Australia news LIVE:NSW records 89 new cases of COVID-19;Victoria on high alert after one new case

Good evening and thank you for following our live coverage of the day’s events. If you are just joining us now,here’s everything you need to know:

This isMichaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog now. My colleagueBroede Carmody will be back with you from 6am tomorrow.

NSW Health has identified a string of new exposure sites visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases,including two bus routes in the Fairfield local government area.

Passengers on board the following buses have been designated as close contacts and are required to get tested for COVID-19 immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of their test result:

People who visited the following premises are also close contacts and must get tested for COVID-19 immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of their test result:

Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed is a casual contact who must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received:

A number of warnings have also been issued for train services. Anyone who travelled on the following routes is a casual contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received:

The full list of exposure sites can be foundhere.

Australia will donate 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam soon,the south-east Asian country said in a statement on Tuesday.

After successfully containing the virus for months,Vietnam has recently brought in movement restrictions in major cities after a spike in infections,fuelled by the more infectious Delta variant first found in India.

The donation of the Australia made vaccines and $40 million to help procure vaccines followed a meeting between Vietnam’s Deputy Minister Pham Binh Minh and Australian minister for trade,tourism and investment,Dan Tehan.

The Vietnamese government also said it would receive an additional batch of one million AstraZeneca doses from Japan in July.

Vietnam’s domestic inoculation program,which started in March,has so far relied heavily on the AstraZeneca vaccine and authorities have faced calls for a faster rollout.Only around 3.8 million people have received one vaccine dose so far,while 280,367 have been fully vaccinated in the country of 98 million people,according to official data.

Reuters

In non-coronavirus news,the Star Entertainment Group plans to abandon its $12 billion merger proposal with Crown Resorts if Victorian royal commissioner Ray Finkelstein,QC,finds that Crown Melbourne must be run as a standalone entity.

The spectre of the royal commission producing such a finding has played havoc withproposals from Star and from private equity player Blackstone to bid for Crown.

The Star is already looking at other options in the event that there is a break-up of Crown Resorts,which also owns casinos in Perth and Sydney (although the latter has yet to open,given Crown has been foundunsuitable to hold a licence in NSW at this stage after a separate inquiry in that state).

Star is most likely to offer to acquire Barangaroo in Sydney,thus cementing its monopoly in NSW,and is believed to be running the numbers on Crown’s Perth casino.

Mr Finkelstein has said he has seen “evidence of misconduct or unacceptable behaviour from people high-up and low down and in-between”.

“Wherever I look I see not just bad conduct but illegal conduct,improper conduct,unacceptable conduct and it permeates the whole organisation,”he said on July 5.

Read the full analysis from Elizabeth Knight here.

Repatriation flights for Kiwis stranded in Sydney have sold out,but more seats will become available as more spaces in managed isolation are added for those travelling from NSW,Traveller reports.

Stranded travellers can also apply for a flight home oncompassionate grounds.

Bookings for Air New Zealand’s managed flights from Sydney to Auckland and Christchurch opened at 10am on Monday morning and sold out within 15 minutes.

Read the full article here.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been at pains to point out that the new COVID-19 disaster payments for businesses and employees,announced this afternoon in Sydney,is not a special arrangement for NSW.

It will be rolled out in any state or territory facing an extended lockdown of four or more weeks.

Melbourne residents emerged from a two-week lockdown on June 10 but did not have access to the “upgraded” payments that will be funded jointly by the NSW and Commonwealth governments as Greater Sydney faces a fourth week of lockdown next week.

“What I’m announcing today is not just a partnership with NSW. What I’m announcing today is an upgrading of the Commonwealth government’s national response,” Mr Morrison said.

“So it is certainly our hope and ambition that we would not see lockdowns extending like we’re seeing them here in NSW and other states and territories. But,as I said,COVID-19 will set those rules. What we’re saying is when situations get like this,it is in the national interest that we ensure that a lockdown that is occurring here in NSW will be effective.”

Read more about the assistance package here.

In addition to the COVID-19 disaster payments announced by the Commonwealth and NSW just now for workers and businesses,NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the state would defer all payroll tax liabilities for the next two months.

It would also “completely waive” payroll tax for the first quarter of the year for businesses with payrolls between $1.2 million and $10 million,where they could demonstrate a reduction in turnover of at least 30 per cent.

“In addition to this program today,we also announce a further expansion and extension to our small business grants;they will increase and access to those will be expanded for businesses with payrolls of up to $10 million,” he said.

Businesses with a turnover of between $30,000 and $75,000 that experience a decline in turnover of 30 per cent will also be eligible for a $1500 payment per fortnight of restrictions.

As the Commonwealth and the NSW government unveil a new financial assistance package for workers and businesses affected by the latest COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney,Premier Gladys Berejiklian says that the government’s intention “is to have this lockdown not go longer than it needs to”.

“These payments will make sure that whether you are someone who runs a business or someone who is an employee,you will be able to respect the rules we put in place and also have peace of mind,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“It’s really having peace of mind an also the ability to follow the health advice. They are the things that will help us get through the lockdown.”

The lockdown will pass the three-week mark on Friday and is expected to be extended.

Australia’s Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has released new advice amid a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases in Greater Sydney.

Related Article

Coronavirus pandemic

Recommended gap between AstraZeneca shots shortened in outbreak areas

It says today that where the supply of the Pfizer vaccine is constrained,and in light of the evolving situation in Sydney,“adults younger than 60 years old who do not have immediate access to[Pfizer] ... should re-assess the benefits to them and their contacts from being vaccinated with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca,versus the rare risk of a serious side effect.”

ATAGI has also urged people in outbreak settings such as Sydney to receive their second dose between four and eight weeks after their first.

This a change from previous clinical guidance urging people to wait up to 12 weeks for their second dose of AstraZeneca.

Read more here.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is unveiling a new financial assistance package for workers and businesses that will apply in the cases of “protracted” COVID-19 lockdowns,as Greater Sydney faces a lockdown extending beyond three weeks.

“The NSW outbreak has proved to be more severe,more dangerous,and it’s in the national interest that we now put in place an upgraded set of arrangements for cooperation with the states and territories that will first be put in place here,” Mr Morrison said just now.

Mr Morrison said national cabinet had previously agreed that the Commonwealth would provide direct income support for individuals and that state and territory governments would provide the support for business payments.

He said a joint financial assistance package would now apply in NSW,and in any state or territory in the future where a lockdown extended beyond a third week.

The Commonwealth and NSW will share some costs 50/50,although the state government has already indicated it will cover disaster recovery payments for areas in the state outside Commonwealth declared COVID hotspots from week four of the lockdown.

Under the plan,workers will receive an increase in their income support from $500 to $600 per week while business owners will be offered a cash flow boost of up to $10,000.

“What we have decided to do to go forward into week four[of lockdown] is that those payments will be increased to $600 for those who have lost more than 20 hours,and increase[from $325] to $375 for those ... who have lost between eight and 20 hours a week,” he said.

This would continue “as long as the lockdown continues”,Mr Morrison said.

Companies with annual turnover of up to $50 million will be able to receive the cash flow boost as long as they can show a 30 per cent fall in their turnover.

But they must also show they are not laying off staff,meeting the core government objective of protecting jobs.

The cash flow benefit will range from $1,500 to $10,000.

Read the full story here.