Health News at Your Fingertips

My colleague Daniel Hurst has this story about defence minister Peter Dutton’s comments on the ABC this morning.

There was a distinct walk-back from Dutton on previous statements over Australia’s willingness to defend Taiwan in any future conflict.

In Brisbane, a large crowd has gathered in King George Square in support of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Greens have today announced their plan to lobby for free and universal early childhood education and care.

They are pushing to invest $19bn over the forward estimates to ensure free and accessible childcare, and to extend universal access to early childhood education for all three and four year olds to 24 hours a week.

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said all children should have a right to quality early learning and care:

Free and universal early learning has enormous social and economic benefits for our community, families and children. Too often, women have to give up work and career opportunities because childcare is too expensive or not available.

As a migrant parent with no family in Australia, I would not have had the opportunity to study or to embark on my engineering career if it wasn’t for affordable childcare at my university.

Tasmania’s health authorities say the state recorded 757 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, with no deaths. Five people are in intensive care.

Victoria’s innovation minister Jaala Pulford says the state is looking for 1,500 people who are awaiting their Covid vaccine booster to donate blood to help research.

The project will be run by the state’s vaccines collection biobank at Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, which has been commissioned extensively by the federal government to provide modelling.

The research could offer an insight into the effectiveness of vaccines and the long-term effects of Covid-19, and help experts prepare for new strains. Pulford said:

This new biobank will be a key part of managing coronavirus going forward while allowing researchers to monitor the effects of vaccines and prepare for any new strains.

People due to receive a third vaccine dose are eligible to participate, with donors providing blood samples over two years including before and after receiving the booster jab.

Pulford said the elderly, people living with HIV, healthcare workers, those who’ve been infected with coronavirus and the immunocompromised are strongly encouraged to apply.

Queensland has recorded two more deaths from Covid-19. There have been 2,934 positive cases recorded in the last 24 hours and 22 people are in intensive care.

There’s been a fair bit going on today. Time to recap, in no particular order.

• More than 11,000 people in South Australia reported feeling an earthquake that originated in the Adelaide hills at 7.20am. No damage has been reported yet.
• Police in Thailand have said cricket great Shane Warne, who died of a suspected heart attack on Friday, had complained of chest pains before leaving for his holiday in the country. Warne’s body is being transferred to the mainland and police say there are no suspicious circumstances.
• Prime minister Scott Morrison spoke with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy late last night and was thanked for the country’s support.
• Defence minister Peter Dutton says missiles and ammunition funded by Australia have arrived in Ukraine.
• Communities in south-east Queensland, northern NSW and parts of Western Sydney are being warned there’s more rain to come this afternoon as the clean-up continues.
• More than 70,000 people are covered by evacuation orders currently in NSW.
• Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk launched the state’s disaster recovery appeal with a $2.1m donation from the government.

Some of the scenes that continue to come out of Lismore in NSW show the massive scale of the clean-up and recovery needed in that town centre.

Some more details about the flood recovery efforts in Queensland from premier Palaszczuk’s media conference.

• The State Emergency Service says it still has up to 600 outstanding calls, and is asking people to cancel any tasks that they have managed to resolve themselves.
• There are 140 people still in evacuation centres.
• The Australian Defence Force has 435 personnel helping the recovery in Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Gympie, Brisbane and Somerset and will be heading to Logan and Redlands on Monday.
• A lot of flood debris has washed up on Moreton Island. The ADF is heading there tomorrow to help clear up the mess.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is giving a media conference, and she’s started by announcing the launch of the state’s public flood recovery appeal.

The state government has added $2.1m to the appeal, which will funnel donations to five organisations helping in the recovery – Red Cross, Lifeline, Salvation Army, Vinnies and GIVIT.

There’s clearly a focus on practical help, but also on the mental health toll that this flooding event has brought with it.

Health officials in Canberra have reported a further 562 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours. Two people are in intensive care.

More than 11,000 people in and around Adelaide reported to Geoscience Australia that they felt the earthquake this morning.

It’s officially known as “event ga2022engesz” which is a bit underwhelming.

No reports yet of any damage from the quake that originated about 10 kilometres below Mount Barker.

There was definitely something other-worldly about the scenes from the Sydney Mardis Gras last night, what with all the flooding, war and deaths of cricket legends.

But there it was in the Sydney Cricket Ground. All joyous. We have a picture gallery.

There are many thousands of people along the east coast trying to pick up their lives from the flooding, but several rivers are rising again.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings in the last hour for the Richmond River in northern NSW, St George’s Basin in southern NSW and the Nepean, the Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers near Sydney and Colo River to the north-west.

Keep an eye on all the flood warnings in NSW at the BoM website.

At the same time, south-east Queensland’s “mud army” helping clean ups have been asked to stay home, as the region could be hit by more thunderstorms this afternoon.

The Guardian’s political editor Katharine Murphy tells the ABC’s Insiders the flooding in Queensland and New South Wales will again draw voters’ attention to the Morrison government’s climate policy.