Australia news LIVE NSW Victoria and ACT COVID-19 cases continue to rise amid harsher restrictions across the nation

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In case you missed it, a Campsie apartment block has been forced into lockdown after nine residents tested positive to COVID-19.

A Sydney Local Health District spokeswoman said the cases were identified across five apartments in the block of 12 units in south-west Sydney.

Health workers leaving an apartment block in Campsie, Sydney, earlier this morning. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Some people who have tested positive have been transferred to special health accommodation while all residents will be required to isolate for 14 days.

“Sydney Local Health District is working with residents and building management to assess the situation and, in collaboration with other agencies including NSW Police, is implementing measures to support the health and welfare of residents,” the spokeswoman said.

A COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Melbourne’s outer south east has been declared a casual contact exposure site, after a person who got their jab there later tested positive for coronavirus.

Peninsula Health said in a statement that a person who attended the Frankston Community Vaccination Hub to get their COVID vaccination on Monday, August 16 tested positive to the virus yesterday.

“While they had no symptoms while at the vaccination hub, they subsequently developed symptoms and tested positive to the virus [this Thursday],” the statement said.

The clinic is located within Bayside Centre, a shopping complex in Frankston, and the public health provider said anyone who attended the clinic between 11.30am and 12.45pm Monday should get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible (as well as isolate until they receive a negative result).

“The Frankston Community Vaccination Hub remains open and is safe for you to visit if you have a booking for your COVID-19 vaccination,” the statement said.

As we reported yesterday, Australia’s jobless rate fell to its lowest level in May since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was speaking on Seven’s Sunrise this morning about the latest data. Here’s what he had to say:

“These numbers really show the underlying strength of the economy and also the tale of two cities.

“In NSW, these numbers take into account the second and the third week of the second and the third week of the lockdown, you saw a 7 per cent fall in the lockdown.

“In Victoria, where they were emerging out of lockdown during the time that the survey was done, you saw a 9.7 per cent increase in the number of hours worked.

“It does show that once restrictions ease, the economy does bounce back. And we know that there is a lot of pent-up demand as people have saved the money that they would otherwise have spent.”

Federal Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh, whose seat of Lindsay covers parts of western Sydney including Penrith and St Marys, says the COVID-19 situation has only worsened since NSW’s last anti-lockdown protests.

More than 1000 police officers will be on hand this weekend, deployed to disrupt people attempting to travel to potential protest locations in Sydney.

Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh during question time.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“You can see how high our numbers are,” Ms McIntosh told radio station 2GB.

“That rally that was a few weeks ago [on July 24], numbers only increased since then.

“It is absolutely rubbish that anyone would be thinking about putting themselves, their family members or their community at risk and going.”

Twelve Penrith suburbs are considered areas of concern and under tighter lockdown restrictions including a ban on outdoor recreation and mandatory face masks outdoors.

Ms McIntosh said the community is having a “really tough time”.

“We haven’t only had a pandemic. We’ve had floods, we’ve had fires. This is the latest thing.”

She urged residents to resist seeing their family members, adding that it was her father’s 85th birthday today and he had 20-odd grandchildren who would love to celebrate.

“But we just have to remember we’re doing this to protect our older people and we’re doing this to protect our family members,” she said.

Of the 681 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases announced in NSW yesterday, 74 cases were from the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, 291 from Western Sydney LHD and 172 from South Western Sydney LHD.

Former federal treasurer and Queensland MP Wayne Swan has weighed into the NSW-Qld border debate that’s been bubbling along for a couple of days now.

As you might already know, there are calls to temporarily shift the NSW border a couple of kilometres south to avoid traffic delays for thousands of essential workers who live in northern NSW but work in the Sunshine State.

ALP President Wayne Swan has backed temporarily shifting the NSW-Qld border. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has written to her counterparts in NSW. However, the Berejiklian government has so far rejected the proposal.

Here’s what Mr Swan, who is currently serving as the national president of the Labor Party, had to say on the Today show earlier this morning:

“I think they should move [the border] 7kms or whatever the number is. As you well know, these are twin cities. The decision of the NSW Government not to accept the proposal from Queensland is a kick in the guts for all of those residents of the Tweed [Shire]. They are twin cities.

“It makes sense to avoid disruption to that border for the purposes of COVID further south. I just don’t get it. It is more dumb politics from the NSW Government.”

In case you missed it last night, Victorian health authorities identified a number of new COVID-19 exposure sites last night, including a shopping centre in Melbourne’s south west.

Altona Gate Shopping Centre in Altona North was declared a tier-2 site between 11.30am and 1.30pm on Tuesday, August 17.

This means anyone who attended the venue during that timeframe has to urgently get tested for COVID-19 and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Also listed as tier 2 sites were the food court and first-floor car park of Pacific Werribee Shopping Centre. The first-floor car park was identified as an exposure site over two days: Monday, August 16 and Tuesday, August 17.

Jack Roper Reserve and a Coles in Broadmeadows, in Melbourne’s north, were also declared exposure sites. As were McDonald’s and Shell Coles Express in Lilydale and a BP service station at Keilor Park, about 15 kilometres north west of Melbourne’s CBD.

A full list of Victorian exposure sites can be found here. You can also use our interactive map.

NSW will make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for all health workers, with a proposal to require first doses by September 30.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard will sign a public health order in the coming days requiring compulsory vaccination after reaching an agreement with the state’s peak medical groups representing hundreds of thousands of workers.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard will make it mandatory for health workers to be vaccinated. Credit:James Brickwood

The decision to introduce the mandate comes after the state recorded a COVID-19 transmission event in a hospital every day for the past two weeks.

Under the order, health care workers will be required to receive their first dose of a vaccine by September 30 and their second dose by November 30.

More on the mandatory vaccinations here.

Movement data from last weekend show Melburnians engaging in what experts have called thousands of small transgressions with the potential to drive COVID-19 infections higher, as the effect of 200 days of lockdown takes an emotional toll.

Google mobility data compiled by this masthead reveals that across the state last Friday and Saturday, people were moving more than at any time since mid-July last year when complacency prompted Premier Daniel Andrews to plunge the state into stage-four lockdown and mandatory mask-wearing.

Last weekend saw a spate of breaches including an organised takeaway pub crawl in Richmond and an engagement party in Caulfield North attended by 69 guests. The couple involved in the illegal party have received $5400 fines. Two of their parents were also fined and other guests are being interviewed.

Read the full story here.

A national deal is starting to fracture on the vaccination target agreed only weeks ago to ease lockdowns and open the country, with state leaders at odds and Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejecting calls to drive coronavirus case numbers to zero.

The debate casts a cloud over a national cabinet agreement to ease restrictions when vaccinations reach 70 and 80 per cent of people aged 16 and over, amid hopes the targets can be achieved by Christmas.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants states to stick to the plan to get vaccination rates up to lift lockdowns.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But with infections rising quickly in NSW, the Prime Minister moved to fend off calls from state premiers in Queensland and Western Australia to consider case numbers as well as the vaccinations in any move to emerge from lockdowns.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also sent a warning on Thursday night that the states and territories could not expect the same level of federal financial support if they continued their lockdowns after the 80 per cent target was reached.

More on this story here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Friday, August 20. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

NSW has recorded another grim record. There were 681 new cases of coronavirus in NSW yesterday, the highest daily total in the state since the beginning of the pandemic (and just 40 or so cases shy of Victoria’s daily record in August last year). Regional NSW will remain in lockdown for another week and state authorities will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all health workers.

There were 57 new cases reported in Victoria yesterday, but the majority of those are linked to known outbreaks and were in isolation during their infectious period. Victorian health authorities are concerned about thousands of small transgressions in Melbourne amid warming weather and lockdown fatigue.

There were 16 new cases recorded in the ACT yesterday. Meanwhile, Darwin has come out of lockdown but stay-at-home orders will remain in Katherine at authorities in the Top End await further test results.

Everyone aged 16 and over will be able to receive their recommended vaccine by the end of the month. Pfizer bookings are set to open in the coming days for people aged 16-39, with jabs to start going into arms from August 30.

And in overseas news, the New Zealand travel bubble is on hold with 11 new cases recorded across the ditch yesterday.

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