Queensland names Sydney's Fairfield as Covid-19 hotspot – as it happened

That is where I will leave you tonight. Thanks for reading.

Here’s what we learned today:

• Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the federal budget will be in deficit by $85.8bn in 2019 and $184.5bn in 2020-21. News of the largest deficit since the second world war was revealed during a budget update, when the government also announced it expects unemployment to reach 9.25% by December.
• Labor treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers criticised the government’s financial announcement, saying: “What we got today wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t even half an update ... It was a pamphlet.”
• Victorian workers who cannot afford to take time off while waiting for a Covid-19 test result will now be eligible for a $300 hardship payment, as the state announced a further 403 infections – its third-worst day yet – and five deaths. Thursday was the first day a mandatory mask wearing order came into effect for Melbourne.
• The Australian Medical Association has warned the aged care system in Victoria is on the verge of collapse, after federal health minister Greg Hunt announced 213 residents across 21 aged care facilities in the state have been diagnosed with Covid-19.
• New South Wales recorded 19 new cases, as it was revealed 153,195 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the state over the past week, compared with 99,875 the previous week.
• Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced her government now considers the Sydney suburb of Fairfield a Covid-19 hotspot, and from 1am on Monday will not allow anyone who has been to Fairfield to enter Queensland. Like visitors from Victoria and other parts of south-west Sydney have experienced this week, anyone who has been to Fairfield will not be able to quarantine in Queensland and will be turned away at the border.
• The Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association has called for a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Sydney next week to be postponed, and urged people not to attend if it does go ahead, “due to the inherent danger posed by mass gatherings” in spreading Covid-19. The NSW supreme court will rule tomorrow on a police application to prohibit the march.

An important, exclusive report on Victoria’s aged care system from my colleague Melissa Davey:

Doctors are warning the aged care system in Victoria is on the verge of collapse – a situation that will be worsened by the federal government’s impending announcement that the state’s part-time and casual aged care workers will be banned from working across multiple facilities to help contain the spread of Covid-19 through the sector.

South Australia’s Independent Commissioner Against Corruption has announced it will investigate country MPs’ use of an accommodation allowance over the past 10 years.

The announcement comes after three SA Liberal MPs learned they would have to repay more than $70,000 of taxpayers’ money claimed for accommodation in Adelaide.

Icac has announced it will further investigate the country members allowance, which gives MPs who live more than 75km from Adelaide $234 a night to spend on accommodation in the city, after three SA Liberal MPs learned they would have to repay more than $70,000 of taxpayers’ money claimed under the scheme.

The Adelaide Advertiser reported that one MP, transport minister Stephan Knoll, used the allowance to claim board at his parents’ home in Adelaide.

It also reported the state’s Labor opposition criticised primary industries minister Tim Whetstone for claiming the allowance for 12 days when he was on an overseas trip to the US.

Announcing the investigation on Thursday, Bruce Lander QC, the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, said:

Earlier this month I commenced an investigation into the conduct of a number of members of parliament in respect of claims made by them for payment of the country members accommodation allowance.

I intend to make further enquiries in respect of all claims for the country members accommodation allowance by any member of parliament over the last 10 years.

I have discussed with the auditor general any activities he may be conducting relevant to the matter to avoid duplication. The auditor general has advised me that he does not intend at this time to investigate the matter in light of his office’s statutory responsibilities to audit the financial statements of all statutory public authorities.

In due course the auditor general and I will discuss what recommendations can be made for improvements to the manner in which claims are made for an allowance.

This investigation will be conducted in private, as is required by legislation.

23 Jul 202004.01 EDT

Daniel Hurst

A peak body for public health in Australia has sounded the alarm over the possibility Covid-19 related drugs and vaccines will not be shared equitably among all countries.

The Public Health Association of Australia has told a parliamentary committee the Australian government should consider mechanisms to override patents where necessary.

Addressing an inquiry into the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for Australia’s foreign affairs, defence and trade, association co-convenor Deborah Gleeson said Australia could look at the example set by Canada, which had passed emergency legislation to remove a requirement that negotiations with the patent owner take place before a license is issued during the pandemic.

I don’t think there are any easy answers. We really need to cultivate an environment at the global level where countries commit to sharing things equitably, where we don’t have this sort of nationalism that results in bans on exports of drugs and results in countries buying up supplies of drugs in advance, and things like this that prevent equitable sharing.”

Several Liberal committee members asked whether the group’s patent proposals could undercut innovation in drug and vaccine development - and whether Canada had faced blowback over its move.

Gleeson said the problems with the existing patent model were not new, although the pandemic had made the issue more pressing.

In the past, she said, countries that had issued compulsory licences - allowing a generic medicines manufacturer to produce copies of a patented invention without the permission of the patent owner - had faced a lot of opposition from the US and Europe where big pharmaceutical products were housed.

The US government issued an annual report “where it names and shames countries that it sees as not adequately respecting its intellectual property rights” while also applying bilateral pressure.

But Gleeson insisted that there were “intentionally agreed mechanisms which are meant to enable countries to meet the public health needs of their populations when they can’t do that in other ways” and predicted that more countries would embrace such actions as a result of the pandemic.

A worker at the DON Smallgoods meat production facility in the regional Victorian town of Castlemaine has been diagnosed with Covid-19.

As a result of the diagnosis, “the production shift and zone impacted” by the coronavirus-positive worker have been closed for deep cleaning.

A company statement said:

This is the first Covid-19 case among DON Smallgoods staff to date.

The employee is under the supervision of healthcare professionals. We are keeping in touch for regular updates on their condition and doing all we can to support them during this time. We are hoping for their full recovery soon.

In line with government advice, any employees showing cold or flu-like symptoms, have been in close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case or have returned from overseas in the past 14 days are not allowed to enter our sites. We are instructing them to seek medical advice and follow all government guidelines.

Following the announcement of Covid-19 as a pandemic, DON Smallgoods implemented functional plans to minimise the risk of spreading the virus among staff. Some immediate steps taken at our Castlemaine facility include changes to closed-door policies, reduced physical meetings, increased our sanitation and cleaning regimes and banned external visitors.

We have also implemented workforce zoning to reduce movement and interaction across the factory while practicing social distancing, installed screens surrounding particular workstations where contact is a higher risk, and also introduced thermo-imaging equipment where all people who arrive onsite must pass a health scan by a registered nurse for entry.

The New South Wales supreme court has reportedly adjourned a hearing about next Tuesday’s Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.

The hearing is now scheduled for 9:45am tomorrow (Friday).

Police in NSW are attempting to stop the rally from going ahead, citing health concerns about the risk of Covid-19 spreading at the gathering.

Prime minister Scott Morrison, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association have all called for the protest not to go ahead.

The governor general, David Hurley, has agreed to extend the reporting date for the royal commission into the past bushfire season, as a result of Covid-19 disruption.

Mark Binskin, the chair of the royal commission, had requested the extension.

David Littleproud, the minister for emergency management, said:

The royal commission has adapted quickly to continue its work in light of Covid-19 restrictions, however the royal commission chair has advised the government that the disruption caused by the pandemic placed unavoidable pressures on a number of stakeholders to provide information to the royal commission in a timely manner.

The chair has also advised that this short extension will provide the royal commission with the opportunity to appropriately consider the many hundreds of thousands of pages of material the royal commission has received in submissions, responses to papers published, and responses to requests from the royal commission.

Although the final reporting date has been extended by two months, the commission is expected to provide the government with interim observations on 31 August 2020, which will allow for work to be done in preparation for the next bushfire season.

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The Queensland government have released more information about the decision to consider Fairfield a hotspot.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young has shed some light on why the directive, to people who have travelled to Fairfield, only comes into effect from 1am on Monday.

We’re giving people as much time as possible to come home to the safety of Queensland but that notice may not always be possible.

If an area where you are staying or visiting is suddenly declared a hotspot while you are there, once you return to Queensland, you will have to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel at your own expense.

Our job is to protect Queenslanders and, given the situation in NSW and Victoria, we need to implement tough measures.

The city of Fairfield is adjacent to Campbelltown city and Liverpool city, which are current hotspots, and is also where the Thai Rock restaurant is located, which has had a recent outbreak.

We are monitoring the situation closely every day and we will declare more hotspots if community transmission continues to increase.

I urge travellers to consider the risks of travelling to NSW at this time as outbreaks can rapidly spread and get out of control, as we’ve seen in NSW, Victoria and other countries.

A statement also said:

As of 1am Monday 27 July, people entering from this hotspot, in addition to existing Covid-19 hotspots, will no longer be able to quarantine in Queensland and will be turned away at the Queensland border.

The only exception to this is people who are needed in Queensland for essential purposes and Queensland residents, who can enter the state but will be required to quarantine in government-provided accommodation at their expense.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has confirmed that Fairfield in Sydney is considered a Covid-19 hotspot to her state’s health authorities.

Palaszczuk tweeted:

In response to further outbreaks – and on the advice of our chief health officer – the city of Fairfield NSW has been added to Queensland’s list of Covid hotspots.

Anyone travelling to Queensland who has been in Fairfield in the previous 14 days will be directed to hotel quarantine for 14 days at their own expense.

46 cases have been identified in Fairfield connected to an outbreak at the Thai Rock restaurant. The declaration adds Fairfield to declarations in effect for travellers from Campbelltown, Liverpool and Victoria.

The directive takes effect from 1am Monday 27 July.