Health News at Your Fingertips

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 104 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 4
• Cases: 498
• In hospital: 146 (with 4 people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 25
• Cases: 10,043
• In hospital: 2,265 (with 54 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 216
• In hospital: 34 (with 3 people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 24
• Cases: 4,141
• In hospital: 710 (with 24 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 4
• Cases: 1,853
• In hospital: 341 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 3
• Cases: 650
• In hospital: 84 (with 2 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 44
• Cases: 6,380
• In hospital: 673 (with 32 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 2,965
• In hospital: 358 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tony Abbott meets Japanese MPs after being awarded Japan’s highest honour for foreigners

Meanwhile, former prime minister Tony Abbott is meeting with Japanese MPs following his awarding of Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun – the highest Japanese honour available to foreigners.

Tributes flow for Olivia Newton-John

Tributes are still pouring in for Olivia Newton-John from across the globe.

Closer to home, here is Molly Meldrum’s statement, who regularly interviewed Newton-John on former music and entertainment program Countdown.

He pays tribute to “Livvy”, one of “those rare people who had a profound effect on the world and the people in it”.

Tonight, the stars will shine a little brighter and I am heartbroken.

Murray Watt believes Australia will keep growing enough food to go around

Watt’s final question at the National Press Club was on food security and relations with our trading partners: “How important do you think it is for Australia to help feed other nations, and in particular what is your view on the role of food security for our trading partners, especially in the context of our global diplomacy efforts?”

The agriculture minister replied he didn’t see it “as one or the other” and providing agricultural produce to regional neighbours would be “really helpful” for Australia’s diplomatic relationships.

We would want to ensure that we have enough food to feed ourselves … but we are a trading nation, most of our agricultural produce is exported, depending on the industry. So I think that we can do both.

When I was in Indonesia the agriculture minister raised food security as a very big priority for their government, so it is the same for many other countries in our region, so I do think there is a really big role we can play in assisting neighbours with food security.

Looking at the state of the sector going forward, as long as we can keep growing it then there is enough to go around. I think it is really helpful for our diplomatic relationship in our region … to try and play that role. I think it wins you points with your neighbours, and you would have already seen our government putting a lot of effort and in that regard.

Josh Butler

Floot-hit regions of NSW and Queensland to be prioritised by new disaster fund

Emergency management minister Murray Watt says the federal government will prioritise disaster mitigation projects in northern NSW and southern Queensland areas recently devastated by floods as its first spending under a new natural disaster fund.

Labor committed to spend $200m annually on its disaster ready fund, a revamp of the former government’s emergency response fund, which came under criticism for spending only a small portion of its yearly budget on mitigation and recovery efforts. In the dying days of the Morrison government, the Coalition committed funding toward flood areas.

Watt, speaking at the National Press Club, said the new government was still finalising legislation to establish its new fund, but said it would honour spending of the former government.

“The former government had finally dedicated some of that fund towards post disaster resilience work, particularly in the northern rivers region, and we intend to honour that,” he said, adding that northern NSW and southern Queensland would benefit.

So we’re working with those states to identify how that money could be spent.

Greens will back Indigenous voice referendum but want action on treaty and truth-telling

Sarah Collard

The Albanese government is trying to shore up support for a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament as early as next year.

One of the sticking points is whether it would be backed by the Greens and outspoken Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe.

Thorpe has long campaigned for a treaty between the commonwealth and First Nations people – something Australia is one of the only countries with a colonised history not to have.

Now there is a bit more clarity on the Greens position: they will back it but want concrete action on treaty and a process of truth-telling – the two other, less talked about parts of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

In a statement, Thorpe said the Greens are keen to negotiate on those steps as well as implementing all of the recommendations from the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. She said:

We’ve made it clear that the Greens want to see progress on all elements of the Statement.

We support legislation that improves the lives of First Nations people, and I look forward to talking with minister Burney about how we achieve that together in this Parliament.

The Coalition’s official position is they are waiting for more details as to whether they will back it or not, but NT senator Jacinta Price is an outspoken opponent of the voice, believing more is needed on improving the quality of lives of First Nations people.

NSW premier orders review into Stuart Ayres’s role in Barilaro saga

Tamsin Rose

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has recommended prominent Sydney barrister Bruce McClintock SC lead a review into possible breaches of the ministerial code by Penrith MP Stuart Ayres over the John Barilaro saga.

In a statement, Perrottet said:

I will recommend that the Governor appoint Mr Bruce McClintock SC to conduct a legal review into whether the Member for Penrith, Stuart Ayres, has complied with the Ministerial Code of Conduct in relation to the appointment of the Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas.

The review will be conducted under Letters Patent issued by the Governor. The findings of Mr McClintock’s review will be made public once it is completed.

Ayres was asked to stand down from the Liberal party deputy leadership and cabinet by Perrottet last week after a draft of an independent report into the appointment of former deputy premier Barilaro to a lucrative New York trade job raised questions about Ayres involvement. Last week Perrottet said:

Information that has come to light in the review clearly demonstrates that the process was not at arm’s length. Mr Ayres denies that. And he has the right for the inquiry to take place.

We need to look beyond ADF during disaster recovery, Watt says

Watt says he has spoken with defence minister Richard Marles about the role the ADF play in disaster recovery, with concerns about how much the defence forces are being stretched.

We are in no way downplaying the importance of the role the ADF play in disaster recovery. They do incredible work. They have incredible skills and equipment that aren’t necessarily around elsewhere. And having been in disaster zones when this troops roll through, you can’t underestimate the morale boost that gives to a community.

So, we think that there will always be a role for the defence. But we do have concerns about how far they are being stretched and their core job is the defence of the nation.

That’s why we are looking at some non-defence mechanisms for recovery work … it’s sort of about supplementing that disaster workforce because unfortunately we’ll probably need to do it a lot more.

Asked if there could be a separate national emergency service specifically for natural disasters, Watt says he doesn’t envisage anything as such.

We do need to recognise that the prime responsibility for disaster management rests with the states and territories supplemented by local government but we are certainly open to funding organisations that can help particularly with that clean-up and reconstruction work.

Former Labor shadow defence minister Brendan O’Connor suggested pre-election that a civilian disaster agency could be established.

Watt said his thinking was that the formal establishment of a brand new agency was less likely, but suggested further funding for existing civilian response organisations.

Murray Watt says investing in disaster mitigation crucial amid climate change

Back to the National Press Club and Guardian Australia’s Josh Butler has asked the agriculture minister Murray Watt to pop his emergency management hat on and comment on how the effects of climate change on agriculture are feeding into the government’s thinking on disaster planning.

Watt says the new government has discussed how to be prepared for the natural disasters “that we know are coming and going to be coming in more frequency and severity”.

Investing properly in disaster mitigation is a really key part of that … there’s too many ERFs, emergency response funds, as opposed to the emissions reduction fund, and how that has done nothing in three years. That’s why we decided to give … new disaster ready funding.

It will require a small number of amendments to begin with and I hope to be able to ready to produce them soon.

We have started talking with states and territories about the types of projects they think might be needed and local government is very interested as well.

Queensland premier promises overhaul as inquiry into CCC delivers report

Queensland’s premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has addressed the media after receiving the final report of a review of the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission.

Palaszczuk says she’s had initial discussions with the report’s authors, corruption buster Tony Fitzgerald and former supreme court judge Alan Wilson.

Can I say for the start that there are 32 recommendations and on the face of them there is nothing here that I cannot see our government implementing.

Palaszczuk says there are “two key findings”.

The CCC should be funded to create a new corruption strategy and prevention unit as part of an overarching restructure which introduces greater civilianisation … and less reliance upon seconded police officers in its corruption investigations and strengthens the organisation’s oversight of these investigations.

And secondly, while seconded police should retain the power to charge, other than in exceptional circumstances charges should only be brought after the DPP has considered the evidence and considered it proper to do so.

Agriculture minister announces $10m in funding for Indonesia to help stop FMD

Josh Butler

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, says Australia will send $10m in further aid to Indonesia to assist in combating its foot and mouth disease outbreak.

Watt, in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, claimed the former Coalition government had left “cracks in the wall” of Australia’s biosecurity response, and that his job was to “repair” those issues.

Indonesia is battling a foot and mouth outbreak, and local farmers fear the devastating disease making its way to Australia, where a FMD incursion could cost our agriculture industry some $80bn.

Watt said “the best way to stop FMD reaching Australia is to stop its spread through Indonesia”, in announcing a new package of help for our northern neighbour.

I’m pleased to announce today that the Albanese government will provide an additional $10m in biosecurity funding to Indonesia. This package will provide more urgently needed vaccines and technical support.

We’ve asked Watt’s office for more detail.

Watt accused the Coalition opposition of “irresponsible fear mongering” around the FMD outbreak, including calls to close borders to Indonesia, which he said was hurting farmers and exporters.

The minister said he had recently met a northern New South Wales farmer who claimed the “politically driven alarmism” from critics of the government’s biosecurity response had cost him $250,000 due to reduced cattle prices.

Many thanks to the always lovely Natasha May for keeping us on top of the news this morning. I’ll be with you for the rest of this fine Tuesday.

I am handing over to the intrepid Caitlin Cassidy who will bringing you plenty more updates on the stories we’ve been following this morning and more.

John Sidoti suspended from NSW parliament

Tamsin Rose

Former New South Wales Liberal minister John Sidoti has been suspended from parliament after last month being found by the Independent Commission Against Corruption to have engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” to benefit his family’s property interests.

The motion to suspend Sidoti until November 25, 2022 “or until it is further ordered” was moved by NSW government leader of the house Aliser Henskens who said it was being done to “protect and uphold the dignity” of the government.

In response to the motion, Sidoti, the independent Drummoyne MP, said he was still “incredibly proud” of his time serving his community and would not let the Icac findings “detract” from that.

He accused Icac of “gagging” the ability of politicians to do their job and said the agency has created an atmosphere of “fear” for politicians.

Sidoti told the parliament:

I write the way I speak. I am no scholar and definitely no bully. I’m actually gobsmacked that telling councillors to lift their game is considered an attempt to improperly influence.

A few emails, a handful of texts and casual meetings mean that it was claimed to be a sustained attempt to improperly influence. What a ridiculous assertion and completely ignorant of multi-level political relationships.

He said he would launch an appeal against the findings in the supreme court this week and conceded he could not stand at the next state election as a Liberal candidate.

During his 25-minute address to the parliament, Sidoti cried when he recounted the impact of the saga on his parents.

Sidoti defended his actions and lashed out at the “hack” media for the way it reported on the story:

I have never knowingly or deliberately omitted to disclose pecuniary interests … They alleged that any errors of disclosure indicated attempts to hide wealth acquired through illegal means … a complete fantasy. There is no extraordinary wealth.

Disclosure guidelines are confusing and I found them complex. Unfortunately my accountant has got it wrong and I replied on that. End of story.

The anti-corruption watchdog recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions consider whether the independent Drummoyne MP should be charged with misconduct in public office.

Last month, the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, called on Sidoti to resign from parliament over the findings, saying there was “no place for corruption in the NSW parliament”.

The commission found Sidoti had used his official role as a member of parliament to try to “improperly influence” Liberal City of Canada Bay councillors in relation to properties in Five Dock between late 2013 and early 2017. Sidoti has denied the allegations against him, and the re-zoning he had allegedly sought did not go ahead.

You can read more here:

Peter Hannam

Business conditions improving, NAB report shows

Last month, we heard from treasurer Jim Chalmers about the headwinds facing the Australian economy, which prompted a cut in the nation’s GDP growth rate and forecasts of higher inflation.

Today, though, we learned from National Australia Bank with its monthly survey of business confidence and conditions that the economy has fairly strong tailwinds too.

NAB said:

After a steady decline over recent months, confidence rose to +7 index points – a marked rally in the face of headwinds from inflation and rising interest rates, as well as a deteriorating global economic outlook.

Business conditions remain well above average after rising 6pts in the month, with trading conditions, profitability and employment all higher.

NAB said capacity utilisation rose to a record 86.7%, “well above the long-run average of 81.1%, suggesting the economy could be running up against capacity constraints”.

Typically, capacity limits have inflationary consequences, so watch this space, which of course the RBA is doing. “Cost indicators” are also at record highs, as they were in June, NAB said.

“The survey suggests that despite global and domestic economic headwinds, demand has remained strong – and inflationary pressure continues to build suggesting that inflation is yet to peak,” it said.