O75 Public Administration

NSW to hit 2200 cases a day if virus continues to spread at current rate

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Original article by Lucy Carroll, Lucy Cormack
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 19-Aug-21

A record 633 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases have been reported in New South Wales in the last 24 hours; at least 92 of these people were active in the community while they were infectious. The state’s reproductive rate is currently 1.3, and Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned that case numbers will keep rising until this falls below 1. University of Melbourne epidemiologist James McCaw says daily case numbers in NSW could potentially rise to around 2,000 within a month, given that there are now more than 3,800 mystery cases. The state’s death toll from the current outbreak has risen by three, to 59.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Movement in the Adelaide CBD bounces back after short lockdown while movement in the Sydney CBD continues to trail other cities

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows that movement in the Adelaide CBD bounced back quickly following its short lockdown in July, while movement remains low in both the Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD – both in lockdown. The average 7-day movement level in the Adelaide CBD was at 40% of pre-pandemic averages in early August, up by 25% points from a low of 15% in late July. The entire State of South Australia was locked down from July 21-27 to deal with the State’s first outbreak of COVID-19 so far this year. The average movement level in the Sydney CBD was at only 10% of pre-pandemic levels in early August and well below other cities. Greater Sydney has now entered its seventh week of lockdown since the city was first locked down on June 26. The city of Melbourne was still recovering from its fifth lockdown in late July, with average movement levels in the Melbourne CBD at only 20% of pre-pandemic levels in early August. The State of Victoria was in lockdown from July 16-27 and exited lockdown only briefly before returning to lockdown just a week later. The Perth CBD has regained its spot as Australia’s most ‘COVID-normal’ city with average movement levels at 55% of pre-pandemic averages in early August. This is the highest they’ve been since early June and the first time Perth has sat atop the rankings since late January when the city entered its second lockdown. Just behind in second place is the Hobart CBD with movement levels at 47% of pre-pandemic averages in early August and the Brisbane CBD at 46% of pre-pandemic averages before last week’s short lockdown. These results do not include the impact of the most recent lockdowns in Victoria or SE Queensland. Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBERMEDIA

Melbourne heading in right direction but lockdown extension likely

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Original article by Michael Fowler
The Age – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

Victoria has recorded 20 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; only five had been self-isolating while they were infectious, while 10 of the new cases have been linked to a shopping centre in Caroline Springs. Meanwhile, the state government is expected to extend Melbourne’s current lockdown beyond the scheduled end date of 12 August, amid concern about rising case numbers in the western suburbs. University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman contends that the restrictions should not be relaxed until daily case numbers are in single digits. He says the four-day average of the current outbreak is still rising and is unlikely to peak for another 2-3 days.

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

NSW in Covid limbo

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Original article by Alexandra Smith, Lucy Cormack, Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

New South Wales has recorded 356 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; at least 97 of these people were active in the community while they were infectious. The state’s toll from the current outbreak has risen to 32 following another three deaths. A fourth person has died after he contracted the coronavirus while overseas and tested positive in hotel quarantine. Meanwhile, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has rejected calls for stricter lockdown measures, such as a curfew or a ‘ring of steel’ around Sydney, and flagged the possibility that restrictions could be eased at the end of August if the state achieves its vaccination targets. However, chief health officer Kerry Chant says it is too soon to be thinking about easing restrictions, emphasising the need to reduce daily case numbers.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops below neutral level of 100 after SE Queensland & Victoria plunged into lockdown

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 3.2pts to 98.6 on August 7/8, after new lockdowns were imposed covering South-East Queensland and Victoria and more than 15 million people were placed under stay-at-home orders. Consumer Confidence is well below the 2021 weekly average of 109.9; however, it remains 12.1 points higher than the same week a year ago (86.5). The lockdowns in South-East Queensland and Victoria helped drive Consumer Confidence under the neutral level of 100 for the first time since early November 2020. Consumer Confidence in Queensland was down 7.8% on a week ago and Victoria was down 3.0%. However, Consumer Confidence in NSW increased by 3.7% as curbs on some industries were relaxed. Now 24% (down 2ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year (the lowest figure for this indicator so far this year), while 31% (up 4ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially (the highest figure for this indicator so far this year). In addition, 34% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 18% (up 3ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 13% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 28% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 32% (down 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the lowest figure for this indicator since late August 2020), while 36% (up 4ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Big carbon nations must cut too: PM

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Original article by Greg Brown, Dennis Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 11-Aug-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government will update its 2030 emissions projections ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November. He adds that the update will show that Australia is on track to exceed its Paris climate agreement targets. Morrison also contends that ‘catastrophic’ climate change will only be avoided if China, India and other developing nations take action to reduce their carbon emissions. China and India are regarded as developing nations, so they are not required to cut emissions immediately under the Paris agreement. Morrison is of the view that his government’s focus on reducing carbon emissions via technology rather than taxes will help to boost clean energy uptake in developing nations.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED NATIONS

Huge AstraZeneca stockpile open to the young

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Original article by Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Aug-21

New figures show that New South Wales and Victoria have access to a combined stockpile of more than one million unused doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The huge stockpile has been attributed to weak demand for the vaccine, which has been linked to a rare blood clotting disorder. The Victorian government has advised that it will make 200,000 doses of the vaccine available to people aged 18-39, with Premier Daniel Andrews stating that mass vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the NSW government plans to inoculate some 24,000 Year 12 students in designated hotspot areas, while the Therapeutic Goods Administration is expected to approve the Moderna vaccine within weeks.

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ASTRAZENECA PLC, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. THERAPEUTIC GOODS ADMINISTRATION, MODERNA INCORPORATED

Australian employment dropped by 176,000 in July as all five mainland States experienced lockdowns

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Aug-21

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that 1.42 million Australians were unemployed in July, up 28,000 on June, for an unemployment rate of 9.7% (up 0.3% points). Some 1.33 million Australians were under-employed (up 77,000 on June), for an under-employment rate of 9.1% (up 0.6% points). In total, 2.76 million Australians (18.8% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in July, an increase of 105,000 on June. The increase was driven by increases in both unemployment and under-employment. Meanwhile, employment was down by 176,000 to 13,198,000 in July, including 8,765,000 workers employed full-time, a drop of 61,000 from June. There was also a decrease in part-time employment, down by 115,000 to 4,433,000. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.7% for July is nearly 5% points higher than the current ABS estimate for June 2021 of 4.9%.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

It’s a tricky path trying to steer between the prevailing greed and hysteria

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Original article by Terry McCrann
Sunday Herald Sun – Page: 50 & 51 : 8-Aug-21

Data from Roy Morgan shows that 28,000 Australians lost their jobs in July, amid the fifth lockdown in Victoria and the ongoing lockdown in New South Wales. Roy Morgan estimates that 1.4 million Australians were unemployed in July, while an addition 1.33 million were under-employed. These figures do not take into account the full impact of the NSW lockdown and the latest lockdowns in Victoria and Queensland. Meanwhile, official jobs data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for July will not be available for another two weeks, and will cover only the first two weeks of the month. The big question is whether state governments will continue to impose job-destroying lockdowns if the vaccination target of 70-80 per cent of Australians is reached and the nation is still recording new COVID-19 cases and deaths.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Almost 70 per cent of new Covid cases in Sydney under the age of 40

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Original article by Alexandra Smith, Lucy Cormack, Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 6-Aug-21

New South Wales has recorded 262 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; at least 72 of them were active in the community while they were infectious, while 67 per cent of the new cases are among people under the age of 40. The state’s death toll from COVID-19 has risen by five, and Premier Gladys Berejiklian notes that none of the 21 deaths so far in the current outbreak had been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, the state government has imposed a seven-day lockdown of eight local government areas across the Hunter region after a number of cases were detected in Newcastle.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET