Australia news LIVE Victoria records 950 new local COVID-19 cases seven deaths Queensland records one new case

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The Victorian government is preparing to shorten the gap between first and second doses of Pfizer to speed up the state’s vaccine program and reach inoculation targets in quicker time.

The state government is waiting on formal confirmation of Pfizer supply for state-run hubs for the final week of October. Federal government sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Victoria’s hubs would receive 265,000 doses in both the last weeks of October.

The Andrews and Morrison governments are having a spat over the Pfizer supply in Victoria.

However, the Victorian government has only been notified of the third week’s supply. Once the fourth week’s allocation is confirmed, which could be as early as today or in coming days, the Victorian government is set to cut the dose intervals.

Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday confirmed his government was considering shortening the time between doses for Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines.

The Victorian road map estimates 70 per cent of Victorians will be double-dosed by October 26, at which point the lockdown will end but strict clamps on indoor activities will remain. On November 5, when 80 per cent are fully-vaccinated, rules will ease more significantly.

Shortening the dose intervals would allow more second doses to be administered in October and these targets would probably be hit earlier.

Health officials have not cut the intervals yet because there had been a level of uncertainty about mRNA supply for October, though potential supply issues have not eventuated and the federal government says there will be enough vaccine supply for every eligible Victorian to receive a vaccine by November.

The Gold Coast is on alert after one new community case was detected in Queensland.

However, the region has so far avoided being plunged into lockdown.

The new local case comes after a total of four cases were reported on Tuesday, including a truck driver who was infectious in the community for eight days.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said a close contact of a man in his 30s who worked at an aviation training facility has since tested positive to coronavirus. He is a 50-year-old man based at Biggera Waters on the Gold Coast.

The man, who is fully vaccinated, was in the Gold Coast community while infectious.

Meanwhile, a truck driver has tested positive after driving into Queensland and returning to NSW. But that case will be recorded in NSW’s official tally (due to be handed down around 11am AEST).

That truck driver was infectious on the Gold Coast for three days, including in Mermaid Waters, Merrimac, Nerang, Surfers Paradise, Miami Beach and Currumbin.

Genomic testing has shown the virus is not linked to any existing Queensland cases but instead in NSW and the US.

Ms D’Ath said that meant there was no evidence the virus was still circulating in the community from previous clusters.

People have been urged to check the Queensland Health website, with more exposure sites expected to added.

Melbourne bar and restaurant owner Hayden Burbank and financial planner Mark Babbage are due to face Perth Magistrates Court this morning after being accused of sneaking into WA to attend Saturday’s AFL grand final.

The pair, who spent the night behind bars at Perth Watch House, will appear in court around midday AEST (10am AWST).

The Melbourne Demons celebrate after winning Saturday’s AFL grand final. Credit:Getty

The two men allegedly left Victoria on September 14 and flew to Darwin, where they were permitted entry as returned residents due to “falsified” Northern Territory drivers’ licences, WA Police say.

The men then flew from Darwin to Perth on September 22, after having their G2G border applications approved, and attended the grand final, including celebrating in the rooms with the Demons after the match.

One of the men returned an inconclusive COVID test on Tuesday, and was being urgently re-tested. The other tested negative.

After the grand final, the pair allegedly embarked on a road trip to WA’s south-west wine region, where they were arrested on Tuesday morning in Bunker Bay after a member of the public tipped police off to the men’s alleged recent presence in Victoria.

They are each facing three counts of failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act, and, if convicted, face a fine of up to $50,000 or 12 months in jail.

Mr Dawson said WA Police will also allege another two Victorian men illegally entered the state via South Australia to attend the grand final.

One has since returned to Victoria. The other man, who returned a negative COVID test, will remain in custody until his next court appearance on October 8.

As of August, one in every six people charged with breaching WA’s border and quarantine laws have been jailed, accounting for 64 people.

They’ve only been eligible for two weeks, but adolescent Australians have been going to pharmacies and GPs in droves to get vaccinated.

One in three of the country’s 1.24 million 12- to 15-year-olds have had a first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. That’s up from 19 per cent a week ago.

Dylan Nguyen Ton, 14, receiving his first Moderna shot in Sydney.Credit:Kate Geraghty

More early data shows 331,000 vaccines were administered across the country yesterday. So far more than 77 per cent of those aged 16 and up have had one dose and more than 53 per cent are fully vaccinated.

It’s expected that Victoria has reached the 80 per cent mark for first doses in that eligible group. The state will soon overtake the US, which has a first dose vaccination rate in the 16s and up of 80.2 per cent.

Yesterday, the head of Operation COVID Shield Lieutenant General John Frewen said 70 per cent of the eligible population could be double vaccinated by the end of October. He told a parliamentary committee that the 80 per cent target could be reached in November.

“It’s conceivable that we could get to 90 per cent, if the public keep coming forward, by the end of November, start of December, that’s a best-case [scenario],” he told the senate COVID-19 committee yesterday.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young are due to provide a coronavirus update from 10am AEST.

Yesterday, the Sunshine State reported four new cases of COVID-19.

Watch live below.

Another case of COVID-19 has been linked to recent anti-lockdown and anti-mandatory vaccination protests in Melbourne.

Victoria’s Department of Health last week confirmed that a person who attended the protests in the CBD on Wednesday, September 22 was in hospital with the virus.

The department urged protesters to get tested should they experience symptoms.

This morning, another case of COVID-19 has been linked to the protests.

Protest action in Melbourne has been minimal this week, with a planned rally fizzling on Monday and only 15 people fined on Tuesday for breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directions as part of a truck drivers’ protest.

Last Monday, though, violent scenes broke out when a group of construction workers and others angry about a range of issues, including vaccination mandates, clashed with officials from the CFMEU at their Elizabeth Street office.

The following day a large, rolling protest swept across the city, with protesters bringing traffic on the West Gate Freeway to a standstill for an extended period.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of protesters occupied Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance where there were violent scenes as police cleared the crowd and arrested more than 200 people.

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded 950 new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths.

That’s Victoria’s highest daily tally since the beginning of the pandemic and the highest number of deaths in a 24-hour reporting period this year. Yesterday, Victoria recorded 867 new cases of coronavirus and four deaths.

The Department of Health has not said how many cases are linked to known outbreaks or how many people were already in isolation when they tested positive.

Zero cases were detected in hotel quarantine.

There are now 9890 active cases of coronavirus across the state.

Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 61,322 coronavirus tests.

The United Kingdom has a bit of a retro vibe to it right now â€" and I don’t mean the fashion or music.

Long queues at petrol stations, empty supermarket shelves and soaring electricity bills are evoking memories of the dark, trying days of the 1970s.

Drivers queue for fuel at a petrol station in London on Tuesday. Long lines of vehicles have formed at many gas stations around Britain since Friday, causing spillover traffic jams on busy roads.Credit:AP

For Scott Morrison, the timing is far from helpful. As his government embarks on a fraught internal debate over whether to take a net-zero emissions policy to the COP26 climate summit in November, some MPs are seeking to frame the energy and transport crisis in Britain as a cautionary tale on why taking tougher action on climate change is a bad idea.

But the truth is the UK’s woes have not been caused by decarbonisation. If anything, the turmoil might actually help make the case for a more rapid transition away from fossil fuels.

Why? Read the full piece here.

NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean says the federal government has not been ambitious enough in setting emissions reductions targets, telling the Commonwealth to “get on with it”.

He has called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend major climate change talks in Glasgow later this year and commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean.Credit:Janie Barrett

The NSW government this morning announced it has will slash carbon emission by 50 per cent by 2030 in a move supported by the NSW Nationals.

Speaking on ABC TV this morning, Mr Kean said climate change and the subsequent shift to renewable energy was the biggest economic opportunity of a lifetime which the country needed to “grab with both hands”.

“My message to the Commonwealth is â€" get on with it, this is not only the right thing to do, it is also the economically rational thing to do, because it is in our nation’s economic interest,” he said.

“I think the Prime Minister should be going to Glasgow to persuade the rest of the world to take stronger action on climate change, because it is in our economic interest to do so.”

Appearing later on ABC radio, Mr Kean said Coalition senators Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan’s claims that a commitment to net zero would hurt regional jobs was a false argument.

“We owe it to our kids to not only take the biggest economic opportunity of our lifetime but also not leave our country with more bushfire, more drought, more heatwaves,” he said.

“Those coal jobs that Bridget McKenzie is talking about, they’re going to be determined by changes in international markets.

“We’re putting in policies that will not hurt the coal industry today but prepare to diversify our economy to thrive for tomorrow.

“It’s great that Matt Canavan is selling Kodak cameras but it doesn’t count for much when the iPhone is coming.”

The City of Latrobe is waking up to a seven-day lockdown after health authorities revealed four additional COVID-19 cases had been detected in the regional area.

Victoria’s acting Chief Health Officer said the same restrictions that apply in Melbourne, excluding the curfew, would take effect in the Gippsland local government area that takes in Moe, Morwell, and Traralgon from 11.59pm on Tuesday.

A Health Department spokesperson said case loads in the City of Latrobe rapidly increased in recent days, with 18 active cases in the area as of Tuesday. A further four cases were also confirmed on Tuesday afternoon, and will be reported in today’s numbers (due to land shortly).

Read more here.

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