Health News at Your Fingertips

I want to thank you for spending the time with me this afternoon/evening as we went through the news.

Let’s do a quick recap of the big stories we saw today:

• Dylan Alcott, the first man in tennis history to complete the golden slam (winning all four major singles titles as well as an Olympic or Paralympic gold in one year), has announced that he will retire after the next Australian Open.
• An Indigenous man was shot and killed by police after a confrontation in Seven Hills in Sydney’s west.
• The Australian Capital Territory recorded 18 new Covid-19 cases today, NSW 224, the Northern Territory one and Victoria 1,069.
• Scott Morrison did a full 180 on his electric vehicle stance, announcing the government will spend an extra $250m on building Australia’s refuelling and recharging network – including putting 50,000 charging stations in homes.
• NSW hit the 90% Covid vaccine milestone.

And that’s it for today. Thanks for being with us.

Team Guardian Australia.

Santa is refusing to get the vaccine …

The ABC is reporting a Santa shortage because some are refusing the vaccine. Santa manager Jessica Vatoff at photography agency Scene To Believe said they are short 60 Santas across the nation.

“We have about 500 Santas, but we are short 60. So we are really opening up our recruitment, and we have actually taken on a couple of Santas in their late 20s.

“You don’t have to have a beard and big belly because we can supply the belly, the beard, we can supply everything. You just need to love Christmas.”

For anyone wondering why the Liberals are being accused of flipping on electric vehicles here is the video of Michaelia Cash attacking Labor’s electric car policy during the 2019 election.

“We are going to stand by our tradies and we are going to save their utes,” she said.

There has been a lot of talk about electric vehicles today. My colleuge Royce Kurmelovs has a really good rundown of what the PM’s plan actually is and if it will work.

In Victoria, over one thousand people are expected to rally outside parliament house this evening, to protest the state government’s proposed pandemic laws.

At least three of the state’s Liberal MPs are expected to attend the protest, which is linked to the anti-mandate movement.

Some of the main changes include giving the premier the power to declare a pandemic, allowing that pandemic status to be extended for up to three months at a time with no maximum time, and up to $90,500 fines and two years’ jail time for people who don’t comply with public health orders.

Not so long ago Morrison said Labor’s electric vehicle policy would “end the weekend”. Now he’s spruiking his own plan, but there’s no substance to it, writes Sarah Martin.

In Tasmania, Opposition leader Rebecca White has revealed a homeless young person was released from the state’s youth detention centre – and given a tent to live in over winter.

“It is our understanding that a young person was exited into a situation where they didn’t have a home earlier this year and that they subsequently lived in a tent,” White said.

“That is completely unacceptable for a young person to be given a tent in the middle of winter.

“We know this government has a history of providing tents to young people on care and protection orders.”

According to The Mercury, the centre will be replaced within three years.

Anger at half-price fares!

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns says the half-price fares on offer for commuters dealing with Sydney’s light-rail fallout is not good enough.

“Look, it should be free,” Minns said.

“At the end of the day, people that use the Inner West light rail shouldn’t be paying for the government’s mistakes.

“They pay taxes, that infrastructure is in place off the back of the people of New South Wales’ hard work in terms of tax revenue, it’s completely screwed up.”

A seriously ill 66-year-old widow has taken legal action in a bid to stop Gerry Harvey evicting her from the home she shared with her late husband, a longtime friend of the billionaire retailer.

In documents filed with the NSW supreme court, Peggy Luker alleges Harvey promised her and her husband, Garry Dent, that the home would be transferred to them as the result of property development work he did, but this never happened.

And that’s it for the day from Nino Bucci. He will be back live-tweeting Victoria’s IBAC hearings on Thursday – and I will make sure you get it on the blog.

Just going back to Nino Bucci – he was covering Adem Somyurek’s questioning by Victoria’s Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption agency today.

Wilson said the government is “empowering people” to be part of the emissions reductions journey.

When asked how the government will choose who gets one of the 50,000 charging stations he said:

“That will go through a proper process to make sure that the allocation is done to ensure that it is empowering consumers.

“So those details have been worked through, but what we want to do is make sure that there is that infrastructure because there are huge consequences to seeing, particularly, electric vehicles go into the grid.”

… somehow I don’t think my rented sharehouse will be one of the 50,000.

Victorian MP Tim Wilson is on Afternoon Briefing on the ABC talking about the government’s new electric vehicle plan – which involves partnering with the private sector to fund 50,000 charging stations in Australian homes.

Asked about the government saying Labor’s 2019 election plan would “ruin the weekend” Wilson said:

“The volume of vehicles available in the marketplace and the range of them, the cost basis in the technology has markedly improved,” he said.

“You just need to talk to electric vehicle manufacturers and they will tell you how many more products in the marketplace.”

Hello, half-price fares! This from the Australian Associated Press just now:

Frustrated Sydney commuters forced on to replacement bus services after defects were discovered on the city’s inner-west light rail cars will be compensated with half-price fares.

The NSW government on Friday revealed the L1 Dulwich Hill line could – in the “worst-case scenario” – be out of action for up to 18 months to fix significant cracking found on all 12 trams.

Replacement buses have been running since last week, and are already transporting 5000 passengers a day.

Transport Minister Rob Stokes on Tuesday announced passengers on those services would have their fares halved to $1.90 each way.

However, Inner West Mayor Rochelle Porteous and NSW Labor have demanded the government provide free alternative transport.

“This is a half price refund for a broken service,” said Labor’s transport spokesperson Jo Haylen, who is also the MP for Summer Hill.

“Passengers shouldn’t have to pay for the inconvenience caused by the government’s light rail fail.”