COVID-19 PANDEMIC

New move could gift Andrews unprecedented power

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Original article by Shannon Deery
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 26-Oct-21

The Victorian government will shortly introduce a bill to parliament that will replace the existing state of emergency powers, which have been in place since March 2020. The draft bill would give Premier Daniel Andrews the power to declare a pandemic and extend it indefinitely for three months at a time. The proposed legislation would also transfer authority to issue public health orders from the state’s chief health officer to the minister for health. Shadow Attorney General Tim Smith has questioned the need to hand more power to Andrews, given his government’s handling of the pandemic.

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NSW COVID-19 cases up, most infections outside of Sydney

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Original article by Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 22-Oct-21

New South Wales reported 372 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases on Thursday, and one additional death from the current outbreak. More than half of the new cases were in regional areas, include a spike in infections in local government areas near the Victorian border. Professor Catherine Bennett of Deakin University says it was to be expected that case numbers would rise in areas that have lower vaccination rates; she adds that it is too soon to know whether the state’s recent easing of COVID-19 restrictions has impacted on case numbers. Meanwhile, a Queensland man in his 30s has been hospitalised with COVID-19 after returning from a trip to Sydney and Melbourne.

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DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Victoria scraps isolation, COVID testing requirements for fully vaccinated visitors from NSW

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Original article by Simone Fox Koob, Cassandra Morgan
The Age – Page: Online : 20-Oct-21

Victoria recorded 1,749 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, and an additional 11 deaths from the current outbreak. Meanwhile, Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that unvaccinated Victorians may not enjoy the same freedoms as fully-vaccinated people until "well into 2022". The government has also advised of changes to its border permit system. Greater Sydney will be downgraded from a ‘red zone’ to ‘orange’ at 11:59pm on Wednesday, which will allow fully-vaccinated residents to enter Victoria without having to quarantine or be tested for COVID-19. The new rules will also apply to regional NSW, which will be downgraded to green zones.

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VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

COVID-19 pandemic leads to more Australians regularly attending their place of worship

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Oct-21

New data from Roy Morgan shows that Australians are more likely to regularly attend their place of worship now than immediately prior to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 19.1% of Australians aged 14+ now agree that ‘I regularly go to church or my place of worship’, an increase of 2.8% points compared to the March quarter 2020 (16.3% of Australians) just prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 19.1% of women and 19% of men have reported that they ‘regularly go to church or my place of worship’, although the increase has been larger for women during the pandemic (up 4.1% points) compared to a smaller increase for men (up 1.2% points). A look at the different generations shows that are Millennials driving the increase; 21.2% now report that they ‘regularly go to church or my place of worship’, up 5.8% points from pre-pandemic. Also increasing and above the national average is Generation Z, now at 19.8%, up 2.7% points during the pandemic. The only exception among the generations are the Pre-Boomers, those now aged over 75′; now 22.2% say they agree with the statement, down 2% points on pre-pandemic.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Victoria’s vaccine passport too easy to forge, says academic

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Original article by Clay Lucas
The Age – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

The trial of a COVID-19 vaccine passport commenced in six local government areas in regional Victoria on 11 October. Cryptography expert Professor Vanessa Teague from the Australian National University has expressed concern that the vaccine passport is easy to forge and argues that it should not be linked to the QR code check-in system; she notes that the latter is highly invasive and already collects too much data on users. Victoria reported 1,612 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases on Monday, plus another eight deaths from the current outbreak. About 59 per cent of Victorian adults are now fully vaccinated, putting the state on track to achieve the 70 per cent target for reopening the economy up to a week ahead of schedule.

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AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Fly-in fly-out mine worker tests positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Adelaide from Melbourne

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Original article by
abc.net au – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

A hotel reception area and a Jetstar flight have been declared Tier 1 exposure sites after a female ‘fly-in, fly-out’ miner tested positive to COVID-19 after arriving in Adelaide from Melbourne. A taxi driver and a reception worker at the hotel have been ordered into quarantine, while Adelaide Airport has been declared a Tier 4 exposure site. South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the woman was very infectious, and is one of three new COVID-19 cases identified in South Australia on Monday.

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Next freedom day in NSW set for October 25

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Original article by Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

Some 74 per cent of New South Wales residents aged 16+ are now fully vaccinated. Based on current rates of vaccination the state should reach the 80 per cent target in just over a week. This would allow the next easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney to occur on 25 October, in line with the state’s reopening roadmap. Premier Dominic Perrottet says the government is unlikely to bring forward this date after refusing to bring forward the first ‘freedom day’ despite reaching the 70 per cent vaccination milestone ahead of schedule. NSW reported 498 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases and eight additional deaths on Monday.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Movement in the Sydney CBD at only 17% of pre-pandemic levels before Greater Sydney prepared to leave lockdown

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows that movement in the Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD was at only 17% of pre-pandemic levels in early October, just before the lockdown of Greater Sydney was set to end. The average 7-day movement level in the Sydney CBD hit a low of 8% of pre-pandemic levels in late July and have slowly increased since then as restrictions have been eased as vaccination rates have increased rapidly. Late last week NSW hit a mark of 70% of the population aged 16+ being fully vaccinated, which is the mark that was set for the ending of the lockdown of Greater Sydney this week. Average movement levels in the Melbourne CBD have tracked closely with those in the Sydney CBD over the last two months since Greater Melbourne entered its record sixth lockdown in early August. However, full vaccination rates in Victoria are at under 60%, well behind those in NSW, and Greater Melbourne is not set to end its current lockdown until the last week of October. The movement levels in other Capital City CBDs have increased over the last few weeks as Australia emerged from Winter. Once again it is the Adelaide CBD which has average movement levels closest to pre-pandemic ‘normal’ at 74%, just ahead of the Perth CBD at 73% of pre-pandemic averages. Notably, this is the highest level of movement in the Perth CBD for nearly six months. 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

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for WA FIFO and mining workers

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Original article by James Carmody
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 6-Oct-21

The Western Australian government has advised that all workers in the state’s mining and energy sector will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This includes ‘fly-in, fly-out’ workers and all visitors to resources projects in the state. The directive will apply to about 100,000 people, who must have their first vaccine dose by 1 December and be fully vaccinated by the start of 2022. Premier Mark McGowan says that amongst other things, the ‘no jab, no job’ policy will protect remote Aboriginal communities; he notes that the mining sector is the largest employer of indigenous people in regional WA.

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WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Perrottet switches focus to recovery

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Original article by Yoni Bashan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 6-Oct-21

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet will chair his first meeting of the state’s crisis cabinet on 6 October, following his landslide win in a leadership ballot. Perrottet gained 39 votes in the partyroom meeting, compared with just five votes for Planning Minister Rob Stokes. Perrottet has flagged plans to shift the crisis cabinet’s focus to economy recovery and community wellbeing, rather than day-to-day emergency management. He has also expressed support for the existing reopening roadmap, but signalled that some changes could be made. NSW recorded 608 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases and seven additional deaths on Tuesday.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET