La Trobe University senior executives have cut their own pay to grapple with"a very significant loss of revenue"as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The university is already expecting to lose between $120 to $150 million in revenue this year,out of its budgeted revenue of $850 million.

Senior executives have agreed to take a 20 per cent pay cut between April 25 and July 3 to"share the pain",La Trobe announced on Thursday night.

"Of this,10 per cent will be donated to the La Trobe Student Crisis Appeal,and the remainder will accrue as savings to the university budget,"the statement said.

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Network Ten is introducing reduced work hours and allowing staff to become part-time under a range of measures aimed at helping the business through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ten's newly appointed chief content officer and executive vice president Beverley McGarvey told staff the measures were aimed to ensure a"stronger,more innovative"and"more agile"organisation,but admitted that the pandemic was affecting day-to-day operations.

From April 20 until June,employees will be strongly encouraged to work nine-day fortnights,while those with high leave balances are being asked to take a longer break over Easter.

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All emergency federal laws made to the fight the coronavirus outbreak will be scrutinised to ensure they do not needlessly infringe on personal rights and liberties amid growing calls for the Morrison government to be more transparent in its decision making.

Eight legal and civil society groups on Thursday called on the Senate to establish a new select committee with broad powers to review and report on the government's response to the pandemic.

The federal government was handed extraordinary powers to make executive decisions and directions,circumventing parliament,following theGovernor-General's declaration of an emergency under the Biosecurity Act in March.

The Senate standing committee for the scrutiny of delegated legislation on Wednesday agreed to meet and report regularly in the coming months to scrutinise all new laws made by the executive while Federal Parliament is not sitting.

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The NRL and the players’ union have struck an agreement on the financial measures that will be taken while the competition is suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of $24.6 million will be distributed to the players following meetings between NRL CEO Todd Greenberg and Rugby League Players’ Association counterpart Clint Newtown on Thursday. The interim agreement was also approved today by the RLPA Board and endorsed by players.

The deal will see players earn two months of wages and payments while the season is suspended. If the competition is unable to resume,players will surrender five out of 12 months’ salary.

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Speaking on Channel Seven’s The Latest,Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he could understand people’s frustrations,but that it would be a long time until we saw light at the end of the tunnel.

“This is going to be a whole new normal for Australians for some time to come yet,” he said.“We think six months is the most reasonable estimate of that at the moment. I certainly hope that it may be sooner than that,but it could also be longer.”

Mr Morrison again said there were no “health reasons” why children could not be at school,and that terms would resume after the Easter break.

“One of the things I've been most adamant about is that the virus is going to take a lot of things from us in the months ahead - I do not want it to rob our children of their education,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he was sure that teachers and school systems would keep putting children’s health and education “at the top of the list.”

Transport NSW is encouraging all customers to use contactless payments whenever possible,including when topping up Opal cards.

“Limiting the handling of cash and using contactless payments is one way we are supporting the commuting public and our front line staff to stay healthy,” a Transport NSW spokesman said.

This comes after their counterparts in Victoria today banned people from using cash to top-up their Myki cards at stations,only allowing them to use cash at self-service machines.

Sydney buses are no longer accepting cash.

“Limiting the handling of cash and using contactless payments is one way we are supporting the commuting public and our front line staff to stay healthy,” the spokesman said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Australians to prepare for our"new normal"to last six months,wanting to make clear there was no"quick fix"to end the spread of the virus.

Appearing on A Current Affair on Thursday night,Mr Morrison said he feels he is the only leader looking at a long timeframe for COVID-19.

"What I'm trying to do is make it very clear that those of who think this can all be done in a couple of weeks with the lockdowns as they call it,that's just not true,"Mr Morrison said."I'm the only,it would seem,leader in the world at the moment,which is talking about a much longer timeframe."

Mr Morrison said the six-month timeframe was based on early modelling that showed how Australians could navigate through the peak and"go through to the other side".

"That's why the whole world is working on a vaccine,"Mr Morrison said."Now on the other side of the peak of cases,we can obviously look at how we might ease restrictions and we have to be careful about that."

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pointed the finger at the troubled Ruby Princess cruise ship,warning staff onboard may have misled NSW Health about the extent of illnesses in passengers.

In her strongest comments yet on the Ruby Princess debacle,Ms Berejiklian said it was"absolutely potentially the case"that NSW Health was given incorrect information from the crew.

The Premier's position comes as Australian Border Force and healthcare providers boarded theRuby Princesson Thursday,moored off Botany Bay. One sick crew member was taken off the ship,NSW Police said in a statement on Thursday.Other sick crew had previously been removed.

Ms Berejiklian told 2GB on Thursday that the state's Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant had said"publicly from day one,that[NSW] Health responded to information they had and they exceeded the protocols that existed at that time."

"The question remains,what information was provided to Health and other authorities,"Ms Berejiklian said. The Premier stressed every passenger who disembarked was told to self-isolate.

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