A truck driver who travelled into Queensland from New South Wales has tested positive for COVID-19.
The driver is believed to have been infectious when they were in Queensland on August 25 and 26.
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Five truck drivers who passed through SA in recent days have tested positive to COVID 19 and are suspected to be infectious whilst they passed through.
Also two positive tests of wastewater plants in the suburbs of Salisbury (North) and Lonsdale (South).
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Itâs going to keep happening.
Theyâre essential workers, and those that live in Sydney are very likely to become infected.
The LNPâs plague is continuing to leach out of NSW. Thanks for nothing Scotty & Gladys.
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It has become clear that either everyone at National Cabinet has a different idea of what this âNational Planâ actually sets out by way of a plan, or there are a few people at the table getting cold feet at the prospect of having to follow through given the current environment
Either way, it behoves everyone at National Cabinet to clearly articulate their position on the plan. If states are going to be selective about how they apply the stages, then just fucking say it - itâs clear that no one at the table is actually interested in a unified approach, stop fucking pretending as there will be
There really needs to be greater coverage of the vaccine rollout outside of NSW and Victoria - no cases is not a good reason not to get vaccinated. One of the issues with the utilisation numbers is that they are only for the state run facilities, the commonwealth primary care network allocations arent as transparent
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I would love to by a fly on the wall at national cabinet. For some reason with the bunch of narcissistic premiers we have I doubt many would do much listening and just a whole lot of yelling over the top of one another.
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With this state vs state feuding showing absolutely no signs of abating any time soon, and indeed seemingly ramping up at the moment, I do wonder what measures the Federal Government would resort to in order to try and threaten those states (such as WA) that wish to keep a controlled/hard border into opening up once the original National Cabinet 80% target is reached.
Could they potentially threaten to withhold GST revenue or other sources of federal funding?
An interesting example of a not dissimilar situation from America (where states rights is actually a pretty big deal) back in the 70s and 80s was the federally mandated National Speed Limit law, which was introduced against the opposition of many of the states- the US federal government ended up forcing the states to comply by threatening to withhold federal highway funding from them.
The Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act [14] was a bill in the U.S. Congress that included the National Maximum Speed Limit.[15] States had to agree to the limit if they desired to receive federal funding for highway repair. The uniform speed limit was signed into law by Nixon on January 2, 1974, and became effective 60 days later,[16] by requiring the limit as a condition of each state receiving highway funds, a use of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.[17]
Is there any evidence to suggest QLD and WA wonât open up once thresholds are met? They did last year.
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Hearing a few different reports:
Mark McGowan here saying he might wait beyond 80% until âan overwhelming majorityâ is vaccinated.
Queensland have said that NSW at 80% may not be enough for them to reopen that border depending on case numbers.
Victoria has hinted similar to Queensland as well (apologies for Sky News being the source, it was my last resort as the only one I could find that was not behind a paywall):
I donât think there is anything wrong with them changing the threshold. Changes will always occur based on health advise. In Israel now you arenât considered fully vaccinated until you have had your third shot. I am sure this will go to national cabinet where a decision will be made.
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Thatâs a bad idea.
The so-called national plan is open to interpretation (and full of weasel words).
If Morrison tries anything so stupid as to punish a state for not opening up to allow COVID-19 into their state, he will lose the election which is due by no later than May 2022.
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Looks like all states will be able to wait to reach their own 80% threshold, and have almost a month of seeing if it works to drop cases in NSW.
If NSW havenât seen a tapering off of cases, or at least a reduction in the hospitalisation rate, then not only would other states not open up, youâd have to assume NSW would keep in place lots of their current restrictions past 80% until it does turn around.
On the flip side, if cases are relatively high, but similar in Vic and NSW - thereâs no reason to not just join our âbubbleâ, which is something Gladys kinda hinted at. Indeed, I suspect itâs something theyâve discussed directly.
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AFAIK, the national plan was only a plan to reduce reliance on lockdowns. There was nothing about border closures in it. No premier ever made a commitment to open them.
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Iâm in two minds- on the one hand I support the states being able to make the decisions that are best for them, but at the same time the goalposts canât be moved further and further away forever (so there is a point where they will have to open up).
For mine- states should have flexibility to keep restrictions in place (such as requiring travellers to be vaccinated) until such a time that everyone (not just 16+) has had at least 2-3 months to get their preferred vaccine- at that point, anyone unvaccinated has to take on that risk themselves and there is no excuse for not being vaccinated. I think that is a fair and reasonable compromise to make between opening the country up and keeping the vulnerable protected.
I agree, however itâs not something I would put past this government, hence I mentioned it as a possibility.
Rumour has it there might be an early election next month, if he won then I would imagine he would be a bit bolder and perhaps look at something a bit more reckless (like this).
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That was the plan 2 months ago- with the NSW situation the other states are changing their tune but it was in the original plan they all signed up to.
Phase 2:
- Easing restrictions like lockdowns and border controls on vaccinated people
Phase 3:
- No lockdowns
- Exempting vaccinated people from all domestic restrictions
Exactly, thereâs not going to be any answers to this until November regardless of how aggressively the media try and push the subject.
The rumours of the early election died off when the vaccine rollout was botched, if anything the indication now is the polar opposite (holding it as long as possible).
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I too am suspecting an early election, to coincide with a major announcement out of the climate conference in the UK.
Mid late October / November is my guess.
The Coalition will push hard their open the economy up agenda.
If they wait, the economy opens up and we inevitably have an overwhelmed health system and significant numbers of deaths - they will be trounced WA style and they know it.
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Honestly. If anyone votes the Liberals back in, regardless of when the election is held, we may as well all give up now.
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Would the Coalition even do that well in a Federal Election if one were to be held now/soon? Barring unforeseeable circumstances, I somehow doubt it.
Itâs difficult to see states like Queensland and WA voting for a âopen upâ agenda, while youâd have to imagine thereâs likely to be a backlash from virus riddled NSW & Victoria.
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They are also being hammered on JobKeeper. Rightly so I might add.
Maybe a move to âsave the furnitureâ as much as possible?
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