Hello, and a very good morning to you all.
It’s Matilda Boseley here to take you through the news of Wednesday.
First things first, we will likely get an update on the Melbourne lockdown today, with the current restrictions notionally slated to end at midnight tomorrow.
Yesterday the acting premier, James Merlino, suggested that, barring any dramatic changes on Wednesday and Thursday, Melbourne was “on track” to ease restrictions at the end of the city’s second week of lockdown.
We are still … working through all the elements. It is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour analysis about how we are tracking … We remain on track to provide that easing of restrictions to all Victorians.
But Merlino also flagged that this would not mean those living in the city could suddenly begin travelling around the state freely again, saying the bubble around Melbourne “will extend beyond any announcements that we will make later in the week”.
This means we will be keeping a very close eye on today’s Victorian numbers, which are usually published around 9am, and I’ll bring you all the updates when the acting premier (presumably) appears before the media later this morning.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will deliver a major foreign policy speech today ahead of a trip to the United Kingdom, where he will be a guest at the G7 meeting of world economic powers.
Australia isn’t important enough to be an official member of this exclusive club, but countries like the US, Japan, Germany and the UK sometimes let us tag along like you would a younger sibling to a house party.
But before Morrison jumps on a plane he will tell Perth’s USAsia Centre that regional infrastructure that comes with onerous conditions or is too expensive isn’t worth having.
Projects should be high quality – and affordable.
They should meet real need, and deliver sustainable economic benefits. And they should not compromise countries’ resilience or sovereignty.
(We will go into detail about this later, but as usual it’s a not-so-subtle jab at China.)
Well with that, why don’t we jump into the day!
If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at [email protected].