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Third of WA aged care workers would quit rather than take Covid vaccine; masks compulsory on Sydney public transport – as it happened

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Police have fined Melbourne couple who travelled to Queensland during Victoria’s lockdown for providing false information. This blog is now closed.

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Fri 18 Jun 2021 04.41 EDTFirst published on Thu 17 Jun 2021 17.41 EDT
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, speaks to the media on Friday
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says residents in greater Sydney must wear masks on public transport for five days following another positive Covid case in the state. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says residents in greater Sydney must wear masks on public transport for five days following another positive Covid case in the state. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

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Key events

What happened today, Friday, 18 June, 2021

That is where we will leave the live blog for Friday. Amy Remeikis will be back with you on Monday morning for the next sitting week of parliament.

In the meantime, this is what made the news on Friday:

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One for the Senate estimates fans. It’ll be on between 6 and 8pm AEST.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and Health Department officials will give evidence to the Senate COVID-19 committee in a newly scheduled hearing on Monday evening

— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) June 18, 2021

More than 800 seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands have completed Covid-19 quarantine and have begun harvesting crops in South Australia’s Riverland, AAP reports.

The 782 men and 22 women from Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Samoa have been in isolation at a Paringa facility, northeast of Adelaide, with none returning a positive test result for coronavirus.

They were brought in to help fill the gap left by the loss of the usual pool of seasonal workers, including backpackers.

“Industry modelling shows if there was a significant reduction in the availability of seasonal workers there could have been nearly $1 billion wiped from our state economy,” primary industries minister David Basham said.

“This would have been devastating for our local agriculture industry and the thousands of jobs across the state it supports.”

Basham said the government had worked closely with SA Health and police to safely set up the specially configured Paringa Resort as a quarantine location.

He said the government would now consider other options to get more seasonal workers into SA if needed.

Discussions were continuing over a pre-departure quarantine pilot program in Vanuatu and Fiji, the minister said.

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Christopher Knaus
Christopher Knaus

The prosecution of Witness K has been labelled a “dark chapter” in Australia’s history.

The Human Rights Law Centre has just issued a statement defending Witness K’s actions in helping to expose Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste in 2004. Senior lawyer Kieran Pender said:

“Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished. Instead of recognising the important role Witness K played in exposing wrongdoing, he was charged, prosecuted and has now been sentenced, with much of this process taking place in secret.”

The HRLC said the case would have a “chilling effect” on others considering blowing the whistle. Pender says they will not think twice about the “enormous personal risk that comes with doing the right thing”.

“This only serves to make our democracy poorer.”

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NSW Health determines transmission at Myer Bondi Junction

NSW Health has determined Covid-19 tranmission occurred between two patrons at the Myer in Bondi Junction on Saturday 12 June.

As a result, all staff and patrols who were at Myer Bondi Junction on level 2 or level 4 on that date between 11.15am and 11.50am are considered close contacts, must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and self-isolate for 14 days from the date they were at the venue, regardless of the result.

Level 2 includes women’s sleepwear, shoes, lingerie, handbags, accessories, watches and cosmetics. Level 4 includes homewares, toys and kidswear.

Anyone who attended during these times but did not go to level 2 or 4 is not a contact.

Anyone, including staff and patrons, who attended David Jones Bondi Junction, Level 1 on Saturday 12 June from 10.55am to 11.15am is now considered a close contact and must also follow the above steps.

Level 1 includes bedding, manchester, homewares and small appliances.

Anyone who attended during these times, on either the food court of level 1, or any other floors of David Jones is not a contact.

The following venues have also been listed as exposure sites:

  • Westfield Bondi Junction, Level 5 Food Court, Sunday 13 June between 1.15pm to 1.45pm
  • Eden Gardens, Macquarie Park, Sunday 13 June, between 12.30pm to 1pm

Anyone who was at the venues at this time must get tested and isolate until a negative result is returned.

Anyone who visited the following venues at the listed times should monitor for symptoms and get tested if they occur:

  • Westfield Bondi Junction, Level 4, Friday 11 June between 12.30pm to 1pm
  • Bondi Junction Interchange, Stand J, Tuesday 15 June, between 4.10pm to 4.30pm
  • Limousine car park at Sydney International Airport Arrival circuit,Mascot, Tuesday 15 June, between 6am to 7.30am
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A third of WA aged care workers would quit rather than get Covid-19 vaccinations

A third of West Australian aged care workers would quit the industry if forced to get Covid-19 vaccinations, according to a new survey.

State and federal leaders have discussed potentially enforcing mandatory vaccinations in aged care amid concerns about the slow rollout in the sector.

AAP reports the Australian Nursing Federation has polled 4000 members who work in aged care in WA on the topic.

Almost two thirds of respondents said vaccinations should remain voluntary and 31 per cent said they would leave the industry if forced to get a jab.

If staff were forced to be vaccinated, it should also be mandatory for relatives and visitors, according to 85 per cent of respondents.

Aged care staff also want to be given their choice of vaccines.

ANF state secretary Mark Olson said enforcing vaccinations would exacerbate staff shortages in the aged care sector.

“We are desperately short of aged care nurses and carers,” he said on Friday.
“We cannot afford to adopt policies that would worsen well-documented difficulties facing the sector and create an even bigger shortage of staff.”

Olson has written to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and WA premier Mark McGowan urging them to persist with voluntary vaccinations.

Morrison earlier this month said state and federal leaders were “leaning heavily” towards forcing aged care workers to get jabs.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) has been asked to provide advice on how such a program could be rolled out.

Chief medical officer Paul Kelly earlier this month acknowledged that it could have unintended consequences.

He said some security guards in WA had chosen to leave the industry after vaccinations were enforced for frontline hotel quarantine workers.

“We don’t want that to be an issue,” he said.

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Queensland Rail driver killed as trains collide

AAP reports a Queensland Rail train driver is dead and two others are injured after a locomotive and a coal train collided west of Rockhampton.

The three drivers were all on the locomotive when it collided with a coal train on the Aurizon rail network, about 11.30am on Friday, Queensland Rail chief executive Nick Easy said.

Police say the driver who died was a 49-year-old man from Margate, north of Brisbane.

Another driver, 43, suffered a broken leg and was flown to Rockhampton Hospital. The third driver, 41, sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital by road.

Police have said both trains were westbound but it’s unclear if both were moving at the time of the crash.

The RACQ CapRescue helicopter service, which attended the scene, said it appeared one train was stationary and was hit from behind by the other.

“We are deeply saddened and distressed by the incident and our priority is the welfare of our people and the families of the drivers involved,” Easy said in a statement.

He said the Rail Safety Regulator and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland would investigate the cause of the crash

“Given the nature of the incident, it is not appropriate to comment or speculate further on the potential cause.”

The Capricorn Highway had to be closed for about two hours so the helicopter could get access to the scene.

Forensic Crash Unit investigations are continuing.

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It is not long until Census night, now - 10 August, and the assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar, held a press conference earlier about what we can expect.

The 2016 Census was plagued with issues on the night, with thousands of people unable to access it.

They’re ramping up the number of people they’re expecting to do the Census online, but people will be able to do the Census as soon as they get their login information – they won’t need to wait until 10 August.

People can choose to still fill out the paper version if they want, but they’re expecting about 75% of the population to fill out their form online – up from 63% in 2016.

To avoid the issues faced last time, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, has been undertaking ethical hacks of its IT systems, and simulated distributed-denial-of service attacks to prepare for what might happen once the system is live.

There was also real-time monitoring and alert tools, and Sukkar said all information is securely hosted in Australia, and encrypted end to end.

ABS chief statistician, David Gruen, said the ABS could “never say never” on something going wrong on the night, but the bureau has done a lot of work to prevent a repeat of 2016:

“We are as prepared as we think we can be, but I will sleep more soundly on the 12th August after this is over ... We have to be prepared for everything including kids in their parent’s basement who would think it would be a great idea if they could get into the system. That, state actors, people who … as is clear the ABS holds a lot of sensitive data. We do it as carefully as we possibly can so that we protect people’s privacy, but it is something that means that you have to have as sophisticated protections as you possibly can.”

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Witness K handed suspended sentence

Christopher Knaus
Christopher Knaus

Witness K has been handed a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment. He will not serve time behind bars.

Witness K, hidden by a wall of black panels, was asked to stand by Magistrate Glenn Theakston before being sentenced. He was ordered to be of good behaviour for a year and pay $1,000 in security.

Theakston said the Witness K’s crime was not “trivial”, but rather a “express, deliberate breach of the defendant’s obligations to maintain the secrecy of the operations of Asis”.

Witness K has faced sentencing proceedings this week for his role in exposing Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste during 2004 negotiations to carve up oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

The bugging gave Australia an upper hand in the commercial negotiations. Witness K has since been praised as a hero by leaders of the impoverished nation.

The Australian government, meanwhile, signed off on his prosecution.

The court heard Witness K was now elderly, aged above 70, and was suffering physical health problems, as well as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation.

Theakston found his mental health issues were connected with his offending, and reduced his culpability.

“I can’t help but find his moral culpability is reduced,” he said.

Theakston said Witness K was not motivated by personal gain. Nor was he attempting to blackmail anyone.

The disclosures were made in affidavits intended to be used in the permanent court of arbitration, where Timor-Leste had accused Australia of negotiating in bad faith by using espionage.

Witness K, Theakston said, was acting in to achieve “justice” and had an “intention to participate in the rules-based order”.

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