NEW SOUTH WALES – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

NSW lockdown to last extra four weeks

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Original article by Yoni Bashan, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Jul-21

The New South Wales government is set to extend the lockdown of Greater Sydney by four weeks, following a meeting of its crisis cabinet. The state has recorded 172 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily infection rate during the current outbreak; 79 of these people were active in the community while they were infectious. The government is expected to announce a ‘singles bubble’ to allow people to meet indoors during the extended lockdown, while the two-week ban on construction work is likely to be eased from 31 July. The government is also said to be considering the use of rapid antigen tests for essential workers and new support measures for the business sector.

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Consider getting AstraZeneca if you are under 40: Berejiklian

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Original article by Alexandra Smith, Lucy Carroll, Liam Mannix
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 23-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 124 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, including 48 people who were active in the community while they were infectious. There are 118 people across NSW in hospital with the coronavirus, including 15 who are under the age of 35. Premier Gladys Berejiklian says people under the age of 40 should get the AstraZeneca vaccine if their GP advises them to do so, rather than wait for the Pfizer jab. Meanwhile, Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says lockdowns may not be enough to contain the Delta variant, so the AstraZeneca vaccine may be a good option for people under the age of 60.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Three NSW regional councils go into lockdown

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Original article by Anna Caldwell
The Daily Telegraph – Page: 7 : 21-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 78 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, including 29 people who were active in the community while they were infectious. Meanwhile, three local government areas in regional NSW will be subject to stage one lockdown restrictions for at least seven days in order to contain the spread of the Delta variant. A pet food delivery driver from south-west Sydney is believed to have been highly infectious when he recently visited a number of exposure sites in the shires of Orange, Blayney and Cabonne. Residents will only be permitted to leave their home for four essential reasons, although schools will remain open.

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Berejiklian relaxes Covid rules on south-west Sydney workers

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Original article by Graham Readfearn
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 105 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; 66 of the cases are linked to known clusters, while 27 people were active in the community while they were infectious. Meanwhile, a woman in her 90s has become the fourth person to die in Sydney’s current outbreak. The state government has backed down on plans to restrict the movements of workers in the Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas, which are the epicentre of the outbreak. It had proposed that only health and emergency workers be permitted to leave these areas for work, but the list of authorised workers has now been expanded to include 35 occupational groups. All workers in these categories will be required to be tested for COVID-19 every three days.

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$75m lifeline for performing arts sector hit by Sydney lockdown

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Original article by Linda Morris
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 14-Jul-21

The New South Wales government will allocate $75m from a $5.1bn COVID-19 support package to Sydney’s arts and cultural sector. Live Performance Australia president Richard Evans has welcomed the funding commitment, saying that the state government understands the value of live performance to Sydney’s economy. NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin says not-for-profit and commercial performing arts organisations will be eligible for financial assistance, as will live music venues that have had to cancel shows due to the lockdown. The arts sector supports 118,000 jobs in NSW and contributes $16.4bn to the economy.

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NSW considers letting Delta variant circulate in the community

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Original article by Alexandra Smith, Lucy Carroll, Mary Ward
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 9-Jul-21

New South Wales has recorded 38 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the highest daily total in more than 14 months. Eleven of these people were active in the community for the entire time they were infectious, while nine had only partially self-isolated. Some 21 of the new cases are located in south-west Sydney, prompting police to launch a crackdown in the region to enforce the stay-at-home order. Several senior government ministers have suggested that the state will soon need to decide whether to continue to pursue an elimination strategy via lockdowns or simply accept that the coronavirus is going to circulate within the community.

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Bluesfest cancelled, restrictions for Byron Bay after man tests positive

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Original article by Mary Ward, Sarah McPhee
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 1-Apr-21

New South Wales has recorded its first locally-acquired COVID-19 case in 14 days, after a Byron Bay resident tested positive. The man had attended the same venue that hosted a bachelorette party which has been linked to one of the Brisbane clusters. The NSW government has responded by cancelling Byron Bay’s popular Bluesfest music festival and reimposing coronavirus restrictions across four shires in the region. Bluesfest organisers had hoped to attract over 16,000 music fans on each day of the event, which had also been cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

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Coal exports to steady before a slide

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Feb-21

The New South Wales government has forecast that demand for the state’s thermal coal in Asia will remain strong at more than 600 million metric tonnes a year until 2030. However, this is expected to gradually decline to about 470 million metric tonnes in 2050 as the global transition to alternative sources of energy generation gathers pace. The government document also notes that the industry contributes about 22,000 direct jobs to the state economy, as well as some 89,000 indirect jobs.

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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

Former MP Daryl Maguire tells ICAC he sought Gladys Berejiklian’s guidance on his debts

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Original article by Michael McGowan
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 16-Oct-20

Disgraced former New South Wales Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has appeared before an Independent Commission Against Commission inquiry for a second day. Maguire told the inquiry that he had discussed a deal for the sale of land at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney with Premier Gladys Berejiklian, including the fact that his commission of about $1.5m would be sufficient to clear his debts. However, Maguire said he could not recall how much he had told Berejiklian about his debts. Maguire also admitted that he had assisted property developers to gain access to government ministers and public servants.

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NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES