Taking Australia's temperature in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years using death as the thermometer. WARNING: this post contains annual suicide statistics.

When it comes to forming government policy it often seems that politicians see policy implementation and outcomes in terms of the effect they will have on national GDP growth or decline and annual budget balances or deficits.

Very rarely does one hear a government minister discuss the effect ideologically driven policies have on human capital, on the sense of wellbeing of ordinary people.

Since late 2013 Australia has been governed by a collection of politicians led first by Tony Abbott, then Malcolm Turnbull and lastly Scott Morrison. The kindest term for this motley collection of MPs and senators would have to be 'enthusiastic cultural and economic warriors of the hard right'.

So using a crude measurement let's look at one indicator of when that sense of wellbeing fails.

CONFIRMED DEATHS BY SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA 2012-2020

• 2012 there were 2,580 deaths by suicide

• 2013 there were 2,610 deaths by suicide

The Abbott Coalition Government was elected to govern in September 2013.Scott Morrison becomes a Cabinet Minister and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

• 2014 there were 2,922 deaths by suicide

Scott Morrison ceases to be Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and becomes Minister for Social Services in December 2014.

As Minister for Social Services Morrison announces he is going to "stop the bludgers".

In the 12 months to 30 June 2014 a total of 1,373 income support payment recipients suffered financial loss caused by the department’s failure to follow proper procedure or to provide appropriate advice.

By June 2014 the number of unemployed people increased by 43,700 to 789,000, with the unemployment rate at a 12 year high. 

Newstart unemployment benefit remains well below the poverty line.

• 2015 there were 3,093 deaths by suicide

Scott Morrison ceases to be Minister for Social Services in September 2015 and becomes Australian Treasurer. Christian Porter becomes Minister for Social Services, Alan Tudge Assistant Minister for Social Services and Stuart Robert becomes Minister for Human Services.

The number of unemployed people looking for full-time work reached 551,800 and the number of unemployed people looking for part-time work increased by 34,300 to 243,400.

As  Australian Treasurer Morrison strips est. $15 billion over 4 years from basic services in Budget 2015-16. These cuts are expected to impact families and low-income earners.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2015 the number of Indigenous deaths in custody was the highest recorded since 1979-80.

• 2016 there were 2,902 deaths by suicide

National unemployment rate for 2016 nears a three-year low at 5.7%, with unemployment decreasing over the year by 11,900 persons.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2016 a total of 69,921 welfare recipients had their income support payments reduced. 

Unlawful ‘robodebt’ debt-averaging algorithm introduced in 2016 - letters began to be sent out to past & current welfare recipients in December of the year.

Cashless Debit Card trials commence, restricting welfare recipients access to cash withdrawals from their pensions, benefits and allowances.

• 2017 there were 3,285 deaths by suicide

Australia’s unemployment rate hit a 14-month high, rising to 5.9% in February. Budget 2017-18 announced mutual obligation requirements attached to Newstart payments were being increased.

Aged Pension qualifying age began to rise on 1 July 2017.

• 2018 there were 3,138 suicides - averaging 8 deaths per day. NSW had the highest state total at 899 deaths.

As of June 2018  71%, or 802,600 people, received an unemployment payment—717,000 for Newstart Allowance and 85,600 for Youth Allowance (other). This represented 5.2% of the population aged 18–64. 

In late June 2018, 10,600 Newstart Allowance recipients were aged 65, reflecting the increase in the qualifying age for the Age Pension to 65.5 from 1 July 2017.

An est. 80,000 single parents now on Newstart unemployment benefit rather than a parenting payment.

In July 2018 Parents Next program was introduced which applied governmental coercive control of single parents on parenting payments.

In August 2018 Scott Morrison ceased to be Australian Treasurer and became Prime Minister.

• 2019 there were 3,318 deaths by suicide

In the 12 months to 30 June 2019 under the privatised welfare-to-work scheme 121,604 people had their income support suspended without reason.

The Cashless Debit Card trial now includes est. 15,000 cardholders.

• 2020 no deaths data published for 2020 to date

Dynamic modelling shows that there may be a 25 per cent increase in suicides recorded for 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts.

Unemployment rate reached 6.2% in April, 6.8% in November and 6.6% in December 2020. Unemployment alone is associated with a two to threefold increased relative-risk of death by suicide, compared with being employed.

PRINCIPAL SOURCES

https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/deaths-by-suicide-in-australia/suicide-deaths-over-time

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/suicide-and-intentional-self-harm

https://ama.com.au/media/joint-statement-covid-19-impact-likely-lead-increased-rates-suicide-and-mental-illness

https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/7dc1d5f5ad9c94a5ca2580c80013b0eb!OpenDocument

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/organisations/about-us/annual-reports

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/dec-2020#:~:text=Seasonally%20adjusted%20estimates%20for%20December,Employment%20increased%20to%2012%2C910%2C800.

https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/sr_05_270418.pdf

Upgrade of NSW section of Pacific Highway finally completed in 2020

 

It has taken around twenty-four years but the $15 billion 657km Pacific Highway upgrade, from Hexham a suburb of Newcastle to the Queensland border, is now complete.

The prime minister celebrated this fact at New Italy on the Far North Coast – even though he personally had little to do with the planning, implementation or funding of most of this upgrade. Not being a member of parliament when the project began and only being part of a federal government for the final seven years.

Left to right: Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan, Deputy Prime Minister & Nationals MP Michael McCormack, Prime Minister & Liberal MP Scott Morrison, NSW Premier & Liberal MP Gladys Berejiklian

Current road toll

Between 1 January 2020 & 17 December, 292 people have been killed on NSW roads - 178 on country roads [NSW Transport, 18 December 2020].

At least 10 of these deaths were on the Pacific Highway.

Media reports revealed that one person was killed just north of Sydney, one on the Central Coast near Lake Munmorah, one on the Mid-North coast at Nabiac, one at Charlestown, one at Harwood in the Clarence Valley, two were further north about 5kms south of Woodburn, one south of Tweed Heads, another across the Queensland border at Nerang and one down south at Albury near the Victorian border.

The NSW Nationals Minister for Nepotism, Double Bay and Killing Koalas, Bronnie Taylor, fails to answer a question concerning the deadly impact of exclusion fencing in northern New South Wales

 

Bronnie Taylor, NSW MLC & Minister in the Berejiklian Government having carriage of the Local Land Services Amendment Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020 which will remove the Koala Habit Protection SEPP from the bulk of New South Wales land area.
IMAGE: Internewscast

NSW Legislative Council, 10 November 2020, Hansard excerpt:

EXCLUSION FENCING

The Hon. MARK PEARSON (16:16:09): My question is directed to the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women representing the agriculture Minister. I have been contacted by concerned wildlife

carers and kangaroo shooters who have observed trapped wildlife being killed or becoming very distressed and dying a long lingering death as a consequence of exclusion fencing being installed in 100-kilometre clusters by landholders in northern New South Wales. Is the Minister aware of the harm being caused by Local Land Services encouraging farmers to construct them under the New South Wales Government's Supporting Our Neighbours fencing funding program?

The Hon. BRONNIE TAYLOR (Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women) (16:16:52): I thank the honourable member for his question, which is addressed to agriculture Minister Adam Marshall in the other place and whom I represent in this place. It is always distressing to hear about any animals suffering for whatever reason. Local Land Services do a terrific job in this State and they have had a difficult time in recent years with a drought like we have never seen before. I know they would be doing everything they could to ensure that they were doing their job, helping farmers but also ensuring that animals are not suffering. There are really good people on the ground in Local Land Services, who are working hard to do the right thing. As the question contains quite a bit of detail about fences and particular incidents, I will take it on notice and get back to the member as soon as possible.

An example of exclusion fencing being sold in Australia:

IMAGE: Waratah Fencing

NOTES:

Nepotism - see https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/23/nsw-funded-16m-project-run-by-mp-bronwyn-taylors-husband.

Allegations of corruption re protected grasslands - see https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/20/angus-taylors-sister-in-law-asked-if-she-tried-to-influence-endangered-species-listing

663 people have died from #COVID19 in aged care facilities in Australia.

My direct question to Health Secretary: Were any of these deaths avoidable?

The short answer we got: Yes - if the Federal Gov had acted quicker in Victoria. #auspol pic.twitter.com/A0Hrom5NJQ

— Katy Gallagher (@SenKatyG) September 29, 2020

The dramatic increase in COVID-19 deaths in Australia’s aged care homes begs the ethics around our treatment of people in aged care, says a UNSW expert

MediaNet Release, 24 September 2020:

Treating our elderly people ethically and with transparency

UNSW’s Richard Hugman says it is time to stop treating elderly people as objects, as the Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety continues.

The dramatic increase in COVID-19 deaths in Australia’s aged care homes begs the ethics around our treatment of people in aged care, says a UNSW expert. In less than four months, deaths from COVID-19 in aged care have increased from 28 to 580, at the time of writing.

UNSW Emeritus Professor Richard Hugman, a social worker who specialises in the aged care professions, says Australia’s service provision needs to treat older people as human beings rather than objects.

"To use a similar ethos in caring for human beings that you would use in producing physical things for sale, I think is an unfortunate way to think about the world,” the former professor of social work at UNSW Arts & Social Sciences, says.

"The way policies are framed around running these [places], it is as if they are running a factory. I understand good management techniques are transferable across settings, but you also need to understand the content of what you're managing.”

Causes of the COVID outbreaks in aged care

A range of factors have been blamed for the outbreak of COVID-19 in care facilities, including a lack of training in the use of Personal Protective Equipment and supplies available for care staff.

Melbourne’s aged care homes have been the worst hit, with all but five of the 115 aged care homes affected by the virus in Victoria. St Basil’s recording 44 deaths, Epping Gardens 36 deceased and Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir with 21.

In Sydney, Newmarch House recorded the state’s highest death toll in aged care with 19 cases, including two residents who had COVID-19 when they died from other causes. And the numbers are growing.

Newmarch and St Basil’s had alarming numbers because they decided not to transfer patients to hospital, Prof. Hugman says.

"I haven't seen the detail, but the question I would be asking is, ‘were those homes actually using established infectious disease control methods?’” he says.

The decision not to transfer patients is exacerbated by the fact that today there are very few qualified nurses in nursing homes, Prof. Hugman says.

"Some nursing homes don't even actually have a nurse on duty at all times. If they’re looking after 100 people and they’ve got one nurse on duty to supervise other people, then they might have somebody who has a certificate from TAFE administering drugs and medications.

"Whereas in a hospital, someone would actually have to be a qualified nurse to be doing that.”

Care staff working across multiple sites during the pandemic have also reportedly been a likely source of COVID-19 transmission. Prof. Hugman says staff have to work between homes just to earn enough to survive on.

"It's not just in Victoria, despite what the government says. These are all reflections of the broader ethics of the social value that is placed on [ageing] people, so that they seem to be less well cared for than they could be otherwise.”

Early findings from the Royal Commission’s interim report

The Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (RCACQS) is looking at better financing models, including regulation of aged care providers, in its latest hearings expected to run until September 22.

It comes after a survey by the University of Queensland for RCACQS estimated it would cost $621 million per year to improve the quality of all aged care homes to better standards. In its October 2019interim report, the RCACQS’ scathing review stated that aged care is a “shocking tale of neglect” in Australia that fails to meet the needs of our elderly people.

Australia’s aged care sector is “unkind and uncaring” towards older people, it does not deliver uniformly safe and quality care and often neglects them, according to the interim report.

Prof. Hugman says while the Royal Commission creates an opportunity for people to speak up, the real challenge lies in the government’s response and how it then permeates into the wider society.

A lack of transparency

Prof. Hugman says there is a lack of transparency in how government funding is spent by management in aged care facilities in comparison to community-based social services where monitoring is stringent.

He says claims by some aged care homes, particularly those from the for-profit sector, that they have to spend less on staff relative to residents in order to cover their costs just doesn’t stack up.

"And those claims about non-profitability do not explain how or why the [aged care] for-profit sector remains [in operation],” he says.

For-profit aged care homes have reported more cases of COVID-19 than facilities operating on a not-for-profit framework, heightening concerns about staff numbers, training and supplies.

Raising the social value of elderly people

The Victorian Aged Care Response Centre has since been set-up to coordinate efforts to stabilise any further COVID-19 outbreaks across the private and public aged care sectors, with an infection control officer now stationed in each facility.

And the Royal Commission is set to release its final report by 26 February 2021.

Prof. Hugman recommends the government respond to the Royal Commission by not only providing sufficient funding but by also ensuring older people are treated with dignity and care.

"[The government needs to] focus on improvements to the aged care sector that are not reflective of a sense that older people needing care are a burden on society,” Prof. Hugman says.

[Instead, they need to focus on the fact] that older people are part of society and that a good society is one that values all its members.”

Prof. Hugman also says there needs to be an emphasis placed on the expression of positive values about how to treat and view elderly people as human beings.

"Frankly, there are some places I've visited in the last few years, either because I've had friends or relatives who are living in them or I've gone to visit for professional reasons,” Prof. Hugman says.

And they’re places, “I wouldn't go anywhere near”.

Realising he had been too clever by half, #ScottyFromMarketing withdraws from WA court case

In which Australian Prime Minister and MP for Cook Scott Morrison tries to pretend he was never involved in the decision to support Clive Palmer's attempts to force Western Australia to open its state borders during a surging global pandemic which has already seen over 20,000 Australians infected and nationally 266 people dead.

WAtoday, 7 August 2020:

Western Australia's Solicitor-General claims the Commonwealth’s eleventh-hour withdrawal from Clive Palmer's legal challenge to WA’s hard border has created "an egg that must now be unscrambled". 

During submissions in the Federal Court on Friday, Solicitor-General Joshua Thomson SC made an application for the July trial to be vacated and a new trial granted without the Commonwealth’s evidence. 

"It’s a most unusual situation where you have an intervention by somebody, in this case the Commonwealth, which in effect sends them to the field of battle, it goes in and has that battle and then seeks to withdraw from the field of battle," he said. 

"What you are left with is a mixed up trail of evidence." Mr Thomson himself is currently adhering to WA’s hard border policy, making his application via video-link from his home while in self-isolation. 

At one point during his submissions he received a phone call from police checking up on his quarantine and referred to the situation as like being in prison. 

Mr Palmer’s lawyer Peter Dunning argued the WA government "didn’t own" the witness evidence given by the Commonwealth in trial, and that it would be improper for the entire proceedings to fall over because one party had lost interest due to "political" pressures. 

"It is one thing for the Prime Minister to agree with another leader for political reasons to abandon something, that arm of government is perfectly entitled to be engaged by those considerations, but it is quite inappropriate for a Federal Court to do so," he said. 

"It doesn’t mean the proceedings collapse if there are still main parties interested in the outcome. 

"What brings proceedings to an end is if there ceases to be a genuine contest." 

Mr Dunning said the witnesses in the trial were the "court’s witnesses" and could be recalled or subpoenaed in a retrial by Mr Palmer if required. 

The Commonwealth intervened in Mr Palmer’s legal bid to have WA’s hard border torn down and in effect became a "co-plaintiff", with both parties claiming the state’s all-or-nothing approach to reopening was unconstitutional. 

During a four-day trial heard in the Federal Court in late July, the Commonwealth produced evidence from two public health experts, Professor Peter Collignon and Professor Tony Blakely, cross-examined other expert witnesses and submitted reports. 

WA enlisted its Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson and Associate Professor Kamalini Lokuge as its witnesses, while Mr Palmer relied on the evidence of Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake. 

Mr Thomson said that due to the nature of the combined expert witness evidence being heard throughout the trial, the entire proceedings ought to be disregarded as they disadvantaged the state. 

Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue QC said since the Commonwealth withdrew its interest the day after the trial, it was not appropriate it make any further submissions on whether or not the evidence it adduced be considered in the High Court other than to say it no longer relied on it. 

It follows comments made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Radio 6PR on Thursday that his government wished the legal action had never been brought in the first place. 

"I'm pleased we're out of it," he said. 

"We've got no issue with [the proceedings] being redone or restarted ... we don't have any objection to that." 

During the hearing, Judge Darryl Rangiah blasted Mr Donaghue after the Federal Court became aware of its withdrawal from the case through the media, with an application to the court not made for a further three days. 

"Was it more important to notify the media before this court?" he asked, arguing Friday’s case management hearing should have been listed for Monday given the urgent nature of the application. 

Premier Mark McGowan, in response to the hearing on Friday, said he would have preferred the Commonwealth had actively supported WA's application for a retrial. 

"The Commonwealth has withdrawn from the case but unfortunately did not support Western Australia's application to have the case struck out," he said. 

"With or without the support of the Commonwealth government, WA will keep fighting for what is our right and that is to protect the citizens of this state. We will continue our battle, in fact, our war with Clive Palmer." 

Following the four-day trial between Mr Palmer and the State of Western Australia in July, the Federal Court adjourned to determine the facts of the case. 

The matter is then due to go to the High Court for determination of whether or not they were constitutional, which is touted to occur from September.....
[my yellow highlighting]

BACKGROUND

The Australian, 3 August 2020, p.4:

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has “thanked” Scott Morrison for contributing to his court bid to dismantle Western Australia’s hard COVID-19 border and says the federal government has played its part in his case, despite the Prime Minister pulling his support. 

Mr Morrison wrote to West Australian Premier Mark McGowan at the weekend to end federal co-operation with a High Court bid to remove the hard ­border, saying he wanted to work with the Labor leader to reach a ­compromise. 

Federal officials have already testified on Mr Palmer’s case in front of the Federal Court last week, presenting facts to show there were alternatives to the border closure. 

Mr Palmer on Sunday said the federal contribution to the case would still help determine whether he won his fight to overturn the closure. 

“The important issue in this case is revealing the truth that the experts from the commonwealth and WA governments had to say in court,” Mr Palmer said. 

“In the coming weeks, the Federal Court will make their determination on the facts and all Australians will be better for that decision.” 

Mr Morrison’s move to withdraw backing for Mr Palmer’s bid came days after he said he had ­serious constitutional concerns about Mr McGowan’s internal border closure, which is hailed by the Premier as the key to WA’s success in eliminating COVID-19. 

Both WA and federal bureaucrats testified in front of the Federal Court to lay out the facts around the state’s border closure and the constitutional issues, ­before legal arguments started. 

University of Sydney law professor Anne Twomey said on ­Sunday Mr Morrison’s move was political and would not stop federal evidence playing a role in the ultimate decision on Mr Palmer’s bid. 

“The commonwealth has already contributed on the critical issue over whether these laws are reasonably necessary to protect public health … it’s already played its major role,” she said.

Townsville Bulletin, 3 August 2020:

The border closure to all states, regardless of their level of infection, is hugely popular in WA. 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised Mr Palmer for his legal challenge to state border closures, saying it could put at risk “all the hard work we have done”. 

“Honestly, these legal challenges are ridiculous during this time,” she said. 

“Everybody should respect that states have a job to do to protect their families and not go through the courts and do these legal challenges, putting everything at risk because that’s what will happen. It will put all the hard work that we have done at risk.”

Christian Porter and the Morrison Government threw everything but the kitchen sink at @MarkMcGowanMP and Western Australia in support of Clive Palmer’s border challenge.
Just look at this list. What will the Morrison Government do to fix the damage it has already done? pic.twitter.com/F3bTE0wAOF

— Mark Dreyfus (@markdreyfusQCMP) August 5, 2020

Quote of the Week

'“Yeah, it is quantitatively if you look at it, it is. I mean the numbers don’t lie,” Fauci said when asked during an interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta whether the U.S. had the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak. The U.S., which accounts for less than 5% of the world population, leads all other countries in global coronavirus infections and deaths.'  [Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, quoted by CNBC on 5 August 2020]

“a woman who had told NSW Police at the Victorian border she would be self-isolating at Nimbin on the NSW North Coast was issued a $1000 fine after she was located 470 kilometres south in a vehicle at Nabiac. She was also directed to return to Victoria.” [WAtoday , 7 August 2020]

Fair Work Commission shuts the door after COVID-19 has bolted

In April 2020 the Fair Work Commission was aware of a need and varied 99 modern awards to support the inclusion of "unpaid pandemic leave".

At the time it was also aware that there was a need to consider paid pandemic leave in respect of “health care workers” covered by a number of awards.

However, on 8 July the Fair Work Commission dithered and refused to vary identified “Health awards” to provide for paid pandemic leave.

This refusal came despite the strong suspicion that some private sector aged care workers in insecure employment were not declaring COVID-19 symptoms as they could not afford to stay home without suffering financial hardship and possible loss of ongoing employment.

The inevitable began to occur. COVID-19 infection numbers began to rise again in private sector aged care facilities in Victoria where there are now at least 440 active cases in 61 aged care facilities and the death toll for those in residential care stands at 47 elderly people.

In addition these 61 aged care facilities appear to be associated with another 78 COVID-19 cases.

Although Victoria has the highest death toll New South Wales is not far behind, with 29 elderly people in residential care dead since the start of the pandemic.

The national COVID-19 death toll in residential care stood at 78 on 29 July 2020 according to the Australian Government Dept. of Health. 

It was only on 27 July that the Fair Work Commission decided it was convinced there was a need for paid pandemic leave in the aged care sector*.

ABC News, 28 July 2020:

Aged care workers employed under three awards will be entitled to two weeks' paid leave if they are required to self-isolate due to having coronavirus symptoms or being a close contact of a confirmed case, following a ruling from the Fair Work Commission.

The amendments will come into effect from Wednesday, July 29, and last for three months.

Conditions attached to the paid leave include:

• Workers must be aged 17 or older and be likely to have worked during the self-isolation period
• Cannot be receiving any income — including other leave or JobKeeper — during their time in quarantine
• If workers test positive to the virus they will be provided with workers compensation leave, which will supersede the pandemic leave
• If the direction to self-isolate comes from a doctor, and not come the Government or employer, the worker must provide a medical certificate
• The entitlement extends to casual employees "engaged on a regular and systemic basis" and the payment would be based on their average earnings over the past six weeks.....

In its ruling, the FWC stated "it cannot be assumed that the current outbreak will remain confined to Victoria".

"The recent events in that state demonstrate how rapidly circumstances can change," the full bench of the commission found.

"Recent developments in New South Wales are not encouraging. The award of the entitlement remains necessary notwithstanding that the current locus of the pandemic is in Victoria."…...

Key points:

• The Fair Work Commission ruled the paid leave was necessary nationwide due to recent events demonstrating "how rapidly circumstances can change"
• The ruling follows submissions from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Health Services Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation calling for paid pandemic leave to apply for all staff in aged care across the country until the end of September
• Only casual employees who can have been employed on a "regular and systemic basis" will be entitled to the paid leave
• The commission's ruling grants paid pandemic leave to staff working in residential aged care under the Aged Care Award, the Nurses Award and the Health Professionals Award.

NOTE
* See Fair Work Commission, Decisions, Health Sector Awards—Pandemic Leave, (AM2020/13), 27 July 2020

Australia During Pandemic 2020: Portraits in Selfishness & Self-interest

Crikey, 13 July 2020:

FLIGHT CENTRE FOUNDER GRAHAM TURNER
(IMAGE: AAP/LUKAS COCH)

For some business leaders and lobby groups, the return to lockdown in Melbourne is intolerable. The most prominent is the Australian Industry Group (AIG).

Last week it condemned the Melbourne lockdown, saying “widespread shutdowns is a strategy that can be used just once.” The following day it called for the reopening of the NSW-Victorian border on the basis that the Melbourne lockdown — which it had opposed the previous day — had removed any threat of community transmission of COVID-19 outside Victoria.

The carefully chosen words of last week, though, were replaced by an altogether harsher view articulated by AIG head Innes Willox to The Australian over the weekend.

State premiers, Willox complained, were trying “to outdo, outbid and outrace each other to smother any chance of economic recovery” — a couple of days after Queensland had reopened its borders.

“Putting up artificial barriers, closing borders and turning Australians against each other is not going to get us there.”

That coincided with the head of Flight Centre, Graham “Skroo” Turner calling for Australia to “learn to live with the virus”, which would get “society and business back to a reasonable level of normality”.

After dismissing herd immunity, and the tens of thousands of deaths that would require, as “not a great option”, Turner, or his ghost-writer, suggested that Australia had embraced a “model of states, territories or governments who have no COVID-19 objectives or clear science and data-based strategies”.

Despite complaining about this alleged lack of clear objectives and strategies, it wasn’t clear what Turner’s “living with the virus” meant beyond “containment by proven health and hygiene practices, widespread testing and tracing but without hard lockdown.” Unsurprisingly for the head of a travel company, Turner wants international borders and tourism reopened as soon as possible. The Australian backed Turner in an editorial.

Turner’s “strategy” would amount to letting the virus rip, with contact tracers — let alone hospitals — rapidly overwhelmed. That’s exactly the scenario that is unfolding in places like Florida and Texas right now. Funnily enough, that’s not very good for consumer sentiment, even without hard lockdowns….. [my yellow highlighting]

Read full article here.

CEO OF THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP INNES WILLOX
(IMAGE: AAP/LUKAS COCH)

The New Daily, 13 July 2020:

A group of six Victorians has been fined more than $24,000 after trying to cross the border into Queensland in a minivan. 

The group, who had lied on their border declaration forms, told police patrolling entry the state’s points that they had been working in NSW for three weeks. 

However, evidence on their phones revealed they had been in coronavirus hotspots in Victoria during the past 14 days. 

“Police intercepted a minivan on Saturday night, where all six occupants were refused entry at the M1 border control check point,” Queensland Police said. 

“On Sunday, officers intercepted the same van on Stuart Street in Coolangatta around 2pm.” 

All six in the group – two 19-year-old women and four men aged 18, 19, 23 and 28 – were fined $4,003 for failing to comply border directions and turned around immediately....

myPolice on Jul 13, 2020

NSW Police, 13 July 2020:

A man has been fined after failing to follow self-isolation ministerial directions in the state’s south west. 
 At 2.30pm on Wednesday 8 July 2020, a 24-year-old man was stopped by police on the Newell Highway at Tocumwal, as part of border enforcement patrols. 

The man was issued a direction under the Public Health Act to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days and was provided with information before being allowed to leave. 

Officers from Murrumbidgee Police District attended the man’s home in Leeton at 12pm and again at 4pm on Thursday 9 July 2020, and found the man was not home as directed in the orders. 

Police attended the home again at 5.30pm and provided the man with a formal warning in relation to self-isolation. 

About 8pm on Friday 10 July 2020, police attended the man’s home and again found he was not home. 

About 4.20pm yesterday (Sunday 12 July 2020), police attended the man’s home and issued him with a $1000 Penalty Infringement Notice (PIN) for failing to comply with a direction under Section 7 of the Public Health Act 2010 (NSW). 

Since Operation Border Closure started at midnight on Wednesday 8 July 2020, police have facilitated the movement of tens of thousands of vehicles crossing the border from Victoria into NSW. 

To date, more than 300 people have been issued with directions to self-isolate as they enter NSW.....

Are koalas on NSW North Coast now facing local extinction?

SBS News, 9 December 2019:

Paul the koala in the ICU recovering from burns at The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on November 29, 2019. Source: Getty

NSW parliament's upper house will hold an urgent hearing on the extent of damage to the koala population from the recent bushfires, with 2,000 feared dead. 

An inquiry into koala populations and habitat in NSW is expected to hear evidence that more than 2,000 of the native Australian marsupial may have died on the state's north coast in recent bushfires. 

The state parliament's upper house inquiry will hold an urgent hearing on Monday to discuss the extent of damage to the koala population from bushfires. 

Thousands of hectares of koala habitat across northern NSW and southeast Queensland have been destroyed in the recent bushfires. 

Koalas are listed as vulnerable in Queensland, NSW and the ACT, largely a result of habitat clearing......

A dehydrated and injured Koala receives treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. Source Getty

North East Forest Alliance president and ecologist Dailan Pugh is expected to give evidence on Monday that more than 2,000 koalas may have died and up to one-third of koala habitat on the state's north coast may have been lost in the fires..... 

Port Macquarie Koala Hospital's clinical director Cheyne Flanagan and Indigenous fire practitioners are also due to give evidence, as well as representatives of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment....

The Guardian, 9 December 2019:

Photograph: Supplied by Jimboomba Police

Mark Graham, an ecologist with the Nature Conservation Council, told the inquiry that koalas in most instances “really have no capacity to move fast enough to get away” from fast-moving crown fires that spread from treetop to treetop.

“The fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees, but there is such a big area now that is still on fire and still burning that we will probably never find the bodies,” Graham said.

The crown fires which have torn through broad expanses of NSW north coast forest, a known biodiversity hotspot, were unprecedented.

“We’ve lost such a massive swath of known koala habitat that I think we can say without any doubt there will be ongoing declines in koala populations from this point forward,” Graham said.

Science for Wildlife executive director Dr Kellie Leigh told the hearing there was no resources or planning in place to save koala populations in the Blue Mountains from fires currently threatening the region.

“We’re getting a lot of lessons out of this and it’s just showing how unprepared we are,” Dr Leigh said on Monday.

“There’s no procedures or protocols in place ... even wildlife carers don’t have protocols for when they can go in after fire.”

The Blue Mountains fires have already hit two-thirds of the northern population the organisation has studied and one-third of the Kanangra-Boyd National Park population, Dr Leigh said......

Echo NetDaily, 9 December 2019:

Prior to the current bushfires koalas were at risk of major population decline through habitat loss and logging but with significant areas of their habitat being burnt out by bushfire many of the previously stable colonies are on the verge of collapse. Recognising the disastrous impact that the fires are having on koala populations a call is being put out to the NSW government to stop logging of koala habitat.

A number of groups appearing before today’s NSW Legislative Council inquiry into koala populations and habitat in New South Wales have requested the committee actively call on the NSW government to put in place a moratorium on logging koala habitat across public and private lands as an emergency response to the loss of thousands of koalas and their habitat due to wildfires....