Are you sick & tired of the misinformation being aired by the Morrison Government and numerous COVID-19 conspiracy theorists? Well it seems the Australian Medical Association just might be

Australian Medical Association, media release, 6 September 2020:

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said extending COVID-19 restrictions across Victoria will help that State and the nation ultimately recover from the pandemic sooner. 

In response to Premier Daniel Andrew’s extension today of Victoria’s physical isolation measures, Dr Khorshid said the extended restrictions will also help quicken the path to economic recovery. 

“The Victorian Government has made necessary decisions based on sound medical advice, in the best interests of the nation’s health and the nation’s economy,” Dr Khorshid said. 

“The Victorian Government modelling shows what doctors already knew. If restrictions were lifted this week, the State would see infections rise again. 

“Some business leaders campaigning against isolation measures are ignoring medical evidence that easing restrictions too soon risks a third wave surge in further infections. 

“The fall in daily infections in Victoria proves current restrictions are working. Extending these restrictions best positions the economy for a sustainable long-term recovery. 

“Every Australian wants to see Victoria succeed in halting COVID-19, both for the health of us all and the long-term recovery of our economy. 

“The Premier has also flagged some changes to the curfew and extending the ability for outdoor exercise. These modest changes are sensible, but recognise the needs of social interaction for people living alone.” 

Dr Khorshid welcomed the further decline in infection of Victorian health care workers, and the benefit the extended restrictions will have in preventing health care worker infections. 

“Front line doctors, nurses, and aged carers have been working to keep Victorians alive as the pandemic has reached across the State,” Dr Khorshid said. 

“The extended restrictions will both help prevent further illness, and also take pressure off the strained Victorian hospital and aged care system,” Dr Khorshid concluded.

Brooms Head Bowling Club makes decision to implement COVID-19 restrictions on entry into the club

Brooms Head Bowling & Recreation Club
IMAGE: Byron and Beyond - Steve Otton

Clarence Valley Independent, 1 September 2020:

In an effort to protect the elderly residents of their small village, the Brooms Head Bowling Club have made the decision to implement restrictions on entry to the club. 

Brooms Head is a popular tourist destination and the small village attracts visitors from around the state and interstate staying at the caravan park, Airbnbs, National Park camping grounds and other holiday rentals. With the closure of the Victorian border and clusters of COVID-19 cases on the rise around Sydney, the Bowling Club said that they are committed in doing their best to keep the club COVID-19 safe during this time. 

Office manager Robyn Mehrten said that they have had a lot of visitors to the club that they have had to turn away, due to having come from or reside in a COVID hot spot. 

“Most people are pretty good, but some haven’t been and the reason we’ve done it is because we want to protect our community and our elderly patrons who come here,” Robyn said. 

“It was a decision made by the management and board as well as the staff, to look after our community. 

“We come under Clubs NSW and the board are entitled to determine who can or can’t enter the club. Members are allowed to come in as long as they haven’t been to a (COVID) hot spot......

Last Friday Scott Morrison pushed state and territory leaders to urgently ease border restrictions. He had mixed success.

This was Australian Prime Minster & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison on his feet in the House of Representatives on Thursday, 3 September 2020:

“Australia was not meant to be closed. Australia was meant to be open. Australians want to see Australia become open, as the founding members of this place ensured it was from the outset, and Australia must become whole again. This is the way—that's what success looks like…...We need to ensure that we are clear with Australians that we will seek to make Australia whole again by Christmas this year” [Hansard, 3 September 2020, p.6]

The very next day he pushed state and territory leaders to urgently ease border restrictions. 

He had mixed success. West Australia refused to march to Morrison's drum, Tasmania said it would go its own way and the other states and territories agreed to consider coming to an agreement at some time in the coming months. None would consider opening their borders quickly. Nor have they yet agreed with Morrison's national definition of a COVID-19 "hot spot".

When it came to easing restrictions on cross-border travel for agricultural workers, Queensland, West Australia & Tasmania refused to participate in the model Morrison put forward, but agreed to observe how matters play out in the three other states to date which will have committed to participating in that scheme.

In response to the refusal to open borders quickly and refusal to agree to containment of affected populations within a state/territory based on area lockdowns instead of state/territory borders, Morrison informed the premiers and chief ministers that the National Cabinet would no longer be a consensus forum.

This is reportedly being interpreted by the states that he intends to change how the national cabinet operates. A case of 'I'm changing the rules so I don't get rolled' and giving himself permission to publicly attack those states or territories which disagree with him during national cabinet meetings.

Revising recent history, Morrison then told the world that there have been times during this pandemic he feared Australia would "break apart". Perhaps intending to raise fear levels in order to drive the national electorate towards agreement with whatever he has planned in the next few months.

Easing border restrictions is important to 'Scotty From Marketing' because he needs to brag about future increases in trade and consumption ahead of the October budget announcement in order to buttress his claim he has found a way out of the first recession in 29 years.

Because as it now stands the national figures below indicate October budget projections will likely be dismal.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Jun 2020, Contribution to GDP growth, seasonally adjusted:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has suffered its worst fall on record, household consumption, private capital formation exports are down, along with a terms of trade increase best described as slight.

While general government consumption is not looking that healthy either and appears an inadequate response in the current situation and, workers share of the national income is at a 61 year low.

The June Quarter 2020 GDP breakdown is:

Graph: ABC News, Stephen Letts

Interestingly, from March 2020 to June 2020 the states and territories showing the smallest falls in seasonally adjusted state final demand (combined consumption expenditure, public & private gross fixed capital formation) were those with the strongest border restrictions.

In other words, community confidence appears relatively higher in those populations behind strong borders.

For some reason Morrison appears to believe that if he bullies state premiers and territory chief ministers into opening borders before community transmission is contained, that any ensuing drawn-out increase in the national number of COVID-19 infections and deaths won't hold the Australian economy back.

He can't make it any clearer that he is willing to sacrifice lives in the mistaken belief that this will improve his own government's 2020 budget projections.

Even though government economic experts in Treasury and the Reserve Bank have on more than one occasion pointed out that stronger economic recovery is possible if faster progress in controlling the virus is achieved in the near term. 

It is only after faster progress is made in suppressing or eliminating the virus that a faster unwinding of activity restrictions and greater confidence will potentially lead to a faster recovery in consumption, investment and employment. 

A proposition that Morrison seems to find politically unpalatable - he prefers to  trample over the bodies of the coronavirus dead in his pursuit of another term as prime minister.

UPDATE

The verbal attack on Labor states begins on 5 & 6 September 2020 with the Initial Commonwealth response to Victorian Roadmap media release

Mobile respiratory clinic heading to Maclean during the week beginning 7 September 2020 - bookings required for COVID-19 testing

Clarence Valley Independent, 2 August 2020:

The mobile respiratory clinic heading to Maclean during the week beginning September 7. 

The clinic will take place at the Maclean RSL Sub Branch at 38 River Street. 

For bookings, phone 1800 856 325 or visit www.bit.ly/casino-rc. 

Bookings for the Maclean clinic will be open from Thursday September 3. 

Anyone who develops who flu-like symptoms should not delay getting tested at one of the multiple testing clinics already established throughout the region. 

More information about this initiative can be found on our website at: https://nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/blog/2020/07/03/testing-times-mobile-respiratory-clinic-hits-the-road/

Cartoons of the Week

Cathy Wilcox

Wes Mountain

Graeme MacKay

As if the NSW Northern Rivers doesn't have enough on its plate, here's Pete!

IMAGE: realestate.com.au

TV chef and wannabe social media 'influencer' Pete Evans has his two-level Malabar home (left) on the market again.

Word is that he is making his ten hectare Round Mountain Farm, near Pottsville, home base as he prepares to open a healing clinic in Byron Bay now that Channel 7 has apparently tired of his antics.

That's right readers, your eyes didn't deceive you, the man who peddled glorified light shows as preventatives against COVID-19 and was fined more than $25,000 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) over false claims he made about the "BioCharger", wants to run an alternative healing business in The Habitat, Byron’s new commercial precinct which has reportedly attracted health and beauty outlets.

The same man who without any scientific or medical training gave alarmingly bad advice to osteoporosis sufferers and was publicly slammed by the Australian Medical Association.

Who promotes 'anti-vaxxer' sites as well as the debunked "Plandemic: Indoctrination" conspiracy film on social media and, suggests putting doTERRA essential oils in your chicken broth - regardless of the fact that these oils are rarely advised to be taken internally.

Finally, this is the man who thinks 'fat shaming' a woman is a fun thing to do on Facebook.

It seems that Evans may have sensed a vacancy, since former tennis coach and "esoteric healer" Serge Benhayon removed himself from the local spotlight after he spectacularly lost a defamation case in 2018 to the tune of an estimated $1.2 million payout to the respondent and then Universal Medicine was stripped of its Lismore Business Awards after a review by the Lismore Chamber of Commerce.

I am one Yamba resident who is really incensed that these wealthy, self-entitled #COVIDIOTS placed my community at risk

I suspect that I am not the only Clarence Valley resident disturbed by this breach of COVID-19 public health orders.

Like others I am wondering why the Port Of Yamba, a first point of entry for vessels and certain goods, as determined under subsection 229(1) of the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth), a) did not restrict the "Lady Pamela" to an overnight only mooring within the formal limits of the port and prohibit crew or passengers from leaving the confines of the yacht or b) if mooring was for longer than overnight did not require passengers & crew to be tested for the virus.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2020:

Melbourne millionaire Mark Simonds and his family face a two-week stay in hotel lockdown after the Queensland government revoked a quarantine exemption for their super-yacht Lady Pamela. 

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, in a joint investigation with A Current Affair, revealed the 30-metre vessel docked on the Gold Coast on Monday morning after slipping out of Melbourne on August 9 and stopping on at least five occasions as it sailed up the east coast. 

Mr Simonds, executive director of the ASX-listed Simonds Group, was joined on his 15-day jaunt by his wife, Cheryl, his youngest son Vallence and Hannah Fox, daughter of Linfox executive chairman Peter Fox. 

The Queensland government granted an exemption to the Lady Pamela on Sunday night to enter the state but on Tuesday afternoon that exemption was revoked after Queensland Health said it had received new information. 

"All seven people are now required to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 14 days at their own expense," a Queensland Health spokesperson said. 

"Attempting to bypass or manipulate Queensland's border direction is unacceptable." Queensland Police had been provided with video evidence by A Current Affair, which revealed passengers and crew disembarking from the Lady Pamela in Yamba on August 21, which is understood to have breached the conditions of their exemption. 

The group, which also includes several crew members, were removed from the Lady Pamela by members of Queensland Police just before 7pm on Tuesday evening, before they boarded a mini-van.....

Since last Wednesday, the boat had been moored in an inlet in Yamba, on the NSW north coast, where the Simonds family were seen swimming in the Clarence River and drinking on deck, while a crew member was dispatched to bring supplies.

Marine Traffic, 26 August 2020:

Where is the ship?
Pleasure Craft LADY PAMELA is currently located at EAUS - East Australia at position 27° 51' 48.564" S, 153° 20' 20.76" E as reported by MarineTraffic Terrestrial Automatic Identification System on 2020-08-25 21:25 UTC (58 minutes ago)
The wind in this area at that time blows from North direction at force 0 Beaufort.

Where is this vessel going to?
The vessel is currently at port HOPE ISLAND, AU after a voyage of 2 days, 22 hours originating from port YAMBA, AU.

What kind of ship is this?
LADY PAMELA (MMSI: 503009200) is a Pleasure Craft and is sailing under the flag of Australia.
Her length overall (LOA) is 29 meters and her width is 7 meters.

How can you tell when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is spinning voters a line? He opens his mouth and speaks. How do you know when his decision is flawed? He announces it with a flourish.

It's hard to understand why Scott Morrison chooses to lie so often when he must know how easily he is caught out.

It is easier to understand why he is so frequently attracted to dubious characters - he is the type of overly confident self-important man who is often identified by such individuals as an easy 'mark'.

On the morning of Wednesday 19 August 2020……

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, media release, 19 August 2020:

Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves successful, through an agreement between the Australian Government and UK-based drug company AstraZeneca.

Under the deal, every single Australian will be able to receive the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for free, should trials prove successful, safe and effective…..

Scotty From Marketing played dress-ups to make his vaccine announcement
Mask & full lab coat
IMAGE: ABC News, 20 August 2020

ABCNews, 19 August 2020:

Australians are a step closer to accessing a coronavirus vaccine for free, after the Federal Government secured a major international deal to produce a vaccine frontrunner locally, should trials succeed.

Amid rising pressure to lock in supply of a coronavirus vaccine, the Government has signed an agreement with UK-based drug company AstraZeneca to secure the potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University, if its trials prove successful.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said if the vaccine succeeded, the Government would manufacture it immediately and make it free for all Australians.

"The Oxford vaccine is one of the most advanced and promising in the world, and under this deal we have secured early access for every Australian," he said……

In the evening of Wednesday 19 August 2020….

The Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2020: 

"Drug company AstraZeneca says Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claim he has reached a deal to secure 25 million doses of the Oxford University vaccine is not true."

Then there is the pharmaceutical company Morrison named....

Corporate Research Project, 4 February 2017:

London-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is the result of the 1999 merger of Britain’s Zeneca, a spinoff of the old Imperial Chemical Industries specializing in cancer medications, and Sweden’s Astra AB, which was best known for the ulcer and heartburn medication Prilosec. Since that deal, the combined company has been embroiled in numerous controversies over illegal marketing, product safety, anticompetitive behavior and tax avoidance. 

Advertising and Marketing Controversies 

In 2003 federal officials announced that AstraZeneca had pleaded guilty to criminal and civil charges relating to the illegal marketing of the prostate cancer drug Zoladex. The company agreed to pay $355 million, consisting of $64 million in criminal fines, a $266 million settlement of civil False Claims Act charges, and a $25 million settlement of fraud charges relating to state Medicaid programs. AstraZeneca, which agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, had been accused of giving illegal financial inducements such as grants and honoraria to physicians.

In 2004 a coalition of consumer groups filed suit against AstraZeneca in a California state court, arguing that advertising for the company’s acid reflux drug Nexium misled consumers into thinking that it was superior to AstraZeneca’s Prilosec. The company had introduced Nexium to replace Prilosec as the latter drug was losing its patent protection. The case, along with a related one filed in Massachusetts, is pending. 

Also in 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that AstraZeneca’s full-page newspaper advertisements defending the safety of its Crestor cholesterol medication were “false and misleading.” The warning letter sent by the agency to AstraZeneca took issue not only with what the company said about the drug but also the way it represented the FDA’s position on Crestor. 

In 2010 the U.S. Justice Department announced that AstraZeneca would pay $520 million to resolve allegations that it illegally marketed its anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the FDA. Under the terms of the settlement, $302 million of the total was to go to the federal government and $218 million to state Medicaid programs. Among other things, the company was accused of having paid doctors to give speeches and publish articles (ghostwritten by the company) promoting those unapproved uses. AstraZeneca agreed to sign a corporate integrity agreement regarding its future behavior. In 2011 AstraZeneca settled a related Seroquel case brought by state governments by agreeing to pay another $69 million. 

Product Safety 

In 2002 AstraZeneca said it would put a more conspicuous warning label on its lung cancer drug Iressa after several patients in Japan suffered pneumonia and some died. 

In 2003 researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago released the results of research concluding that AstraZeneca’s Seroquel and two other schizophrenia drugs made by other companies created an elevated risk for diabetes. Subsequently, more than 25,000 lawsuits were filed against the company. In 2010 the company said it would pay a total of $198 million to settle those cases. That same year, the UK’s Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority found that AstraZeneca had failed to adequately describe the risks of Seroquel in an advertisement for the drug in a medical journal. 

In 2004 the watchdog group Public Citizen urged the federal government to ban AstraZeneca’s new cholesterol drug Crestor because of evidence linking it to the life-threatening muscle condition rhabdomyolysis. Noting that the company had not submitted timely reports to the FDA on some two dozen serious adverse reactions to Crestor, Public Citizen also called for a criminal investigation of the company. A 2005 study performed at Tufts University found that Crestor users had more serious side effects than those taking other cholesterol drugs. 

Also in 2004, an FDA review of AstraZeneca’s new blood thinner Exanta questioned the safety and effectiveness of the drug.

Pricing and Anticompetitive Behavior

......In 2003 the European Commission accused AstraZeneca of misusing patent rules to shield its ulcer drug Losec (Prilosec in the United States) from generic competitors. The company was charged with having misstated the year the drug was introduced in order to make it eligible for an extension of its exclusivity rights. In 2005 the commission fined AstraZeneca 60 million euros, a penalty which was upheld by the European Court of Justice in 2012.

In 2007 a federal judge ruled in a national class action case that AstraZeneca and two other companies had to pay damages in connection with overcharging Medicare and private insurance companies. The judge singled out AstraZeneca for acting “unfairly and deceptively” in its pricing of prostate cancer drug Zoladex. AstraZeneca was later hit with a $12.9 million judgment. In 2010 AstraZeneca agreed to pay $103 million to settle a national lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging for Zoladex and Pulmicort Respules asthma medication.

In 2009 AstraZeneca was one of four drug companies that entered into a settlement agreement under which they agreed to pay a total of $124 million to settle charges that they violated the federal False Claims Act by failing to provide required rebates to state Medicaid programs. AstraZeneca’s share of the total settlement amount was $2.6 million.....

Read the full history of this company's behaviour here.

Cartoon of the Week

Mark David

A conga line of #COVIDIOTS - Part 4

NSW Police, News, 16-19 August 2020:

Police in the Riverina region have issued two Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) in the past 24 hours for non-compliance with COVID-19 Public Health Orders.

As part of proactive compliance operations, officers from Riverina Police District attended a restaurant on Fernleigh Road, Mount Austin, just before 7pm on Saturday (15 August 2020).

After speaking with the 39-year-old male owner, officers conducted a walk-through and established that a COVID Safety Plan had not been completed.

Further, the owner, who was also the chef, claimed to be the designated COVID marshal.

The owner was informed he would receive a $5000 PIN for non-compliance with the Public Health Orders, which was issued yesterday (Tuesday 18 August 2020).

In a separate and unrelated incident, officers from Riverina Police District have been conducting inquiries into suspected non-compliance of self-isolation directions since late last month.

On Saturday 25 July 2020, local police were contacted after a 25-year-old woman, who had arrived in Wagga Wagga from Victoria on Thursday 23 July 2020 on a valid permit, was reportedly not self-isolating.

Police conducted a number of inquiries, including repeat compliance checks, during which it was established she had not been self-isolating.

Officers advised the woman she would receive a $1000 PIN for fail to comply with noticed direction in relation to s7/8/9 – COVID-19 and reminded she must complete the full self-isolation period.

The woman was issued with the PIN yesterday (Tuesday 18 August 2020).

Police continue to appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of any ministerial direction or behaviour which may impact on the health and safety of the community.

Anyone who has information regarding individuals or businesses in contravention of a COVID-19-related ministerial direction is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report crime via NSW Police social media pages.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two people have been issued with Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) since the last update:

About 6pm on Sunday (16 August 2020), officers from Eastern Beaches Police Area Command responded to reports of a large gathering at Jack Vanny Memorial Park, Maroubra. Officers spoke with a 33-year-old man who was one of the organisers of the event, before the crowd was dispersed without incident. Following inquiries, the man was issued with a $1000 PIN yesterday (Monday 17 August 2020) for fail to comply with noticed direction in relation to s7/8/9 – COVID-19.

On Friday 14 August 2020, a 57-year-old man attended Bourke Hospital with possible COVID-19 symptoms. He was tested for the virus and directed to self-isolate at home. About 3.30pm yesterday (Monday 18 August 2020) the man was located at a friend’s house. Further inquiries revealed the man had attended a local shop the same morning. He was issued with a $1000 PIN for fail to comply with noticed direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two people have been charged and 19 Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) have been issued since the last COVID-19 update.

CHARGES INCLUDE:

About 12.30pm on Saturday (15 August 2020), police attended the Albury-Wodonga railway bridge and spoke with a 24-year-old man, from West Wodonga, was who was wanted in NSW on four outstanding warrants.

It’s alleged the man had crossed the border into NSW illegally, with officers also locating and seizing a set of knuckledusters when he was searched.

The man was taken to Albury Police Station where he was charged with the outstanding warrants, along with go onto running lines, resist police, possession of a prohibited weapon, and fail to comply with the Public Health Order.

He was refused bail appeared at Wagga Wagga Local Court yesterday (Sunday 16 August 2020), where he was formally refused bail to appear in Albury Local Court today (Monday 17 August 2020).

In another incident, about 4.20pm on Friday (14 August 2020), a 37-year-old man attended Eastwood Police Station for a meeting. While waiting, the man allegedly coughed directly towards two female officers, aged 30 and 33. He was arrested and taken to Ryde Police Station.

Police will further allege that while in custody the man damaged a station phone during a call.

He was charged with not comply with noticed direction re spitting/coughing – COVID-19, two counts of assault officer in execution of duty, two counts of intimidate police officer in execution of duty without actual bodily harm, and destroy or damage property.

The man was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in Burwood Local Court on Tuesday 25 August 2020.

In addition, 19 people and businesses were issued with PINs. PINS INCLUDE:

- About 12.30pm on Saturday, police were called after a light aircraft, which left Victoria, had landed at Deniliquin Airport. The 61-year-old male pilot did not have a valid permit to enter NSW. He was directed to return immediately to Victoria and was issued with an infringement notice.

- About 11.30am on Saturday, officers from Sydney City PAC were called to a unit on Hay Street, Haymarket, after reports of a party occurring inside. Officers attended and found a gathering in progress with approximately 30 people inside. Officers spoke to the 20-year-old female occupant who told police she booked the premises online. She was issued with a $1000 infringement for failure to comply with noticed direction.

- A man who organised a dance party on the North Coast of NSW last month has been issued an $1000 infringement for ‘Not Comply Noticed Direction’. Police allege the man held the unauthorised party on Saturday 4 July 2020 at Wilsons Creek Road, Wilsons Creek, which attracted an estimated crowd of 1000-1500 people. Following inquiries, the 50-year-old man was issued a PIN on Friday.

- About 10.20pm on Saturday 8 August 2020, officers from Murray River Police District visited a licensed premise on End Street, Deniliquin, where they saw patrons not practicing social distancing. Following inquiries, police issued the licensee – a 65-year-old woman – a $1000 fine on Friday.

- Another licensee of a hotel on Station Place, Wagga Wagga, was also fined $1000 on Saturday, after officers from Riverina Police District identified breaches, including patrons not practising social distancing and an out-of-date COVID safety plan, during a visit on Saturday 8 August 2020.

- On Friday evening, licensing officers from Murray River Police District conducting business inspections spoke with a 54-year-old man at a club in Mulwala, and a 58-year-old woman at a club in Barooga, who were both drinking alcohol and playing gaming machines. Both were from Victoria, with the man entering NSW with a working permit, and the woman entering NSW on a permit strictly stating she was only entering the state to provide care. The man and woman were each issued $1000 PINs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Victoria Police, Breaking News, 19 August 2020:

Moorabbin Highway Patrol members grabbed a man for excessive speed, drink driving and breaching Chief Health Officers restrictions in Brighton last night.

Police detected a white BMW sedan on Nepean Highway travelling at 138km/h in a 80km/h zone about 8.10pm.

Police spoke to the driver, a 43-year-old Beaumaris man, who underwent a preliminary breath test.

He was taken to a local station for an evidentiary test where he returned an alleged reading of 0.157%.

His car was impounded at a cost of $878.50 and his licence was immediately suspended for 12 months.

He is expected to be summonsed to appear at a Magistrates Court at a later date for traffic related offences.

The driver was also found to be in breach of the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer and issued a $1652 penalty notice.

The directions by the Chief Health Officer, under the State of Emergency declared in Victoria, have been enacted to help stop the spread of Coronavirus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perspectives on the Qld-NSW border closure

Perspective One

Echo NetDaily, 18 August 2020:

Queensland is closed. Annastacia is showing us she knows how to deliver some serious borderline discipline. It’s a show of strength – perhaps, some might say, a borderline disorder. There’s a state election around the corner (31 October) and she’s not about to let a few hundred NSW cancer patients in need of treatment soften her public displays of tough love for her Queensland constituents.

There’s been endless stories of seriously ill people who have been severely affected by the sudden border closures and the quarantining requirements. I even heard the heartbreaking story of a very ill man who had received treatment at a Queensland hospital and was made to cross into NSW to meet his wife by foot. At a local doctors surgery as many as ten doctors can no longer attend. Is that a show of strength Ms Palaszczuk?

In the previous border closure earlier this year I knew of people who were able to get border passes for a day trip to IKEA. Just a few months ago we could print a pass and return home with a flat pack. Now we have to beg for chemo. That’s nuts. We don’t even have COVID here. In Northern NSW we’ve become refugees in our own country.

We are standing at the border knocking, ‘Hey Queensland, you’ve been coming down here every weekend for years now, clogging up our roads, swimming at our beaches, enjoying our kooky hippyesque charm… we don’t want to come in for a holiday, we would like to go to hospital.’

Until COVID, borders were something that only meant something in the State of Origin. Or if someone cut you off on the highway and had a Queensland numberplate you mused it was because of their statewide merging disorder. For over half the year they’re an hour behind us because of their silly reluctance to take on daylight savings. But now the Queensland border has been sealed shut. They’re sailing into the distance. Who knows how far behind they may be once the border reopens? Will we need passports to enter?

COVID has carved Australia into a quarantine pie, it has made us separate people. It has made Queenslanders distrustful of us. And here in NSW, it has made us suspicious of Victorians. Every time we see a VIC numberplate we hit down hard on the hand sanitiser. State premiers who previously seemed a tad irrelevant in the big game of politics have become the major players. They get to play Big Daddy or Big Mummy to keep their state safe. I’m not sure what’s happened to Scott Morrison – he appears to have gone to sleep. Every time I turn the telly on, it’s not Scotty’s face I see, it’s Daniel Andrews. And I have to admit I really feel for him. He has to bring the COVID-19 outbreak under control, otherwise the rest of Australia will blame Victoria for their financial ruin. He does look very tired.

The pandemic has ugly impacts. It has made us territorial. We are one country – at least we used to be. Our lockdown has sent us to our burrows – it has made us conspiratorial and suspicious. It is causing us to lose trust. When Annastacia created a travel bubble between Queensland and NSW, she cut Mullumbimby and Byron Bay out. I doubt that was an accident with the protractor in the planning department. ‘We ran out of arc’. It’s because people from Sydney come here. It’s because we’re perceived as loose – after all we’re famous for immunising with a turmeric poultice.

So, farewell Queensland. We’ll see you on the other side. Or perhaps, we won’t.

Perspective Two

Yes this border closure can be hard on individuals, families and communities.

For those living in the Northern Rivers region who need to access health services in southern Queensland and medical personnel who can no longer cross the border to work in our hospitals and clinics unless they leave their families and don't return until the border opens, it is more than hard.   

However, the Northern Rivers is part of a state, New South Wales, which allows its residents free movement within its own borders during this global pandemic.

This means that people can freely travel from local government areas where COVID-19 infection growth is active to areas where infection growth is low or where there are no known cases of the virus.

New South Wales has a premier who appears to be in thrall to a prime minister whose constant push to prematurely ease public health order restrictions put in place by the states destabilised the national response to the pandemic.

So here in New South Wales we remain one of only two states with a high cumulative number of confirmed of COVID-19 cases, a relatively high death toll and active community transmission of the virus.

Currently the other six states and territories are managing to keep infection rates very low.

Additionally, we have people travelling within our state who crossed into New South Wales from Victoria which is in the middle of an infection surge and, we are not sending them home. Because quite frankly the Berejiklian Government has no idea where these Victorian travellers are.

Even within our state trust in the 'experts' engaged by the NSW Dept. of Health has taken a battering - given the release of the Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess Report on 14 August 2020.

It is no wonder that the Queensland Government does not trust any assurances given by either Scott Morrison or Gladys Berejiklian that new cases of the virus are unlikely to cross the border if Anastasia Palaszczuk were to reopen Queensland to people from New South Wales right now.