Australia news LIVE Victoria records 860 new local COVID-19 cases five deaths no vaccine for under-12s until 2022 Pilbara rocked by aftershocks after earthquake on Saturday

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Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has defended the state’s proposed pandemic laws, saying they put public health advice at “the heart” of decision-making.

Earlier today, Mr Foley was on ABC Radio Melbourne and was asked whether medical experts were best-placed to be making public health decisions, rather than politicians.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.Credit:Joe Armao

The draft legislation has been criticised from some quarters for giving the Victorian premier and health minister of the day the authority to declare a pandemic and make public health orders (not the state’s chief health officer, as is currently the case).

“We’ve looked around the country and, indeed, New Zealand, and based on all the best models that we’ve seen, what this legislation does is makes the public health advice the heart of the decision â€" it will be published, it will be tabled in parliament,” Mr Foley said.

“But what it also does is bring the Victorian pandemic response into line with just about everywhere else and makes the elected members of parliament accountable for those decisions.”

Mr Foley said while politicians would be able to ignore the chief health officer’s advice, that would be “highly unlikely” as was the case in other states.

“The chief health officer’s advice will be required to be tabled in parliament, its implications for the Charter of Human Rights will be required to be tabled in parliament, and if there is any movement away from that by the health minister of the day, the health minister has to justify those reasons,” Mr Foley said.

He said while someone found guilty of deliberately violating a public health order could face two years in prison under the bill, that would only apply in the most egregious and dangerous of cases.

He said the Victorian government was working with upper house crossbenchers on suggested amendments to the bill, including that public health advice should be tabled when government orders are made, rather than 14 days later.

Over the weekend, thousands of demonstrators took to Melbourne’s CBD to protest the proposed legislation. People were heard shouting death threats against Premier Dan Andrews and one man carried makeshift gallows with three nooses hanging from it as he marched through the streets.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared himself the underdog in next year’s federal election amid a political fight over his decision to lock in his climate change target for 2030 despite a global deal that asks governments to set more ambitious goals within a year.

Mr Morrison said it was “fairly clear” he was the underdog as he intensified his campaign in marginal seats ahead of the election due by May, while claiming Labor would increase petrol prices, electricity prices and interest rates.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he can keep a lid on interest rates, power prices and petrol costs.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The claims, made without reference to Labor policies, step up a political clash on the economy while Labor leader Anthony Albanese accuses Mr Morrison of breaching a pledge at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow within 24 hours of signing up to the global deal.

The Glasgow agreement says signatories agreed to request governments to “revisit and strengthen” their 2030 targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of next year while “taking into account different national circumstances” in setting the goals.

Asked today whether he would increase his target for 2030, Mr Morrison emphasised the global deal was only a “request to revisit” and did not mean he would change stated government policy to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030 on the levels of 2005.

Read the full story here.

Good afternoon and thank you for reading our live coverage of the day’s events. If you are just joining us now, here’s what you need to know.

NSW Police have confirmed they are searching for the remains of missing boy William Tyrrell, who disappeared in 2014. William, then aged three, was last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit at his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on the NSW Mid-North Coast on September 12, 2014. Nobody has ever been charged over his disappearance and suspected murder. “We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that,” State Crime Commander Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said this morning. He said police were examining three sites in Kendall and were responding to “evidence we have obtained in the course of the investigation” that was “not speculative in any way”.

William Tyrrell vanished in 2014 dressed in his Spider-Man suit.

The Aboriginal Legal Service in NSW and the ACT has slammed a proposal by the states’ attorneys-general to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, saying it should be lifted to at least 14. On Friday, the attorneys-general supported developing a proposal to raise the age to 12, and have until Monday to agree to the wording. A formal announcement is expected early this week. But Nadine Miles, acting chief executive of the ALS, said: “This is a fig-leaf announcement designed to take pressure off politicians and give the appearance of action, without the substance. They know most Australians support raising the age to 14, as do Aboriginal organisations and the experts across the medical, legal, human rights and community service sectors.”

The Aboriginal Legal Service has slammed the proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, not 14.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended a controversial Senate committee inquiry into complaints handling processes at the national broadcaster and the SBS, as ABC chair Ita Buttose doubled down on her criticism that the inquiry amounted to political interference. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, chair of the Senate standing committee on environment and communications, announced the inquiry on Thursday into the broadcaster’s complaints handling processes. The committee is expected to report by February 28. The ABC had already commissioned an independent review into the same topic, with a reporting date of April.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Mr Morrison, who was in western Sydney this morning, said the ABC was a government agency and “there is no government agency that is above the scrutiny of the Senate”. “They have their independence and nobody is questioning that, but that are not above the scrutiny of how they conduct themselves,” Mr Morrison said.

On Sunday Ms Buttrose described the inquiry as an act of “political interference designed to intimidate the ABC”. Today, she told ABC Radio National the broadcaster’s relationship with the Morrison government was “strained”.

ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose has accused Senator Andrew Bragg of political interference of the broadcaster.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen/James Brickwood

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who is deputy chair of the Senate committee, told ABC Radio National this morning she was blindsided by Senator Bragg’s announcement and the inquiry is a “witch hunt”. “I’ll be moving as soon as Parliament gets back next week to stop this witch hunt from going ahead. It is an abuse of proper process. It’s an attack on the ABC [and] their independence,” she said.

NSW has recorded 165 new cases of COVID-19 and one death. From today, the state is no longer indicating whether cases were acquired locally or overseas, as there is no quarantine requirement for vaccinated travellers. There are 216 people in the state’s hospitals with coronavirus, of whom 32 are in intensive care. More than 90 per cent (91.1 per cent) of people in NSW aged 16 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 95.2 per cent have received a first dose.

A fully vaccinated woman in her 80s died after contracting coronavirus at the Presbyterian Aged Care nursing home at Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west. It is the first death linked to an outbreak at this facility.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet.Credit:Edwina Pickles

Booster shots are now available for people who received their second coronavirus jab at least six months ago and some immunocompromised people are now receiving a third shot as part of their primary course. In the NSW population aged 12 to 15, 73.4 per cent of kids are fully vaccinated and 80.6 per cent have received a first dose.

Elective surgery will start returning to full capacity today for public and private patients in hospitals in Greater Sydney, including the Nepean Blue Mountains and Illawarra Shoalhaven, owing to high vaccination rates in the state and the relatively small number of coronavirus patients in hospital.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Joe Armao

Victoria has recorded 860 new cases of COVID-19 today, down from 905 cases yesterday, and five deaths. There are 378 coronavirus patients in Victorian hospitals, 78 of whom are in intensive care. Forty-eight people are on ventilators. On the vaccination front, 87 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and up (not 16 and up, as is reported in NSW) are now fully vaccinated against the virus.

Private hospitals and day surgeries in Melbourne and Geelong will resume performing elective surgeries at 50 per cent their normal capacity today. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews made the announcement on Thursday, saying the change was possible thanks to current COVID-19 hospitalisation numbers that allowed for a “safe and modest restart of non-urgent elective surgery in the private sector”.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.Credit:Matt Dennien

Queensland has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, after two cases emerged on the Gold Coast last week. From tonight, border restrictions in the state will change as Queensland hit a 70 per cent double-dose vaccination milestone on Sunday for people aged 16 and up.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that from 5pm today the state would be welcoming fully vaccinated people from interstate hot spots, provided they can show a negative COVID test in the 72 hours prior to travel. They must quarantine at a private residence for 14 days and must arrive by air, not road. Prospective travellers from hotspots must still apply for a border pass. Ms Palaszczuk said the state had reached the 70 per cent mark almost a week earlier than predicted, in what she said was a “mighty effort”.

There is one person in hospital in Canberra with COVID-19.Credit:Louie Douvis

The ACT has recorded ten new cases of COVID-19 in the community, and one person is in hospital. Nobody is in intensive care, and there have been no further deaths. The ACT continues to lead the nation in vaccinations, with 96.4 per cent of the population aged 12 and up fully vaccinated against the virus.

This is Michaela Whitbourn is signing off on the blog for today. My colleague Broede Carmody will keep you informed of the latest headlines throughout the afternoon and evening.

Business heavyweight Andrew Liveris, the former chair of Dow Chemical, says Australia should have another attempt at pricing carbon, despite it being a highly divisive political issue.

Australian-born Mr Liveris told a UBS conference this morning that the time had come for carbon emissions to be priced because this would provide a critical incentive for the economy.

Business needs a carbon prices, says Andrew Liveris.Credit:Louie Douvis

Speaking from the US after attending the Glasgow summit, Mr Liveris acknowledged carbon pricing had a “fraught” history in Australia, but he said emissions were now being priced in many countries around the world.

“Business needs it, and in fact many companies are already setting an internal price on carbon,” he said.

Mr Liveris stressed that carbon pricing was not the same thing as a tax, and indeed said it was “disingenuous” and “dangerous” to frame carbon pricing as a form of taxation.

He said he believed Australia’s business community had a “centrist” view on climate change, and in his opinion, firms were ready to have a form of carbon pricing.

On another issue that is politically contentious in Australia - nuclear energy - Mr Liveris also argued it was time for the country to look at deploying small modular nuclear reactors.

“I recognise that Australia has not been ready for this discussion, but we need to get ready,” he said.

Mr Liveris said climate change was as big a threat to humanity as the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighted the need for companies to take bold risks.

NSW has changed the way it reports daily COVID cases as the state seeks to normalise living with the virus.

The state is no longer reporting the split between locally acquired COVID cases and those with an overseas origin.

“Since the introduction of quarantine-free international travel on 1 November, the origins of where each case was acquired can no longer be determined immediately and so it is not possible to accurately report overseas cases on a daily basis,” NSW Health said.

The positive case data will also become less granular as case locations for regional and rural NSW will no longer being published. This change brings the regions into line with Greater Sydney.

“This change does not affect NSW Health’s contact tracing work,” NSW Health said.

Positive cases will still be reported according to local health districts.

NSW has a double-dose vaccination rate of 91.1 per cent for people aged 16 and up and a single-dose rate of 94.2 per cent.

The single COVID-related death reported today was a woman in her 80s from a nursing home in Sydney’s inner west. She was fully vaccinated.

WA Premier Mark McGowan provided a COVID-19 update after 8.15am local time (11.15 AEDT) with Health Minister Roger Cook. Police Minister Paul Papalia and Police Commissioner Chris Dawson are also attending.

We will have the playback clip for you shortly.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended a controversial Senate committee inquiry into complaints handling processes at the ABC and SBS, saying “nobody” is above the scrutiny of the Senate.

“That is a matter for the Senate,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference in western Sydney this morning.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

“There is nobody above the scrutiny of the Senate. I don’t understand why that would be an extraordinary initiative to take.”

Mr Morrison said the ABC was a government agency and “there is no government agency that is above the scrutiny of the Senate”.

“It is a government agency; they have their independence and nobody is questioning that, but that are not above the scrutiny of how they conduct themselves.”

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, chair of the Senate standing committee on environment and communications, announced the inquiry into the broadcaster’s complaints handling processes on Thursday evening.

The committee is expected to report by February 28. The ABC had already commissioned a review into the same topic, with a reporting date of April.

ABC chair Ita Buttrose commissioned former Commonwealth and NSW ombudsman, Professor John McMillan, and former SBS, Seven and Ten news boss Jim Carroll to run its review, which will hand down its findings by April.

The inquiry has provoked a furious reaction from Ms Buttrose, who has accused Senate Bragg of trying to subvert the separate independent inquiry.

On Sunday, Ms Buttrose described the inquiry as an act of “political interference designed to intimidate the ABC”. Today, she doubled down on those comments and told ABC Radio National the broadcaster’s relationship with the Morrison government was “strained”.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who is deputy chair of the Senate committee, told ABC Radio National this morning she was blindsided by Senator Bragg’s announcement and the inquiry is a “witch hunt”.

“I’ll be moving as soon as Parliament gets back next week to stop this witch hunt from going ahead. It is an abuse of proper process. It’s an attack on the ABC [and] their independence,” she said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison held a short press conference in St Marys in western Sydney earlier this morning.

We will have the playback clip for you shortly.

The ACT has recorded ten new cases of COVID-19 in the community, and one person is in hospital.

Nobody is in intensive care, and there have been no further deaths.

The ACT continues to lead the nation in vaccinations, with 96.4 per cent of the population aged 12 and up fully vaccinated against the virus.

NSW Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett says police are looking for the remains of missing boy William Tyrrell, who was last seen in 2014.

William, then aged three, was last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit at his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on the NSW Mid-North Coast on September 12, 2014.

“We will be doing some operational activity in the coming weeks that will involve many hundreds of police officers ... [at] a number of locations,” Detective Chief Superintendent Bennett said.

“We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that.

“This activity is in response to evidence we have obtained in the course of the investigation, not speculative in any way. We are acting on behalf of the coroner and in conjunction with the coronial orders.

“We won’t be providing daily commentary about what is taking place. As you would understand, there is a large amount of work to be undertaken; we will be working specialist areas and people from outside the police force.

“We are very hopeful we can bring this matter to some sort of conclusion ... and I would also like to remind everyone from the public there is still a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of a person with regard to this.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Bennett said police were examining “three specific locations, and they are all in the Kendall area”.

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