Australia Covid live update: Victoria records 26 new cases; SA braces for more infections; Sydney outbreak moves west




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Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has insisted that Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk attend the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony, in an awkward exchange just hours after Queensland won the hosting rights for the 2032 Games.

Palaszczuk had previously said she would not attend the ceremony, in the face of growing domestic concern about her international trip.

But at a press conference on Wednesday night, Coates – also vice president of the International Olympic Committee – issued a stern rebuke with Palaszczuk sitting next to him.

“You are going to the opening ceremony,” Coates said. “I am still the deputy chair of the candidature leadership group [for the 2032 bid]. So far as I understand, there will be an opening and a closing ceremony in 2032, and all of you have got to get along there and understand the tradition parts of that, what’s involved in an opening ceremony.

“None of you are staying behind hiding in your rooms, alright?”

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A private boys’ school in Perth that charges up to $27,000 a year in fees received more than $7m in jobkeeper subsidies in 2020 while declaring an operating surplus of more than $8m.

The Hale school in Perth counts cabinet minister Christian Porter and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith as alumni.

According to the school’s annual report, it received $7.45m in jobkeeper payments last year. At the same time, the school declared an operating surplus in 2020 of $8.31m and also offered discounts to parents.

Jobkeeper subsidies were the second-largest source of income for the private school in 2020, contributing more than commonwealth funding, state funding and boarding fees.

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‘No doubt’ vaccine rollout would have been more successful without Atagi’s AZ warning, Morrison says

Scott Morrison has hit the radio waves in Brisbane to say various formulations of “how good are the Olympics” but he’s also been asked about Atagi’s advice on AstraZeneca, and what Australians should do now that he is publicly barracking for the advice to change.

On 4BC Radio, Morrison said “no doubt” Australia would’ve been in a better position if the Atagi warning had not been applied to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Morrison said he respects Atagi, and the government has “acted consistently with their recommendations”, but, given the greater risk of Covid-19 now, he was querying how the Delta outbreaks would impact their advice.

Asked about Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young and her warning against AstraZeneca, Morrison said:


Rather than specifically talking about that – I’d more say that the impact of this advice over time has been for people to have some hesitancy, [AstraZeneca] is an approved drug by TGA. This is the vaccine that has substantially vaccinated the UK and is approved for use in Australia.

Morrison said Atagi had made “some suggestions” (that Pfizer is preferred for those 59 and under) and that others should consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs. That is why the government had encouraged people to talk to their GP, and exercise “informed consent”, which means “we don’t mandate” people to take vaccines but “we don’t prevent you from taking them either”.

The PM revealed that 60,000 people under 40 had received the AstraZeneca vaccine since he encouraged them to talk to their GP in late June.

He then made a full-throated appeal to Queenslanders:


Don’t wait for what’s happening in another state to potentially happen in your state …

This is the thing with the Delta variant – it can move very quick and no system is 100% foolproof, the whole world knows that.

Please, Queensland, particularly if you’re in the older population – please go and get that AstraZeneca, it’s a totally safe vaccine for you. The Therapeutic Goods Administration would not have approved it if it were not.

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Victoria record 26 local Covid-19 cases overnight

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source: theguardian.com