O75 Public Administration

Wuhan biological weapons lab leaked the virus

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Original article by Didi Tang
The Australian – Page: Online : 5-Jan-21

US Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger claims there is strong evidence that the coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology rather than developing in a Wuhan livestock ‘wet market’. The Institute is located 17 kilometres from the Wuhan market, with Wuhan reporting the first COVID-19 cases in December. Pottinger was speaking on the eve of a visit by World Health Organisation experts to China to investigate the source of the coronavirus, although some claim the investigation will be a "whitewash". A majority of scientists are of the view that coronavirus originated in nature.

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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Deliveroo safety reps elected in milestone

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 5-Jan-21

Riders from food delivery company Deliveroo in Sydney recently elected seven health and safety representatives (HSRs) from among their ranks. It represents the first election of HSRs in the Australian gig economy, with the HSRs having various powers, such as being able to issue emergency stop work directions, while Deliveroo will pay them for their time when they are involved in tackling safety issues. The Transport Workers’ Union has described the election of the seven HSRs as a milestone for the gig economy, while Deliveroo has urged riders with any safety concerns to contact their HSR.

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DELIVEROO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Cyber spy agency on high alert over hack

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 24-Dec-20

More than 18,000 companies and government agencies worldwide are believed to have been targeted by the SolarWinds cyber-attack. The Australian Cyber Security Centre is assessing whether the computer systems of any government departments and agencies have been compromised. The SolarWinds Orion software is used by federal agencies such as the Department of Defence, Home Affairs and Austrade. Sergei Shevchenko, the co-founder of cybersecurity firm Prevasio, says that even if SolarWinds clients have not been targeted, they should assume that they are vulnerable to second-stage attacks.

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AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE. AUSTRALIAN CYBER SECURITY CENTRE,AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE,AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS,AUSTRADE,PREVASIO

Office staff get to keep pandemic flex time

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-20

The Fair Work Commission has extended flexible working arrangements for employees who are covered by the clerks award until the end of June 2021. The ordinary hours of work for clerical employees while telecommuting were extended beyond traditional working hours earlier in 2020, in response to the coronavirus. The FWC has also introduced additional flexibilities with regard to the hours of work for clerical staff while working from home.

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AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Australia did 2020 pretty damn good

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Original article by Terry McCrann
Herald Sun – Page: 45 : 24-Dec-20

Despite the spectacular failure of Victoria’s first hotel quarantine program – which has accounted for nearly 90 per cent of Australia’s COVID-19 death toll – the nation’s policymakers have handled the pandemic remarkably well. Three factors enabled the nation to get it right – not perfect, but right – in containing the virus and balancing the economic and medical costs of the pandemic. Closing the nation’s international borders prevented an outbreak on the scale seen in Europe, while the national lockdown and stimulus measures ensured that the decline in economic growth in the June quarter was limited to just seven per cent.

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COVID-19 reinfections are likely much worse than we know

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Original article by Jill Margo
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-20

More than 78 million people worldwide have contracted COVID-19, although there have been just 31 confirmed and 2,200 suspected cases of reinfection to date. However, Professor Ivo Mueller from the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research believes that the number of reinfections has been underestimated; he says the genome sequencing data that is necessary to confirm two separate infections is often not available, while many reinfections may not be detected because the person is asymptomatic. There has been one confirmed case of reinfection in Australia, and just two confirmed deaths from reinfection worldwide.

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WALTER AND ELIZA HALL INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

How Christmas muddied the decision to ease NSW restrictions

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Original article by Tom Rabe,Mary Ward,Jenny Noyes
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 24-Dec-20

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a "very modest" easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Sydney’s northern beaches region. The revised rules will apply for three days from 24 December, and will allow households in the local government area to have a limited number of visitors over this period. The number of visitors will depend on whether a resident lives north or south of Narrabeen Bridge. A government minister has conceded that the temporary changes would not have been at any other time of the year. NSW reported eight new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 on 23 December, while genome sequencing has linked a female healthcare worker to the northern beaches cluster; it was previously thought that she had contracted the virus after driving returned travellers from Sydney Airport to a quarantine hotel.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Premiers’ $3bn blow to tourism

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 24-Dec-20

Modelling shows that the tourism sector will be hard hit by moves by state governments to close their borders to travellers from New South Wales during the Christmas holiday period. The modelling undertaken by Stafford Strategy on behalf of the Tourism & Transport Forum shows that Australians are set to spend about $2.6bn between 24 December and 11 January, compared with the annual average of around $5.5bn for the period. Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan says state borders should be re-opened as soon as possible to support the domestic tourism industry, while TTF CEO Margy Osmond warns that the sector will need ongoing government support.

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STAFFORD STRATEGY,TOURISM AND TRANSPORT FORUM AUSTRALIA,AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Tax Office to review rejected JobKeeper bids

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 21-Dec-20

Karen Payne, the Inspector-General of Taxation & Taxation Ombudsman, has found that some businesses may have been unfairly denied coronavirus assistance by the Australian Taxation Office. As a result of her findings, the ATO will re-evaluate rejected applications for business cashflow payments and the $90 billion JobKeeper program. However, despite her findings, Payne and professional bodies such as the Institute of Public Accountants have praised the ATO for the way in which it quickly implemented government assistance programs during the pandemic.

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF TAXATION AND TAXATION OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence ends 2020 on a high – up 5.1pts to 112.0 in December

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Dec-20

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence rose 5.1pts to 112.0 in December, and it is edging closer to its historical average of around 120. Consumers’ perceptions of their current financial situation rose 3 pts to +4, while a net 25% of consumers expect to be better off financially this time next year, down 2 points. Meanwhile, a net 18% of consumers think it is a good time to buy a major household item, up 7 points. Perceptions regarding the next year’s economic outlook lifted 12 points to -6%, and the five-year outlook rose 3 points to +18%.

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