Health News at Your Fingertips

And with that, I will leave the blog in the trusty hands of Ben Doherty. Thanks for reading.

Albanese suggests bosses go easy on Socceroos fans today

Earlier, prime minister Anthony Albanese was asked what is arguably the most important question of the day: will he give the nation a day off to celebrate the Socceroos?

Unfortunately, the PM could only offer some encouragement for bosses to go easy on employees today (booooooo):

If someone’s having a little kip in the corner, it’s understandable, because if they’ve been up since 4 o’clock watching … and then celebrating afterwards, it’s understandable that coffee can only go so far.

The AEC is due to officially declare results in numerous House of Representatives seats today, but the result in the NSW seat of Gilmore has been delayed after Liberal candidate Andrew Constance called for a recount.

The former NSW state minister ended up just 373 votes behind Labor MP Fiona Phillips, according to the AEC’s official numbers, and the seat was to be declared officially at 2pm today.

But the AEC says that has been delayed after a formal request for a recount, which the electoral body says it will give “thorough consideration”.

Constance told Guardian Australia that his vote scrutineers had “raised concerns in relation to certain aspects of the process, particularly the scrutiny of informal votes”. Constance said he believed the close result meant there were “strong grounds for a recount”.

The AEC said its staff need time to assess the request, stressing that the delay of the declaration was not any indication of what decision it would make.

A spokesman noted the AEC’s validation processes for counting votes, including that ballots are counted more than once in a process called “fresh scrutiny”.

Paul Karp

Albanese says ‘all things are on the table’ for energy policy review

Earlier, Anthony Albanese was asked about the fact the energy minister, Chris Bowen, did not rule out price controls on gas in a morning interview.

Albanese said:

He didn’t speak about that at all, I’ve read the transcript, he was asked about that. It’s a different thing. With what Mr Bowen said in the interview … is that all things are on the table. We’ve said we will have a review of the so-called trigger, which is in place.

The so-called trigger isn’t really a trigger at all because you pull the trigger and nothing happens until January 1. So what we will do and are doing as a matter of urgency is a review and all things are on the table.

Albanese also sounded off about the failures of the Morrison government on energy.

He said:

It’s not acceptable that we have had a government previously, which was in office for three terms, announced 22 different energy policies and didn’t land one – that is not acceptable.

You’ve had a decade of neglect … you’ve had a decade where we have an energy grid that isn’t fit for purpose for the 21st century. You’ve had too many arguments taking place rather than the investment certainty which comes from having an energy policy … And what we find is the consequences of the former government’s failure to put in place an energy policy is being felt right now, with problems in the market.

The Australian Electoral Commission has announced the count for senators in the Northern Territory has concluded, with Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy and the Country Liberals’ Jacinta Nampijinpa Price successfully voted into the Senate.

Albanese says China must remove trade sanctions to improve relationship

Paul Karp

Anthony Albanese has been asked about China’s sanctions, after defence minister Richard Marles met his Chinese counterpart, ending several years of Australia being frozen out by Chinese ministers.

Albanese said:

Well it’s China that has imposed sanctions on Australia, they need to remove those sanctions in order to improve relations between Australia and China.

It’s a good thing that Richard Marles [was able to meet] with his counterpart on the sides of the conference in Singapore. We do need to engage with each other and that’s a positive step. But it’s China that has imposed sanctions, it’s China that has changed and it’s China that needs to remove those sanctions.

China needs to remove the sanctions they have put in place, there is no reason for them to be there. We are a trading nation, we have fulfilled all of our obligations as part of contracts and arrangements put in place, and we make good products as well. And those sanctions hurt Australia but they also hurt China, because of the quality of our products.

Albanese said dialogue had been “missing” in the last few years, but there need to be “concrete steps” from China. My colleague Daniel Hurst has reported similar demands from foreign minister, Penny Wong, to end trade sanctions.

Albanese also confirmed he has written back to China after premier, Li Keqiang, sent him a “congratulatory message”, but would not comment beyond saying he “responded appropriately”.

“There have been prime ministers who reveal text messages and correspondence – I’m not one of them,” he said.

Paul Karp

Albanese questioned on reducing deportations of New Zealanders convicted of crimes

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is holding a press conference in Brisbane with the aged care minister Anika Wells.

Albanese was asked about his talks with New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, about reducing deportations of New Zealanders convicted of crimes in Australia.

He said:

I’ve said that section 501 will stay in place. What we’ll have discussions over though is how that framework operates in a sensible way, in the context as well [that] New Zealand has agreed, of course, to take some people who are currently on Nauru, and we’ll have those discussions in the context as well and of how we smooth out the path to citizenship for people from New Zealand, which is a substantial number right here in Australia.

Fascinating that he made a link between reducing deportations and New Zealand agreeing to take asylum seekers and refugees from offshore detention.

Tasmania records 658 new Covid cases

And Tasmania has also reported their Covid numbers, with 658 new cases overnight. There are currently two patients in ICU and 3,645 total active cases.

NT records 169 new Covid cases

The Northern Territory has recorded 169 new Covid cases overnight, with 22 patients currently in hospital, three of whom require oxygen.

ACT records 633 new Covid cases

Western Australia is reporting 6,315 new Covid cases and six deaths overnight. There are 278 people with Covid in hospital in the state, with 12 of them in intensive care.

Business confidence retreats as Australian stocks plunge

Australian stocks seem to have plateaued for now, down just a tad less than 5%, pretty much how far they plunged at the open.

There are more details here on that fall, which wiped off more than $110bn in share value:

Eventually the effects of financial markets do affect the “real economy” but the daily gyrations can sometimes be misleading (and are bad for blood pressure, and so on).

So what’s the real world look like?

NAB’s monthly survey of business confidence and conditions finds some retreat but forward orders are keeping both relatively buoyant.

Overall conditions remain “well above average”at +16 points, NAB says.
That sentiment is patchy, though, with confidence dipping in South Australia and Victoria, but improving in Queensland.

Some industries, though, such as construction are not doing very well, profit-wise, even if their order books are generally full. “No other industry is facing such margin pressure,” NAB said.

The signs are mixed too for inflation. On the one hand, labour costs were up 2.5% in May, easing from the record 3.0% rise in April, while the cost of finished goods rose 1.8% and retail price growth came in at 3.1% on a quarterly basis, NAB said.

By that score, real wages are looking like they might still be going backwards.

Queensland has recorded 4,190 new Covid cases and six deaths. There are currently 373 with the virus in hospital in the state, with eight of them in ICU.

Adeshola Ore

Public hearings begin into far-right extremism in Victoria

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry investigating the rising threat of far-right extremism has begun holding public hearings today.

Liberty Victoria president, Michael Stanton, tells the inquiry it is vital a legislative response does not “throw the baby out with the bath water” to ensure free speech is balanced with people’s right to live without discrimination and violence:

Sometimes that involves tolerating things that we find offensive or humiliating, and I’m reminded of John Howard, who famously of course introduced gun control but also strongly opposed flag burning becoming a criminal offence, despite pressure from his own backbench.

The inquiry, announced in February after a push from the Greens, comes amid a recent emergence of extremist and neo-Nazi groups into public view.

Last month, Victoria introduced landmark legislation that would see the state become the first jurisdictions in Australia to ban the Nazi swastika.

Aemo says it might need to intervene in SA amid energy shortage but solar helping

Eastern Australia’s energy market continues to be busy, with the Australian Energy Market Operator signalling it may have to intervene in South Australia if more supply isn’t forthcoming.

At the moment, wind and solar are supplying almost 90% of that’s state’s needs, and SA is busily exporting to Victoria (SA’s spot wholesale price is negative-$1 per megawatt hour, compared with $200-$300 in other parts of the national electricity market).

So the intervention will likely be for system security with more “synchronous generating units” needed.

Meanwhile, there have been a couple of actual lack of reserve notices in NSW and Queensland where the available extra capacity has been lower than desired but without supply gaps looming.

The sunny days across most of eastern Australia (long may they last after the rains) mean there’s a decent amount of solar energy being generated even though we’re in winter. At the moment, about a quarter of supplies are coming from solar farms and rooftops.

Short of some surprises, then, the main focus of regulators (and nervous energy ministers) will be what happens as the sun sets. Blackouts, though, remain unlikely but can’t be ruled out.

Police in the the town of Taupiri on New Zealand’s north island are responding to reports of an active shooter.

AAP reports that a person was injured about 9.30am while a nearby school was in lockdown as a precaution.

Police were responding to a “serious incident” in Taupiri, south of Auckland, on Tuesday morning.

Local media are reporting that an active shooter was in the Taupiri area.

A large number of police remain at the scene.