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Covid reinfection period reduced to four weeks in NSW as new Omicron subvariant able to reinfect after 28 days
NSW Health today announced that – effective immediately – the Covid reinfection period is now four weeks, down from 12.
It follows similar moves by the WA and ACT governments yesterday, in line with advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
Anyone in the state experiencing Covid symptoms from 28 days after their isolation ends is now required to test for the virus.
In a statement, the chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said the new advice was due to the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants “circulating widely in NSW”:
They are more able to evade immunity gained from previous infection and vaccination reinfection is more likely and possible just weeks after a prior infection.
Key events:
Paul Karp
The former Liberal prime minister, Tony Abbott, also shared his views on the Indigenous voice to parliament, which Labor wants to hold a referendum on as soon as 2023.
Abbott told Radio National:
Let me say I think the opposition is right in the first instance to demand all the detail from the government. Personally, I am very uncomfortable with this Voice, with what Malcolm Turnbull called a third chamber of parliament. I’m uncomfortable electing a body determined by race.
When Abbott was pulled up on the fact the voice is not a third chamber of parliament he said he was merely “citing what my successor said” – which isn’t a great way to engage in public discourse, happily repeating a misrepresentation as long as someone else said it first.
Abbott continued:
You can’t ask the people for a blank cheque on something as significant as this. If asked to vote on an unspecified voice, the natural response will be to say ‘if you don’t know, vote no’. The last thing we want is a referendum designed to forward reconciliation defeated and inevitably that puts reconciliation back.
The most likely referendum proposal is to include an enabling provision in the constitution, specifying that parliament will legislate the design of the voice. Not necessarily a blank cheque, depending on how much detail is released about the design of the body to be legislated.
Victoria records 16 Covid deaths and 737 people in hospital
There were 10,627 new cases in the last reporting period, and 39 people are in intensive care.
‘Finding common ground’: Albanese on nations working together
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has begun his opening address at the Sydney Energy Forum, emphasising the need for nations to work together towards a common good:
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and laid bare challenges that we simply cannot ignore. There are many lessons that we will all take from this experience, but one of the most critical ones for me is that we are stronger when we work together.
We are, for all of our differences, one common human family and we all call this one fragile planet our home. When we pause and reflect on this, we recognise our connection to one another. We recognise that we have a common stake in each other and that the best way to meet the challenges in front of us is by finding common ground. That is what this forum is about – finding common ground. And that’s the message I’m carrying with me today, a message underscored by your presence here today.
The diversity and unity of purpose in this room makes it very clear – all of you coming together from across sectors and nations because you understand that our future is linked. All of us here know what needs to be done. The nature of the challenge and the science is not in question. Its urgency and scope is clear. The question is our ability, but importantly as well our appetite to seize the opportunities that it contains and to shape them in our common interests. As Prime Minister, I’m committed to renewing Australia’s standing in our region.
Reporter Rafqa Touma will be bringing you more updates about Albanese’s address here on the blog but you can also read political editor Katherine Murphy’s preview.
NSW records 20 Covid deaths and 2,049 people in hospital
There were 10,806 new cases in the last reporting period, and 58 people are in intensive care.
COVID-19 update – Tuesday 12 July 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
– 96.7% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
– 95.2% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/T0yHTeUw3B— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 11, 2022
Medical bodies call for urgent reinstatement of Covid-19 telehealth items
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) are calling on the health minister, Mark Butler, to reverse the decision to let the telehealth items lapse amidst the latest Covid-19 outbreak.
The bodies want to meet with Butler to discuss the reinstatement of Covid-19 telehealth items cancelled on 1 July.
Dr Omar Khorshid, the AMA president, said:
These changes undermine the ability of patients to access their doctors, and in particular for GPs to prescribe antivirals for Covid-positive patients and will lead to costs elsewhere in the health system, including in overstretched hospitals.
Khorshid said the item for telephone consults longer that 20 minutes with a GP – a key part of the government’s “Living with Covid” strategy – was critical and must be restored:
Prescribing antivirals is time consuming, requiring a GP to consider complex eligibility requirements, contraindications and drug interactions and then arrange for patients to obtain the medication while isolating. Even simple cases take thirty minutes to an hour to properly complete.
Professor Karen Price, the president of RACGP, said given the growing number of COVID-19 cases and the unknown impacts of long COVID going forward, enabling access to longer telephone consultations was vital:
GPs have told the RACGP the removal of Medicare patient rebates for longer phone consultations has reduced access to care and increased health gaps for vulnerable patients.
This includes rural communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, older people, people with disability and mental health concerns, many of whom already have poorer health outcomes than the general population,” Price said.
‘A bit focused elsewhere’: Tony Abbott backhand to Coalition on Pacific
Paul Karp
The former Liberal prime minister, Tony Abbott, has praised the Albanese government’s handling of the Pacific step-up, even implicitly criticising the Morrison government for being focused on the election instead of China’s ambitions in the region.
Abbott told Radio National:
I think it would be very serious if China were to establish a string of military bases in the South Pacific. It’s obvious that’s China and the Beijing regime’s intention. It’s important Australia do everything it can to ensure the people of Pacific understand their peril, not just ours. Because the Beijing regime may come to these countries all smiles, but Beijing is out for Beijing’s interests, not anybody else’s.
Asked if the new government had been more active than Morrison’s, Abbott replied:
I certainly applaud the fact Penny Wong went to Solomon Islands almost immediately, and the prime minister is going to the Pacific Islands Forum. The new government is being absolutely active in the Pacific as it should be – good on them. I don’t have the slightest criticism [of them].
Asked if it was a mistake for former foreign minister, Marise Payne, not to immediately go to Solomon Islands after it announced a draft security pact with China, he said:
That’s dirty water under the bridge. I suppose at the time we were on the verge of an election campaign, and people were a bit focused elsewhere. The new government got straight down to business, good on them for that.
Government to outline plans on responsible lending laws
Stephen Jones, the assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, will address the Responsible Lending Summit this morning and outline the government’s plans on responsible lending laws, including buy-now-pay-later and pay day lending.
The Buy-Now-Pay-Later sector currently doesn’t have the same regulations as banks do when they provide loans.
I’m in Sydney this morning addressing the Responsible Lending Summit. I’ll outline the Albanese Labor Government’s plans on Responsible Lending Laws, By-Now-Pay-Later and Pay Day Lending.
— Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) July 11, 2022
If you want to hear more about the issues in the sector ahead of Jones’ address, senior business reporter Ben Butler wrote this article when Jones first announced plans for regulation.
New Omicron subvariants becoming dominant in Australia
Paul Kelly, the country’s chief medical officer, is on ABC and says the latest Covid-19 subvariants BA4 and 5 are becoming the dominant variant in Australia:
We have seen a rise in this new variant of Omicron, so it is still the COVID-19 virus, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it is just a different – slight differences in the way that that virus looks and how our immune system looks at it.
We do know that this new variant has caused waves in other countries and is now becoming the dominant variant in Australia. We have no suggestion at the moment that it causes for severe disease but it escapes our immune system, whether that is due to previous infection or vaccination.
We do expect that these new variants will cause a rise in cases and probably hospitalisations in the coming weeks.
Kelly has reiterated the importance of third and fourth vaccine doses.
Asked about the difference that reducing the reinfection period makes, Kelly says that the decisions are based on evidence as the new variants are more infectious:
The new BA4 and BA5 are more infectious and there is strong evidence that you can get reinfected earlier than what was previously the case.
It is important that anyone who develops symptoms again 28 or more days after they have had a previous COVID-19 infection, to get tested and to take the appropriate arrangements in terms of isolation.
A new campaign has launched today to tackle racism by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Chin Tan, the race discrimination commissioner, was on ABC Radio this morning discussing the campaign he says calls on all Australians to reflect on the causes and impacts of racism, not only on its victims but Australia’s collective wellbeing as a society.
Tan said the government hasn’t funded the campaign itself but its framework. Tan said the funding for the campaign had come from the corporate and private sector.
Sarah Collard, Guardian Australia’s Indigenous affairs reporter, has more on how the campaign was partly funded by a disaffected former Collingwood football club sponsor.
Cronulla beach washed away by rowdy surf
The dangerous surf conditions along the NSW coast is causing massive erosion on Sydney’s Cronulla beach.
The North Cronulla lifeguard tower even had to be lifted out of reach of the dangerous surf via crane last night.
The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader is reporting that “the tower had been perilously close to falling into the ocean after being undermined by another big swell on the weekend.”
The Leader said that the Sutherland Shire Council ordered its removal early on Monday with the main section lifted off after 8pm.
Wow. This used to be Nth Cronulla beach, and Sth Cronulla is back to bare rock too. I’ve never seen them this bad. What a mess. pic.twitter.com/rYFUcaTMAz
— Dr Darren Saunders (@whereisdaz) July 11, 2022
Mayor of the Sutherland Shire Council, Carmelo Pesce, told the Leader a new seawall at North Cronulla beach was provided for in a draft plan of management, which had recently been finalised and the council was also seeking state government assistance to repair beaches.
You can read the full exclusive here.
‘We have had some half a billion scam calls blocked’
Michelle Rowland, the communications minister, was on the ABC earlier this morning saying the new rules for mobile phone companies come as text scams are rising:
This is the first time there has been this explicit obligation on telecommunications companies to have the capabilities in place to identify, trace and block scam texts.
We have seen a rise in the number of scam texts that are occurring. These are predominantly run by criminals who are sophisticated. Some of them in Australia, many overseas, but the technology needs to keep up with that in order to keep Australians safe.
Rowland is asked about the scepticism Andy Penn, the CEO of Telstra, has expressed that the new rules can actually deliver for consumers because of the difficulty stopping scam messages.
She said the technology has become more sophisticated to enable these scam texts to be identified:
We know for a fact as the evidence shows, in just over a year since we have had obligations in place about scam calls, we have had some half a billion scam calls being blocked.
Will this mean that every scam call, every scam text and every scam email will no longer reach innocent Australian consumers? The honest answer is no. But we can make it better and we can ensure that there is consistency across the industry so that consumers have confidence that no matter who their provider is.
Abbott pays tribute to Abe
Tony Abbott is on ABC Radio paying tribute to Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe – “the best friend Australia has ever had from Japan”.
Abbott said Abe’s designing the Quad is “the reason India is there”, which might not have been the case had it been designed by the US.
He said he didn’t believe the criticisms of Abe as a WW2 revisionist are valid.
History shouldn’t be used a stick … that’s what China has tended to do with Japan.
Abbott is asked about the whether the new government should be given credit for the step-up in the Pacific. He said the new government was “being absolutely active in the Pacific as it should be. Good on them.”
Asked whether it was a mistake not to send Marise Paine under the coalition government, Abbott said: “That’s dirty water under the bridge.”
Asked whether the opposition should support a yes vote in referendum on Uluru Statement of the Heart, Abbott reinforced he did not support an Aboriginal voice in parliament and said the opposition was right to ask for more detail.
‘They need to get their story straight’
Jim Chalmers is asked about Sussan Ley’s calls to cancel the jobs and skills summit and Angus Taylor’s call for a seat at the table:
They need to get their story straight.
Asked about whether independents will be invited, Chalmers said the invitation list hasn’t been finalised:
A hundred people sounds like a lot of people until you see who’s in the first list and who might not be.
Even for the people who aren’t in the 100, we will find ways to consult with them in meaningful ways, including all parts of the parliament.
When it comes to invitations for the opposition, Chalmers says:
We will consider people who want to be there on their merits. Let’s see if the opposition is actually serious. I think what you just quoted from yesterday, where one person was saying it should be cancelled, another person was insisting on being invited. Let’s see if they’re serious first.
I mean, they have had to bring people together in the way that we hope to bring people together. They didn’t do that. The big reason why we’ve had this waste a decade of missed opportunities in the economy, whether its energy policy chaos, or not enough Australians trained for key roles. We need to see if they’re serious, they haven’t shown so far that they are.
Chalmers on a ‘wasted decade’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is on ABC Radio discussing the jobs and skills summit he and the prime minister announced yesterday which will take place in September:
There are a whole range of issues here which have combined to create what I think has been a wasted decade of missed opportunities in the economy. Too much division, too much looking for the things which divide us rather than a common ground. There’s more common ground in these areas than people realise.
Asked about the calls from business to include a temporary two-year increase in skilled migration to increase it to 200,000 places a year, Chalmers says migration shouldn’t be considered the only solution when it comes to the challenges facing the workforce:
We’ve had a quite unusual period when it comes to migration and as we emerge from it, we should work together to get the settings right but what I want to make sure we don’t see this as the one lever that you would pull to solve our issues and inflation and wages and labor shortages and skill shortages.
We can get migration right without seeing it as a substitute for doing all of the other things in the economy, which will get that wages growth and fill these skills shortages and deliver the right kind of prosperity that we want to see into the future.
Paul Karp
‘The Pacific is the part of the world where the US rightly looks to Australia to lead’
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, has warned of the use of “force or coercion” in the South China Sea and “intensification of major power competition” – references to China’s rising power in the Indo-Pacific.
Marles made the comments in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on his visit to the US, committing Australia to closer cooperation with the US, higher defence spending and to address climate change in part as a national security issue:
All of us here today understand the challenges we face: a military build-up occurring at a rate unseen since world war two; the development and deployment of new weapons that challenge our military capability edge; expanding cyber and grey zone capabilities which blur the line between peace and conflict; and the intensification of major power competition in ways that both concentrate and transcend geographic confines.
These trends compel an even greater Australian focus on the Indo-Pacific. For the first time in decades we are thinking hard about the security of our strategic geography, the viability of our trade and supply routes, and above all the preservation of an inclusive regional order founded on rules agreed by all, not the coercive capabilities of a few. In particular we worry about use of force or coercion to advance territorial claims, as is occurring in the South China Sea, and its implications for the any number of places in the Indo-Pacific where borders or sovereignty is disputed.
On Australia’s relationship with the Pacific, where Australia is racing to persuade nations not to follow Solomon Islands’ lead in signing a security pact with China, Marles said:
The Pacific is where Australia must invest in effective regionalism by reinforcing the Pacific Islands Forum and other regional institutions that are so key to regional resilience and agency. We must do this not only because of our unique connections to the Pacific but because Pacific security so directly impacts on our own security.
Given this reality, the Pacific is the part of the world where the United States rightly looks to Australia to lead. And we will.
We will not take our status for granted. Pacific Island countries have choices about their partners. And we will work to earn their trust. The Pacific has been clear in saying that geopolitical competition is of lesser concern to them than the threat of rising sea levels, economic insecurity and transnational crime. Australia respects and understands this position. And we are listening. And while we will not ask our partners to pick a side, I am confident that an Australia which collaborates and invests in shared priorities with the Pacific is an Australia which will be the natural partner of choice for the Pacific.
SMS scam protections
Australians will be better protected from text message scams as new regulations for telecommunications companies come into effect today.
The code, registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) today, will require the companies to trace, identify and block SMS scam messages, and publish information for customers on how to identify and report scams.
Mobile phone companies could face up to $250,000 in fines for failing to comply with the new code.
Reporter Josh Taylor has more:
Covid reinfection period reduced to four weeks in NSW as new Omicron subvariant able to reinfect after 28 days
NSW Health today announced that – effective immediately – the Covid reinfection period is now four weeks, down from 12.
It follows similar moves by the WA and ACT governments yesterday, in line with advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
Anyone in the state experiencing Covid symptoms from 28 days after their isolation ends is now required to test for the virus.
In a statement, the chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said the new advice was due to the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants “circulating widely in NSW”:
They are more able to evade immunity gained from previous infection and vaccination reinfection is more likely and possible just weeks after a prior infection.
Good morning!
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is due to make the opening speech at the Sydney Energy Forum today. He will tell the forum Australia has rejoined the ranks of “trusted global partners” on climate action.
He’ll be making the speech before travelling to the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji, where leaders are set to meet later in the week.
Covid-19 hospitalisations are surging in Australia from the winter Omicron wave, with pressures on hospitals leading to some elective surgeries being cancelled and paramedics overwhelmed.
In NSW the Covid reinfection period has been reduced to four weeks down from 12 weeks previously, from today.
The first monkeypox case has been detected in Queensland. The state’s authorities say the public health risk is “very low” but it comes after community transmission was found in NSW last week.
I’m Natasha May and if there’s something you think should be on the blog, you can get in touch by pinging me on Twitter @natasha__may or emailing natasha.may@theguardian.com.
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