Australia news LIVE Government defends cash bonuses for aged care staff nations total COVID-19 cases continue to grow
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A total of about 150 Victorian school students and staff tested positive for COVID-19 on their first day back in Term 1 on Monday, authorities say.
Speaking on ABC radio Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, Victorian Department of Education and Training deputy secretary David Howes said the breakdown was about 101 students and 55 staff.
"Of course we really feel for those students and staff and we wish them a really quick recovery," Mr Howes said.
"But it does mean they have been able to stay home and isolate and that's a major contribution protecting the rest of the students and staff in our community.
"The deputy secretary said the state's voluntary twice-weekly rapid antigen testing program for school students and staff would "without question" miss some coronavirus cases.
"We've never said that this will pick up every case, but yesterday's results show that it picked up 150 cases that wouldn't have been detected otherwise, and that's a good thing," Mr Howes said.
There are about one million students in Victoria's school system. Mr Howes said the department has not received reports of people refusing the tests, and, "in fact, the reverse is true".
"[We're seeing] a lot of enthusiasm that it's a good thing to have in place, is reassuring," he said. "The vast majority of our families are cooperating enthusiastically."
Staff across Rio Tinto's global operations from corporate offices to remote mine sites are being subjected to alarming rates of sexual harassment, racism and bullying in the workplace, according to an independent report.
Australia's second-largest miner has released a report by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, who surveyed more than 10,000 of Rio Tinto's 45,000 employees and found systemic bullying, sexism and racism were common. These harmful behaviours were often tolerated or normalised, the report found.
An independent report has found widespread harassment at Rio Tinto, including office-based workers.Credit:Will Willitts
A "culture of silence" put workers off reporting unacceptable behaviour and some surveyed thought supervisors who bully and harass were rewarded with career progression, the report found.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said the findings should deeply disturb anyone who read them. "I feel shame and enormous regret to have learned the extent to which bullying, sexual harassment and racism are happening at Rio Tinto," he said.
"It's not just a couple of sites where things have to change ... this is much more systemic."
More than one in three female employees aged 25-34 had experienced sexual harassment in the past five years, the investigation found. Among Rio Tinto's fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workforce, the incidence was even higher, with more than 40 per cent of all women having experienced sexual harassment.
Read the full story here.
As Angus Thompson reported earlier today, the Liberal and National parties have strengthened their financial positions in the lead-up to this year's federal election after receiving almost $84 million in donations and other funding in the past financial year.
The 2020-21 financial year figures, released on Tuesday morning by the Australian Electoral Commission, represent a $15 million increase on the previous year's total funding receipts, which also includes the party's investment streams.
The figures put the Coalition on a stronger financial footing than the Labor Party, which collected $67 million in 2020/21, $12 million more than the previous year.
The Greens received almost $16,000 in donations and other funding.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters told ABC News 24 just now that political donations should be capped for all donors "no matter who you are, whether you're a big corporate or any other form of organisation or individual".
"We think big money corrupts the system no matter where it's coming from. But we are particularly concerned at the influence the big mining companies, the gas and the coal corporations have on decision-making," she said.
"They offer very overpaid lobbying jobs for ex-politicians and tend to get an awful lot of taxpayer subsidy and grants money that they don't deserve, they often don't need, and in a climate crisis they shouldn't be getting.
"The dirty industries should be singled out and we think that no donation should be more than $1,000 per year. That's an amount that is constitutionally permissible and still lets people participate and back the party that's their values but it doesn't buy or policy outcomes that put the vested interests ahead of the community."
Federal Labor MP Anne Aly has taken aim at the federal government over the cash bonus being offered to aged care workers before the next election.
As David Crowe has reported, the Morrison government plans to provide two cash payments of up to $400 each to aged care workers by May this year, when the election is due to be held.
WA Labor MP Anne Aly.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the policy officially during his National Press Club address today.
The government is under growing pressure over coronavirus outbreaks across the aged care sector, for which the Commonwealth government has responsibility, and the rollout of the booster vaccine program to aged care residents.
Dr Aly told ABC News 24 this afternoon that "aged care workers don't need a sugar hit of $400 to keep them doing what they're doing".
"They love what they're doing and they do it because they have a passion for it. They need better work conditions and better pay conditions," she said.
"The government can respond today to the Royal Commission into Aged Care and lift the working conditions for aged care workers now, instead of giving them a $400 sugar hit, which of course is welcome, they do deserve that money [and] I won't argue against that, but it's not a long-term solution.
"If you want aged care workers to stay in aged care, if you want our most valuable asset in Australia which is our elderly to be looked after, you need to improve their work and conditions."
When aged care resident Jane Malysiak was called up to receive her COVID-19 booster vaccine in a photo opportunity with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in November, her 100 fellow residents were told they would have to wait until February for their shot.
The facility's chief executive Alexandra Davis thought that was "not good enough" and organised boosters through a local GP instead, which she believes helped the facility avoid a coronavirus outbreak despite staff testing positive to the virus.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison greets Jane Malysiak before receiving their COVID-19 booster vaccinations at Kildare Road Medical Centre in Blacktown in Sydney.Credit:Kate Geraghty
The story is one of many instances of Sydney aged care residents being asked to wait prolonged periods for a booster clinic as infections rose in early December. Many facilities were forced into lockdown due to outbreaks before their clinic was scheduled - despite being eligible for weeks.
Many of the largest outbreaks in aged care facilities in Sydney - totalling more than 100 cases each across residents and staff - had not received a booster clinic before their first infections were recorded in December.
Ms Malysiak, from Brother Albert's Home in Marayong, received her two initial doses at photo shoots with Mr Morrison and was called up for another media event on day one of the booster rollout at a nearby medical centre. But other residents of her facility would have to wait.
"They told us we would not be able to get a booster clinic until February," Ms Davis said. "And I said, 'well, that's not good enough'. My residents [received their initial doses] in March and April last year."
Read the full story here.
As we reported earlier, another 34 people have died with COVID-19 in Victoria.
They were aged in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 100s. Thirteen of those people died in the past two days, according to the Chief Health Officer's update.
Their deaths bring the total number in the state since the pandemic began to 2029.
Of Victorians aged between five and 11, 44.7 per cent have now had a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Millions of school students have returned to classrooms this week after two years of interrupted learning thanks to COVID-19.
Students in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra will be provided with free rapid antigen tests, while in other states students will need to monitor for symptoms and test if symptoms appear.
There are new rules around masks, too. Teachers will have to monitor mask use, as well as behaviour and teaching the curriculum.
There are hopes schools will, in the main, stay open, with NSW and Victoria no longer treating school and workplaces as close contacts for the purposes of contact tracing.
But amidst all this, there's widespread acceptance that case numbers will rise, which is leaving some parents, educators and students nervous.
Today on our podcast, Please Explain, education reporters Natassia Chrysanthos and Adam Carey join Bianca Hall to look at the return to school.
Shoppers slowed their retail spree in December following a bumper month of sales as the Omicron outbreak dampened the Christmas spending spirit.
Retail turnover dropped 4.4 per cent in the last month of 2021, data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
Retail spending slowed in December, ABS data shows. Credit:Chris Hopkins
This was the biggest fall since April 2020 but followed a 7.3 per cent national jump in turnover in November and a 4.9 per cent rise in October.
ABS director of quarterly economy wide statistics Ben James said retail sales remained above pre-pandemic levels, with December's turnover the second highest level on record behind November.
The ABS noted softer trading conditions emerged later in December as consumers became more cautious due to rising Omicron cases. But the overall spending for the month was still strong.
"Despite this month's fall, retail turnover remains strong, up 4.8 per cent on December 2020, with strong consumer spending continuing post the Delta Outbreak," Mr James said.
"Victoria recorded the largest fall of any state or territory, down 8.4 per cent, however this only partly unwinds the state's strong rise in November when it rose to a record level."
In November, Victoria's retail trade jumped 20 per cent as the state emerged from lockdown. The month also included a bumper Black Friday sales event.
NSW spending fell 4.2 per cent in December and Western Australia dropped 3.5 per cent.
The Northern Territory was the only state or territory to record a rise in turnover, with easing restrictions contributing to a 3.6 per cent increase.
More than 400 aged care residents have died since January 1 after contracting COVID-19.
Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Paul Sadler said at a press conference just now that the situation was a "national emergency".
He called on national cabinet to do everything it could to prevent COVID deaths in aged care facilities, including accelerating the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
The Commonwealth has responsibility for aged care facilities.
While the interval between second shots and booster doses is now three months, the original interval when the booster rollout began late last year was six months. That meant that some aged care residents were not eligible until recently for a booster dose.
Health authorities have stressed the importance of boosters in combating the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the virus, which began circulating in the community at the same time that restrictions were eased in many states.
Today, eight of the ten COVID-related deaths reported in Queensland were aged care residents. A total of 202 Queenslanders have died with the virus during the latest wave, 107 of whom were aged care residents.
In NSW, 31 of the 52 deaths reported on Sunday were aged care residents.
The Liberal and National parties have strengthened their financial positions in the lead-up to this year's federal election after receiving almost $84 million in donations and other funding in the past financial year.
The 2020-21 financial year figures, released on Tuesday morning by the Australian Electoral Commission, represent a $15 million increase on the previous year's total funding receipts, which also includes the party's investment streams.
The Coalition has strengthened its coffers ahead of the next election, last year's donations figures show.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The figures put the Coalition on a stronger financial footing than the Labor Party, which collected $67 million in 2020/21, $12 million more than the previous year.
Separately, the Liberal Party, which includes the LNP in Queensland and Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory, received $74,792,342 in 2020-21, while the Nationals received $8,973,527.
The Greens received almost $16,000 in donations and other funding.
The updated figures, published on the Australian Electoral Commission's website on Tuesday morning, are collated from the total of the funding receipts from the parties' state and territory branches.
Read the full story here.
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