early and you’re likely to spend a long time queuing. Chance your luck and you’ll get an easy ride as airlines can’t afford to have constant delays (that cascade through the day).

It’s not clear what the solution can be except more surge capacity at security – or more bumped passengers.

(My Rex flight took off a couple of minutes early, or so the pilot said, so the passenger management system worked at least for that one … )

Anthony Albanese is expected to give a press conference this morning about 10am on the east coast. We will bring you the latest as it develops.

Police fear revenge attacks after Sydney shooting

Police are bracing for revenge attacks after two women were killed in a targeted shooting on Saturday evening.

Speaking to 2GB, homicide squad commander Danny Doherty said the killing broke an unwritten rule that protected women and children from attacks:

It’s been long held, in the past that you don’t target children and women and family.

If there’s a conflict between two criminal networks they will target each other.

In this case we’ve just seen the rule book completely ignored and thrown out the window.

Doherty said police were now bracing for more violence as they expect retaliation:

There’s always a fear of … some type of retribution.

Burnt-out cars were found in nearby suburbs in the hours after the attack and police are investigating if they are linked to the shooting.

The victims have been identified in reports as 48-year-old mother of two Lametta Fadlallah and Amy Hazouri, 39.

The women were killed on Saturday night when the car they were sitting in was sprayed with bullets. A 16-year-old girl and a man, 20, were also in the car and police say they were “very lucky they were not killed as well”.

There have been more than a dozen fatal shootings in Sydney over the past two years as gangs feud over turf and drugs.

– from AAP

Matt Kean labels David Elliott ‘embarrassing’

Michael McGowan

The NSW treasurer Matt Kean has labelled his cabinet colleague David Elliott “embarrassing” in the latest public spat between the two ministers.

Elliott on Monday launched an extraordinary attack on Kean, accusing him of harming negotiations between the government and rail union in its long-running industrial campaign.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the transport minister said of Kean’s involvement in the negotiations:

No wonder the union is sceptical of us. Hard to put the genie of distrust back in the bottle when it’s so freely moving amongst us.

It’s very hard for me to look [the unions] in the eye and expect them to believe me after I had the rug pulled out from under my feet last time, but that’s what you get when you send a boy in to do a man’s job.

Speaking on the ABC on Monday, Kean labelled Elliott’s contribution “embarrassing”:

David Elliott is the transport minister, he has responsibility for that area of government. I’m not going provide a running commentary on these embarrassing outbursts.

Kean and Elliott have been involved in a number of clashes. In the lead-up to the election of a new deputy Liberal party leader, Elliott threatened to strip Kean of his treasury portfolio if he were elected to the job.

Elliott eventually decided not to run for the role and Kean was elected unopposed.Premier Dominic Perrottet told both ministers to focus on “unity”.

Kean today refused to say whether he still supported Elliott maintaining his transport ministry saying:

That’s a matter for the premier … I’m focused on my responsibilities.

How quickly things change …