vice-regalextranet.ama.com.au/sites/default/files/mediaclips/media...ref: vice-regal on thursday...

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VICE-REGALON Thursday morning His Excellency the Governor presided over a meeting of the Executive Council.

In the current public health situation,His Excellency the Governor and Mrs Le are keeping in contact with community members and organisations by tele-phone and other means. The Governor has recorded a video message which can be viewed at governor.sa.gov.au.

Throughout the day, the Governorplaced phone calls to the following rep-resentatives of organisations to discuss how they are responding to COVID-19

and to express his support and encour-agement for their efforts: Mr Norman Schueler OAM, Chair, South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commis-sion; Mr Raymond Spencer, Chair of the Board, Central Adelaide Local Health Network, and Dr Chris Moy, President, Australian Medical Association (South Australia).

Mrs Le placed calls to Mrs Kerry San-ders, President, The Embroiderers’ Guild of South Australia Inc and Ms Jane Moore, President, The Children’s Book Council of Australia - SA Branch.

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Adelaide AdvertiserFriday 24/4/2020Page: 49Section: LettersRegion: Adelaide Circulation: 112,097Type: Capital City DailySize: 56.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTFS-

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‘Strict’ FIFO policies reassure medicsTHE NT president of the Aus-tralian Medical Associationsaid the association was “reas-sured” policies around travelexemptions for FIFO workersare adequate for protectingTerritorians from COVID-19.

Dr Robert Parker said thereassurance had come out of adiscussion with the NT’s ChiefHealth Officer.

It comes after Dr Parker

made comments to the NTNews on Wednesday regard-ing exemptions allowing FIFOworkers to travel into the Ter-ritory from interstate, poten-tially putting members ofremote Aboriginal communi-ties at risk of the virus.

“There’s a very strong com-mercial interest in companiescomplying to very strict poli-cies for their FIFO workers,”

Mr Parker said yesterday.‘‘That actually reassures me alot more.”

Dr Parker previously saidthe AMA was particularly con-cerned because of the proxim-ity of mining sites to remotecommunities, including Glen-core’s McArthur River Minenear the community of Borrol-oola, and Rio Tinto’s mine onthe Gove Peninsula.

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Northern Territory NewsFriday 24/4/2020Page: 20Section: General NewsRegion: Darwin Circulation: 11,279Type: Capital City DailySize: 75.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTFS

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txt the editor0 28 S0428 NTNEWS

ON MANY THINGS

Boo hoo Mr Fuel retailer, with obvious fall in world oil prices n interstate prices well down it’s clear something stinks about the $/l in the NT. Wot makes U exempt from a bad situation?

Once the states no longer have any cases of covid 19 they can all drop their strict quarantine entering state. They must maintain a strict quarantine for all people coming to Australia by boat ship plane and remote communities.Jack Henderson, Larrakeyah

Poor Ben Cousins arrested again. Just shows that some sports people can go from the Penthouse 2 the Outhouse. Mayb his TV interview last week had 2 episodes n part 2 comes out next yr. Doubt if he will ever b clean. Shud make an educational movie 4 schools on him n how drugs can wreck u.Dave in Kath

Re Quentin Kilian warning investors will rather go to Melbourne or GC due to the NT pets legislation ... the same legislation that has been in Melbourne since 2 March 2020 and the same legislation that is being pushed Aus-wide. Let’s keep

up with the rest of Australia rather than dig our heels in. Landlords have had it bloody good for a bloody long time!

When we came to Darwin there were green ants everywhere. They were stinging little blighters but wonderful pollinating assistants for fruit trees and passion fruit vines. Over time, green ants have disappeared making hand pollination a necessity. What has happened and why have they vanished from urban areas?Questioner

Jason Hanna and other Darwin and Palmerston restaurateurs deserve plaudits for the enterprise they have shown in adapting business practices to coronavirus restrictions in order to continue providing valuable service to our community. Their efforts are helping

us to counter the impacts of this virus.Food buff

The NT branch president of the Australian Medical Association Robert Parker has every right to feel concern about FIFO workers being granted exemptions because of the possibility of COVID-19 being introduced to remote communities. Many communities are

within a short distance of mine sites and places where FIFO workers operate. If the virus makes it into a community, our infection statistics will skyrocket and spiral out of control.Worried one

Education Minister Uibo and other authorities contend that schooling during these COVID-19 times is fine, provided physical distancing is practised by teachers and children. My hat is taken off to all teachers and classroom support staff who manage to create and sustain social distancing with preschool, early childhood and indeed all primary school children.Educator

Down sth they are complaining about paying 90c a litre. here in the NT weare being gouged beyond belief. Complaining they had a bad Easter just isn’t good enough.RLew

Some financial bod analyst worked out that financial crashes occur (for whatever cause) on average, every 13 yrs.

Kirsten Claire (NT News Opinion 23/4) there are some things I agree with you but your comment regarding indigenous people “take their sovereignty back and their rightful land which is Australia” is both stupid and divisive. How about everyone be treated the same and we

move on from the past. As far as poverty, ALL able bodied people no matter what race should be made to work if there are jobs. We have a far too easy welfare system in this country. There are jobs as pre covid19 we had foreigners coming to Oz to fill them. Govt (and taxpayers) can only and should only be doing so much. Ultimately a person should be bettering

themselves by earning a living (which will give them a sense of worth) and not relying solely on the Govt.Tom

With the Covid19 travel restrictions, now would be a great time to employ more local labour opposed to FIFO workers. Surely our people can clean, cook, drive trucks, do safety assessments and most of the jobs that go with it. Surely we can train or what have they been doing in the good times. A lot fly in and out of Cairns where a new outbreak at the hospital is! Harold Holtze

Every country’s handling of the coronavirus will be judged by the total number of deaths. The US is the worst case scenario in a worst case scenario.V-Man

All these bleaters are saying only two days to apply. Seems that they did not read the News or watch the Govt info. Poor losers always blame someone else for their own deficiencies.Anne

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Northern Territory NewsFriday 24/4/2020Page: 25Section: LettersRegion: Darwin Circulation: 11,279Type: Capital City DailySize: 284.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTFS

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Doctors’ lobby wants surgery patients tested for virusDANIELLE LE MESSURIER WA’s peak medical body is push-ing the State Government totest elective surgery patientsfor COVID-19 before havingprocedures performed.

It comes after Premier MarkMcGowan announced publicand private hospitals acrossthe State would gradually re-sume elective surgery after theAnzac Day weekend.

Australian Medical Associa-tion WA president AndrewMiller revealed on The WestLive that he was urging HealthMinister Roger Cook to allowelective surgery patients tobe tested.

Dr Miller said private hospi-tals were “very keen” on theidea, which has also been wel-comed by pathology companies.

“We want all those patientsbefore they come into hospital toget tested for their protection,for the hospital’s protection andso the community can know . . .here’s another big group

of people that don’t have thedisease,” he said.

But Mr Cook is not yet con-vinced, saying yesterday thattesting patients did not providethem with “absolute certainty”for their health condition thenext day.

“You might test them todaywhen their disease burdenis very low, they producea negative result and the nextday they might be COVID-19positive,” he said.

“So what we need (healthworkers) to do in all ourhospitals is . . . treat everypatient and every visitor tohospital in a manner whichcontinues to protect everyone.”

Talks are continuing.

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West AustralianFriday 24/4/2020Page: 16Section: General NewsRegion: Perth Circulation: 135,996Type: Capital City DailySize: 131.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTF--

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Separated families can’t cut through the pane

AGED CAREMATT SMITHPOLITICAL EDITORFOR the first time in weeks,Jacqueline Ivett has beenable to see clearly the smilingface of her 90-year-oldmother, Emily.

Despite advice that aged-care residents be allowed two

in-person visits a day, Jac-queline and Emily’s meetingis through a “window of love”set up at the Helping Hand’saged care home in GoldenGrove. “It is nice to see mumthrough it but I would muchrather be visiting her in thehome,” Mrs Ivett, 70, said.

“But we just have to dowhat is required and waituntil the restrictions are lift-ed.” Helping Hand is among

SA aged-care providers stillenforcing strict visitation re-strictions to protect its resi-dents. However it stresses it isdoing so to protect residentsand with the support of famil-ies, having spent at least$300,000 on technology andextra staffing to ensure its850 residents are not isolated.

Premier Steven Marshalland federal and state minis-ters responsible for aged carehave all, again, urged provid-ers to relax restrictions in linewith national health advice.

Mr Marshall told The Ad-vertiser: “All aged-care pro-viders in South Australiashould be adopting the ex-

pert health advice and notgoing any further.”

Earlier in the day, federalAged Care Minister RichardColbeck said it was importantto strike the right balance.

“I’ve had a number of con-versations with the chiefmedical officer BrendanMurphy and he is very con-cerned about the generalwellbeing and the mentalhealth of senior Australiansin aged-care facilities whodon’t have access to theirfamilies and loved ones,” MrColbeck said.

“For some people, it’s ex-tremely important … ob-

viously for end of life, it’sextremely important as well.”

SA Health Minister Ste-phen Wade said while therehad been some aged-care fa-cility outbreaks in Australia,visitors had not been shownto be the main source of in-fection. “The evidence sug-gests it’s workers, particularlywhere workers have contrac-ted the virus outside of the fa-cility,” Mr Wade said.

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NEAR BUT FAR: Helping NEAR BUT FAR: HelpingHand resident Emily Hand resident Emily Calderwood at the "window ndoCalderwood at the winof love" with daughter gof love with daughter Jacqueline Ivett and her Jacqueline Ivett ahusband Rick. husband Rick. hhusbband Rick. Picture: DEAN MARTIN

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New laws tosafeguardapp privacySECURITYMax Koslowski

New laws will be passed to cover

privacy fears about the coronavirus

tracing app after experts and the

opposition raised concerns that po-

lice could get access to the data.

The federal government will in-

troduce legislation in theMay parlia-

mentary sitting period, increasing

the likelihood that emergency Bio-

security Act powers could govern

the app for severalweeksbefore con-

trol is handed over to the legislature.

Government sources said yester-

day that while the details were not

yet finalised, legislation would be in-

troduced to govern the app, which

will be able to identify when users

have been within 1.5 metres of other

users for more than 15 minutes.

The laws to be introduced will ex-

pressly protect the data and deal

with privacy concerns.

Labor had said the only way to

ensure police do not access the per-

sonal data collected by the govern-

ment’s proposed coronavirus app

was to have legislation regulating it.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark

Dreyfus said Attorney-General

Christian Porter’s assurance on

Wednesday that ‘‘specific regulatory

action will be taken to prevent such

access for law enforcement agen-

cies’’ was insufficient.

‘‘The only way to provide these

protections is to build privacy into

the design of the app and to enact

rigorously drafted legislation to ad-

dress all remaining privacy and se-

curity concerns,’’ Mr Dreyfus said.

Under the Crimes Act, law en-

forcement agencies could seek a

search warrant that allows them to

unlock a potential criminal’s phone

and scrutinise metadata, including

that collected by the virus app.

Experts believe that under the

largely untested encryption laws

passed 18 months ago, intelligence

services may be able to change the

app’s code to grant themselves ac-

cess to information on the user’s

phone – without a warrant.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

said yesterday the app will make

Australians safer by hastening state

health departments’ contact tracing

efforts. ‘‘Every Australian will be

safer if those health officers are able

to contact you more quickly,’’ Mr

Morrison said. ‘‘Thatmeans that you

will be less at risk of infecting others

if they can get to you fast.’’

Legal experts fear reassurances

around personal data do not address

the controversial encryption laws,

which give intelligence services

greater access to phone content.

‘‘The primary concern is that po-

lice or intelligence agencies, using

their new encryption powers, could

use the government’s coronavirus

tracing app as a gateway to gain

access to all of the information on

your phone,’’ Human Rights Law

Centre senior lawyer Alice Drury

said. ‘‘The Attorney-General’s claim

that he will not permit the AFP to

access metadata created by the app

is beside the point.’’

Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie

O’Shea urged the government to re-

lease the app’s source code and pri-

vacy assessments before the app is

rolled out. Cyber security associate

professor Vanessa Teague also

called on the government to release

the app source code, and said the

government should not store the

app’s data in a central database that

may be attractive to hackers.

‘The only way toprovide these

protections is tobuild privacy intothe design of the

app.’Mark Dreyfus, shadowAttorney-

General

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Borders to stay closed,NZ travel consideredRESTRICTIONSDana McCauley

Australia’s borders look set to re-

main closed formonths but theMor-

rison government is weighing a pro-

posal to open up travel to and from

New Zealand that could inject

much-needed money into the col-

lapsed tourism sector.

The so-called ‘trans-Tasman bub-

ble’ plan would open up a market of

millions of potential tourists and en-

able business travel between the

two nations, which Prime Minister

Scott Morrison said yesterday were

on ‘‘similar trajectories’’ in tackling

COVID-19.

‘‘If there is any country in the

world with whom we can reconnect

with first, undoubtedly that’s New

Zealand,’’ Mr Morrison said, saying

he had discussed the matter re-

cently with New Zealand Prime

Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Travel industry and business

leaders welcomed the comments,

which came after Chief Medical Of-

ficer BrendanMurphy told a Senate

committee that Australians should

not expect international travel to re-

sume for at least three to four

months.

A Qantas spokesman said open-

ing the border to New Zealand

would be ‘‘a welcome step in the

recovery of the tourism industry’’,

which has collapsed since interna-

tional borderswere closed inMarch.

‘‘Kiwis are the second biggest

source of tourists and business trav-

ellers into Australia,’’ the spokes-

man said.

New Zealand is second only to

China as a source of tourists. In

2018, 1.8 million Kiwis travelled to

Australia and spent $2.6 billion.

Mr Morrison, who will update

Australians on the latest transmis-

sion data tomorrow in a briefing ex-

pected to cast light on the first stage

of easing social restrictions, said

Australia was ‘‘on the road back to a

COVID-safe economy’’.

Professor Murphy said while it

was ‘‘very hard to put a timeline on

anything at the moment’’, opening

borders would likely be the last

stage of any easing of restrictions.

‘‘I wouldn’t be envisaging any

material changes to border meas-

ures in that three to four months,’’

he said.

Australian Chamber of Com-

merce and Industry executive chair

John Hart said opening the trans-

Tasman border would be ‘‘a really

good way of testing’’ the restart of

international travel, but that state

borders would need to be opened

first.

Australian Tourism Industry

Council executive director Simon

Westaway said the proposal was ‘‘a

cracking good idea’’ that could

bring much-needed tourism dollars

to Australia, so long as social re-

strictions were lifted so that visit-

ors could enjoy the sights.

Tourism and Transport Forum

chief executiveMargyOsmond said

New Zealand was ‘‘an obvious first

choice’’ for reopening Australia’s

border ‘‘given their success in con-

taining COVID 19, our strong ties

and the fact that they are our

second biggest tourism market’’.

ProfessorRainaMacIntyre, head

of the biosecurity program at the

UNSW’s Kirby Institute, said it

would be possible for Australia and

NewZealand to ‘‘work together as a

block’’ in tackling COVID-19,

‘‘ideally if we each had exactly the

same disease control approaches’’.

‘If there is anycountry with whom

we can reconnectwith first, that’sNew Zealand.’

PrimeMinister Scott Morrison

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UK backs call to probe virus originsBRITAINLatika Bourke

LONDON: Britain’s Defence Secret-ary BenWallace has thrown his sup-

port behind an international invest-

igation into the origins of the corona-

virus pandemic.

An inquiry would focus on China’s

early cover-up of the pandemic and

the World Health Organisation’s

role in alerting the world to the

health emergency.

Australia and the United States

are pushing for an inquiry – Austra-

lia wants the WHO’s powers beefed

up so it can enter affected countries

to make objective and firsthand as-

sessments of emerging threats.


spoke with French President

Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s

ChancellorAngelaMerkel thisweek.

Macron has been critical of

China’s early response, telling the

Financial Times last week that ‘‘thereare clearly things that have hap-

pened that we don’t know about’’.

But most leaders of the European

Union have demonstrated little ap-

petite for criticising China, which

has showered virus-beleaguered

states with medical aid.

However, in Britain, increasing

numbers of Conservative MPs are

pushing the government to take a

tougher line on China. Wallace ap-

peared at a hearing of the Commons

Defence Select Committee, chaired

byConservativeMPTobiasEllwood,

who asked if theminister would sup-

port an international inquiry into the

origins of the coronavirus.

‘‘We should seek to have an in-

quiry, we should seek to get to the

bottom of this,’’ Wallace told MPs.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary

Dominic Raab said last week that

there was no doubt it would not be

‘‘business as usual’’ with China after

the pandemic subsides.

This tough new stance is a recent

change: in January, the UK allowed

Chinese firmHuawei to supply its 5G

networks, despite fierce opposition

from its Five Eyes intelligence part-

ners Australia and the US.

Australia’s support for an interna-

tional inquiry has angered China.

Late on Tuesday, the Chinese em-

bassy to Australia accused MPs of

falling into line behind US President

Donald Trump. ‘‘They are keen to

parrot what those Americans have

NATAGE A017

asserted and simply follow them in

staging political attacks on China,’’

the embassy said.

The White House has been

fiercely critical of China and the

WHO and has withdrawn funding

from the UN agency.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo accused Beijing

of covering up the pandemic. ‘‘We

strongly believe that the Chinese

Communist Party did not report the

outbreak of the new coronavirus in a

timely fashion to the World Health

Organisation,’’ he said. ‘‘It did not

share all of the information it had.

Instead, it covered up how danger-

ous the disease is.’’

‘We should seek tohave an inquiry.’BenWallace, Britain’s Defence

Secretary

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@

THE AGE

Virus on the ropes,but fight far from over

Australia ismore than threeweeks into the stage-three lockdowns

introduced tofightCOVID-19, and the truly encouragingnews is

that thedisease is losing.

When the lockdownwasdeclared,Australiawas recordingmore

than300newcasesaday.Yesterday, thenational figurewas just seven.

Weare the envyof countries around theworldbut our success creates

newdangers.

Themost obvious of these is succumbing to thegrowingpressure to scrap

social distancing restrictionsand fully restart theeconomy.

It is natural that peoplewant to return tonormal,meet their friendsand

relatives andsend their childrenback to school.Hundreds of thousandsof

businessesareon thebrinkoffinancial ruinandwant to getback towork.

In theUS,protestershaveeven taken to the streets demandinganend to

the lockdowns.The result is someUSstates are rushing relaxing

restrictions even though theirmorgues struggle tobury thedead.

Australiahasmade it this farby sticking toa careful plan, however, and

now isnot the time to throw it out thewindow.Therestrictionsmustbe

rolledbackgradually and inaway that ensures thecoronavirus remains

undercontrol.

PrimeMinisterScottMorrison

foreshadowedyesterday thathemay

ease restrictions soonand that

Australia couldevenreopenborders

withNewZealand,whichhasmade

similarprogressflattening the

i f ti B t h l i i t dinfectioncurve.Buthealso insisted

itmustbea ‘‘COVID-safe economy’’ and theprocess could takemonths.

Thatdelaywill be frustrating tomanybecause they imagine that thecrisis

haspassed.This is understandable.Even thegovernment saysmodelling

shows the rate of undetecteddisease in thecommunity is very low.

But tounderstand thedangerofdroppingourguard, look toSingapore

whichwasonce theposter child forhowbest tomanageanational

COVID-19 response.Over thepastweek,Singaporeanauthorities

discoveredaneglected cluster of infectionsandsuddenly caseshave shotup

to thousandsaday.Thecity state is back in lockdown– joltedback to square

onewhile thedeath rate rises fast.

Toavoid that fate the timetable for reducing restrictions shouldbebased

onacareful assessment of amultitudeof factors rather thansimply the rate

ofnew infectionsordeaths.

Unfortunately, evenwith cases close to zero, there is always the

possibility a fewcaseshavegoneundetected in thecommunity.

AsChiefMedicalOfficerBrendanMurphy toldaSenate committee

yesterday: ‘‘Wehave tobeveryaware thatwhilewehaveonlyhadseven

cases in the last 24hours, there is apermanent riskof further cases.This is

ahighly infectious virusand it can takeoff fairlyquickly.’’

Australia cannot relaxuntilweare surewehave the capacity to test all

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suspectedcasesas anearlywarningand to ruthlessly tracknewcases.We

must ensureourhealth services areprepared for accidental outbreaks.And

weshouldembrace thegovernment’sTraceTogetherapp,whichcan

identifypeoplewhohavecome into contactwith someonediagnosedwith

thevirus.

With thoseconditions inplace, governments should startTheGreatRe-

opening, carefully selectingactivities andbusinesses thatdelivermaximum

economicandsocial benefit forminimumriskof spreading thedisease. It

might takemonths to reopenhigh-riskvenues suchas sports stadiumsor

nightclubsandeven longer to reopenourborders to tourists.

Ifwekeepour cool, however,Australia canemerge in a fewmonthswith

thediseaseunder control, thousandsof lives savedandbusinesses ready to

start rebuilding. Ifwe fold too soon, thehardworkcouldbe lost.

It is natural that peoplewant to return to

normal.

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�CentreAlliance, Lambie: all optionson table

CrossbenchopentocrisisgrowthplanPhillipCooreyPolitical editor

Key Senate crossbench parties say theyare prepared to negotiate in good faithon taxand industrial relations reforms,sayingall policy optionsmust beon thetable given the scale of the economicemergency thenation faces.As the government began pressing

the case for anOctoberbudget contain-ing ‘‘productivity-enhancing reforms’’,Centre Alliance, independent JacquiLambie and, to a slightly lesser extent,One Nation, said they would approachthe processwith openminds.Labor is open to tax reformbutwary

about exacerbating debt. It is also cau-tious about upheavals to industrialrelations, saying itwill agree tonothingthatwoulddisadvantageworkers.Prime Minister Scott Morrison and

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg emphas-ised yesterday that the states wouldhave to do their share of the heavylifting and they re-emphasised theimportance of a 2017 ProductivityCommission report,Shifting theDial.‘‘All of these areas need to be looked

atwith fresh eyes,’’MrMorrison said.The five-year review, which

Mr Frydenberg has been pressing onthe states for more than a year, con-tained 28 recommendations, of which22 were either the sole or joint respon-

sibilityof the states.They include repla-cing property stamp duties with a landtax, replacing vehicle registration withroad user charges and improving effi-ciencies and reducing duplication inhealth and education.‘‘It’s not business as usual. It’s about

the federal government and the state

Continued p4

governments working together in awhole field of areas, from tax to indus-trial relations to infrastructure to skillsand, of course, to cutting red tape andderegulation,’’MrFrydenberg said.The Commonwealth agenda, which

Crossbenchcommitsto reformspirit

Frompage 1

AFRGA1 A004

MrMorrison repeatedmay involve theneed to break election promises, willfocus on tax, industrial relations andderegulation.Mr Morrison yesterday all but ruled

out curbs to negative gearing andfranking credit refunds on the basistheywould sap economic growth.‘‘I don’t understand how increasing

taxes on people in that way . . . actuallyhelps grow the economy. I’ve neverunderstood that argument. There aresome things that remain truisms.’’CentreAlliancesenatorStirlingGriff,

whose party was initially supportive ofcompany tax cuts in2018, toldTheAus-tralian Financial Review ‘‘we have tolook at all options’’ regarding tax, IRandderegulation.‘‘We certainly have to look at ways to

ensure the economy moves forwardand people are re-employed. It’s a messout there, it’s carnage everywhere,you’ve got tohave anopenmind.’’Tasmanian independent senator

Jacqui Lambiewas of a similar disposi-tion. ‘‘There’s nothing off the tablehere,’’ she said.But she warned the government

must be similarly open-minded by

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beingprepared to consider suggestionsfrom the crossbench, such as doingmore to stopmultinational taxevasion.A spokesman for One Nation’s

Pauline Hanson said the party was notkeen on cutting company taxes or fast-tracking the already legislated incometax cuts because the priority should bepaying downdebt.‘‘While we have an opportunity to

paydowndebt at a low interest rate,weshould,’’ he said.One Nation was enthusiastic about

the removal of red tape but more cau-tiousabout IR reforms. ‘‘Thereneeds tobe some reform but unions don’t wantto seeworkersworseoff andneitherdowe,’’ the spokesman said.Labor leader AnthonyAlbanese said

Laborwouldnot support anything thatdisadvantaged frontline workers in thecoronavirus crisis.‘‘What we need to make sure is that

arising out of this crisis, we don’t havethe government go to the bottomdrawer and say, ‘what we need islabour market deregulation, what we

need is more tax cuts for people whodon’t necessarily need it’’’.If Labor or the Greens oppose any

specific measure, the governmentwould need two of the three minorparties topass ameasure. Forexample,it could pass company tax cuts withCentreAlliance andSenator Lambie.Mr Morrison said the economic

challenge, ‘‘which is bigger than any-thingwe’ve known for a very, very longtime, arguably since the Great Depres-sion’’, would require the spirit of co-operation that has helpeddealwith thecoronavirus response.This included co-operation between

the states and territories through thenational cabinet, and ‘‘the excellentworking relationshipwe’ve been estab-lishingwith theACTU’’.Mr Morrison did not discount drop-

ping a second attempt at passingthrough the Senate the Ensuring Integ-rity bill, which would make it easier toderegister rogueunions andofficials.The unions view the bill as a stunt

and an existential threat. MrMorrisonsaidhewouldnothorse trade inpublic.Senator Lambie, whose vote is

required to pass the Bill, said she stillsupported its thrust because shewanted rogueofficials gone.

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[email protected]

PageTwo JenniferHewett

No immunity

The overallmoodamongmanybusinesses is lessone of being inhibernation thanof

being stuck in a comaindefinitely. Jennifer Hewett p2

Businesses in frantic fight for survivalCitystreetsmay featurea fewmorepeoplemovingaroundoutsideas thenumberofCOVID-19 infections fallsdramatically. Insidemostbusinessesandoffices, it’s still thesilencethat issooverwhelming.The lackofeconomicmovement isdue tothealmost totalabsenceofcashflowforsomanybusinesses.ScottMorrisonandJoshFrydenberg

point tobrighternewslikeaconstructionindustrystilloperatingandastrongminingsector,whilesomekeyretailers likesupermarketsandhomeofficesuppliersareexperiencingboomingsalesgrowth.Thegovernmentisalsosoundingincreasinglyconfidentabouttheability toconsidergraduallyeasingsomehealthrestrictionsinanotherthreeweeks.Anyconfidenceabout theeconomic

message,however, isbecominghardertosustain. ‘‘WeareonthewaybacktoaCOVID-safeeconomy,’’ thePrimeMinisterdeclaredyesterday.But theoverallmoodamongmany

businesses is lessoneofbeing intemporaryhibernationthanofbeingstuck inacomaindefinitely.Andwhile thegovernment is

desperately tryingtokeepasmanyaspossibleafloatwith thepromiseofhundredsofbillionsofdollarsworthoffinancial support, themaineconomicliferaftof JobKeeperpaymentshasplentyofholes.That isnot justamatterof the limits

oneligibility.Thegaps includetheneedforeligiblebusinesses toalsokeep

payingtheiremployeesuntilbackdatedpaymentsstart tocomethroughafterthefirstweek inMay.Formany, thedifficultyoffindingenoughmoneytodothathasbeenthreateningtoswamptheir franticsurvivaleffortsrightnow–letalonetheirability tomanagetheuncertaintyof the future.Yet it seemstheTreasurer’s repeated

reassuringadvice thatcompaniesshould just talk to theirbanksaboutgettingbridgingfinance ishardly theseamlessexperiencethegovernmenthadhopedfor.ThePrimeMinisterhasregularly

praisedthebanks for ‘‘steppingup’’ andtheirstrongco-operation inassistingtheircustomersandtheeconomytogetthroughthiscrisis,andhedidsoagainyesterday.His tonewasstillnoticeably

sharper, sayinghewasawareofbusiness frustrationsaboutaccessingbridgingfinance.‘‘It is important that thebanksstay

uptothemarkhere,’’Morrisonsaid. ‘‘Iamconcernedat the increasingnumberofstorieswearegettingandthose issues Iamsurearebeingraiseddirectlywiththebanks,butweneedthose turnaroundtimesto improve.’’Followingaphonecallbetweenthe

banks, theTreasurerandATOcommissionerChrisJordan, thebankswilleachnowsetupadedicatedhotlineforthoseneedingbridgingfinance.‘‘Itwasaveryproductivediscussion.

Andweemphasised theneedfor thebankstoprovide thesupport to thosebusinesses,’’Frydenbergsaidashe

announcedthenewhotlines.

‘‘Importantly, theyhavealsoagreedtoexpedite theprocessingofall thoseapplications to the frontof thequeue.’’ButwhileMorrisonemphasisedthe

banks’ familiaritywiththeircustomers, theapprovalsprocess forlending isnot justoverlycomplicatedandtooslowformany. Italsoassumestheywillqualify fora tickofapproval.‘‘Thesebanksknowtheircustomers,

theyknowthesebusinesses, theyworkwiththesebusinesses, theyare there tostandbythesebusinesses in their timeofgreatestneedandthat isnow,’’Morrisonsaidbluntly. ‘‘So theyknowtheirhistory.Theyknowtheir tradingperformance.Theyknowwhat theyarecapableofdoing. ‘‘Butmanysmallbusinesseshave

preferredtoavoidbankloansduetotheneedtoputuptheirownhomesascollateral, so theydon’thavethesamecredit trackrecord.Thebigbankshavealsomadeitclear theywillhavetheirownprioritiesbyprovidingcredit tobusinesses thatwereoperatingwellaheadof thecoronavirushitting.

Businesses thatwereunderpressureorwith lessreliablebalancesheetswouldbemore likely togotothebackof thequeue– including forbridgingfinance,it seems.Thisreflectsa larger longer-term

contradictionaboutbusinesscreditandhowmuchit reflects lackofdemandrather thanexcessiveregulation.

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ASIClikes to insist–againstconsiderableevidence– that itsevertougher interpretationof ‘‘responsiblelending’’ lawshadnothingtodowiththe lowrateofcreditmadeavailable tosmallbusiness inrecentyears.But theshadowof theHayneroyalcommissionandASIC’snewwillingness toprosecutestillhangsheavilyoverbanks’willingness to lend.Nowthecertaintyof increasedbad

debt levelsasaresultofCOVID-19won’thavemadebankersanymorerelaxed,despiteCanberra’sprovisionoftensofbillionsmoreingovernment-backedguaranteestoencouragesuchlending.Since formalapplicationsopened

Monday,around275,000businesseshavealreadyfilled in theATOforms–aroundhalfof themsole traders.Thatnumberwillquickly increasegivenmorethan900,000businessesregisteredtheir interestafter theschemewasannouncedonMarch30.Noeconomiesorgovernmentshave

managedanybetter–andmost farworsegiventheextraordinaryglobaldevastationwroughtbyCOVID-19.Australia’s suppressionstrategyhasalsoendedupbeingworld leading.Butfederalandstategovernmentsarestillspookedbytheprospectofasecondwaveof infection if theeconomyisopenedup.Anyreturntoshutteredbusinesseswouldonlycompoundthelevelofeconomiccatastrophe.Thegovernment insists itwill lookat

variousreformreviewsover the lastdecade–mostlymoulderingaway–‘‘with fresheyes’’.Theaimis toseehowthesecan ‘‘besthelpAustraliansgetbackontheir feet...andhaveabusiness-ledrecovery thatwillputAustralia inanevenstrongerpositioninthe future.’’But formostbusinessesnow, it’s

aboutsurvivingthepresent.

The certainty ofincreased bad debtlevels. . .won’t havemade bankers anymore relaxed.

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CMOrecalls virus ‘game-changer’ContainmentAndrewTillettPolitical correspondent

ChiefMedicalOfficerBrendanMurphydescribes it as the game-changermoment.AsAustralians surveyedwith horror

thescorchedearth leftbybushfires thatdestroyed thousands of homes andbusinesses and left millions of peoplein Sydney, Melbourne and Canberragasping for clean air, a far more insidi-ous threatwas emerging in January.Professor Murphy, who has become

one of the country’s most recognisablefaces, was on leave when colleaguesreceived notification from the WorldHealth Organisation on January 1 of a‘‘cluster’’ of pneumonia cases fromWuhan inChina.When he arrived back at work a few

days later, thewordwas therehadbeenno new cases and it was a zoonotic dis-ease – one transmitted fromanimals tohumans – suggesting it was a case ofbeing alert, not alarmed.‘‘Around the 19th to 20th [of] Janu-

ary, that all changed and there wasclear evidence coming fromChina thatthere was significant human-to-human transmission, which was agame-changer,’’ Dr Murphy recalled

yesterday as he gave evidence at theopening hearing of the Senate selectcommittee into the coronavirus.‘‘If you have a virus which does not

spread from human to human, it iseasy to contain, but once you havehuman-to-human contamination, itbecomes risky.’’Since then it has been a constant

series of meetings, phone hook-upsand daily media briefings as Australiaand the world grapple with the deadli-est pandemic in a century, infecting2.6 million people and killing almost200,000.ProfessorMurphy saidhewasproud

of Australia’s response, creditingaggressive travel bans, extensive test-ing and social distancing protocols forcontaining the outbreak.He said the decision to ban travellers

who had been in mainland China – amovecriticisedbyBeijing–hadpreven-ted anuncontrolled outbreak.Australia also progressively banned

travellers from South Korea, Italy andIran, areas of early disease outbreaks,

before shutting theborder totally.‘‘I think in retrospect our colleagues

in the United Kingdom and UnitedStates regret they didn’t do the same,’’he said.‘‘We have to be very, very aware that

whilst we’ve only had seven cases over

the last 24 hours, we’re in a wonderfulposition, but there is a permanent riskof further waves,’’ he said. ‘‘This is ahighly infectious virus and it can takeoff fairly quickly.’’Professor Murphy opened up on the

prospect of easing restrictions, whichhave crippled the economy andupended society, in about three weeksbased on national cabinet’s tentativetimetable.Initially, areas of focus were likely to

be retail stores, community sport andallowing small gatherings. But eventswith large crowd numbers were stillsome timeaway.While Tourism Minister Simon

Birminghamhas indicated the borderswere likely to remain closed for muchof the year, Professor Murphy saidinternational travel could start again inthree to fourmonths.‘‘We’ve just recommended to the

national cabinet that we continue thevery restrictive bans on Australiansbasically leaving the country unlessthere are exceptional circumstances,or anyone except Australian citizenscomingback,’’ DrMurphy said.Prime Minister Scott Morrison said

New Zealand would probably be thefirst country Australia could ‘‘recon-nect’’ with, given it had achieved sim-ilar results in suppressing the virus.

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No room for complacency: Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy at the Senate hearing yesterday. PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN

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China shouldbackvirusprobe: PMInvestigationAndrewTillettPolitical correspondent

China should share the commonobjective to make the world safe fromviruses, PrimeMinister ScottMorrisonsays, pushing back against Beijing’srefusal to countenance an independentinvestigation into the origins of thecoronavirus pandemic.With Mr Morrison injecting fresh

strains into the relationship withChina, European leaders said thatwhile they too wanted to see greatertransparency from Beijing and theWorldHealth Organisation, it was pre-mature to talk about an inquiry amidthe immediate health crisis.Mr Morrison also confirmed his

desire forWHOofficials tohavegreaterpowers to go into countries where dis-

eases have broken out rather thanwaitto be invited in, similar to how UnitedNationsweapons inspectors operate.Mr Morrison has broached the idea

ofWHO reform as well as the need foran independent inquiry in phone callswith world leaders including US Presi-dent Donald Trump, French PresidentEmmanuelMacronandGermanChan-cellorAngelaMerkel.He said the government would pur-

sue the matter next month at theWorld Health Assembly, the peakdecision-making body for theWHO.‘‘If you’re going to be a member of a

club like the World Health Organisa-tion, there should be responsibilitiesand obligations attached to that,’’ MrMorrison said. ‘‘Our purpose here isjust pretty simple – we’d like the worldto be safer when it comes to viruses. Itseems like a pretty honest ambitionthat I’m sure most people in the worldwould agreewith.‘‘So it would be great if we could

achieve that and that’s the spirit inwhich we’re pursuing this and I wouldhope that any other nation, be it Chinaor anyone else, would share that object-ive.’’China has reacted angrily to Austra-

lia’s call for an inquiry, accusing theMorrison government of dancing toAmerica’s tune by pushing for the

probe, and singling out Home AffairsMinister Peter Dutton for his criticism

of China’s lack of transparency.Mr Morrison defended Mr Dutton:

‘‘Wearea transparent, opennationandwhen it comes to issues of publichealth, we would only seek the goodfaith participation of any country thatwould find itself in that situation.’’Agriculture Minister David Little-

proud has also urged his G20 col-leagues to scrutinise wildlife ‘‘wetmarkets’’, where the virus is believed tohave originated.Many countries have been much

more cautious publicly in theiradvocacy for an inquiry.A French official said Mr Macron

told Mr Morrison that while transpar-ency was important, this was not thetime to discuss the issue and the‘‘urgency is for cohesion’’.A spokesman for UK PrimeMinister

Boris Johnson, who is recovering fromthe virus, said the focus should be onsaving lives but there would come atime to learn lessons.The EuropeanUnion’s top diplomat,

Josep Borrell Fontelles, used similarlanguage to say there would come atime to learn from the experience, atthe nation and international level.‘‘We will only defeat the pandemic

through global efforts and co-operation, and this co-operation can-not be jeopardised by blaming one orthe other about the origins,’’ he said.But Opposition Leader Anthony

Albanese offered bipartisan backingfor Mr Morrison, saying it was ‘‘sens-ible’’ to boost the WHO’s inspectionpowers. ‘‘Inappropriate practices thatendanger the health of a community ina particular area can spread toendanger health, regardless of wherepeople live.’’

KeypointsMorrisonwantsWHOofficials to have greaterpowers to go into countries.Many countries have beenmore cautious publicly intheir advocacy for an inquiry.

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Ramsaycompletes its $1.2b institutional placementCarrie LaFrenz

Private hospitals giant Ramsay HealthCare has successfully completed itsfully underwritten $1.2 billion institu-tional placement of just over 21millionnew ordinary shares, and will nowlaunch a sharepurchase plan.Ramsay moved to raise fresh equity

onWednesday,whichCiti analyst JohnDeakin-Bell said should enable thecompany to get through the COVID-19crisis with no further equity capitalrequired.The $13 billion company said it

received significant interest fromdomestic and offshore institutionalinvestors in theplacementpriced at $56pernewshare,andeach investor’sexist-ing holding was a key consideration inthedeterminationof allocations.Ramsay boss Craig McNally said

therewas strong support fromexisting

and new institutional shareholders.‘‘The success of the equity raising is aclear endorsement of Ramsay’s long-term strategy,’’ he said. ‘‘It willstrengthen our balance sheet andliquidity position, increase our finan-cial flexibility, and ensure that we cancontinue to pursue our long-termgrowthobjectives.’’However, not everyone is happy

about the allocation. The debate aboutplacementallocationpolicies isheatingup with names like NextDC andCochlear also feeling thefire. Therehasbeen a rush of equity raisings as com-panies look to shore up their balancesheets amid the COVID-19 outbreak.Since mid-March there have beenmore than 50,worth $11.5 billion.The Ramsay board, led by Michael

Siddle, decided the COVID-19 impactwas enough to err on the side of cau-tion and to raise equity before

depressed earnings were reported fol-lowing the suspension of elective sur-geries in lateMarch.‘‘We believe that the magnitude of

the capital raising is more than poten-tially required, although we have amore positive view than most on the

timeframe for health systems return-ing to normal,’’MrDeakin-Bell said.Ramsay expects the government to

take a gradual approach in allowingelective surgeries to resume as thenumber of COVID-19 cases declines.

From Monday some elective surgerieswill go ahead, with further news duefrom the government onMay 11.Mr McNally said he expected the

capacity guarantee agreements withthe states and the federal governmentto be in place for three to six months,less time than initially anticipated.

AFRGA1 A02

Mr Deakin-Bell said it was unclearhow quickly the private hospitalindustry would resume normal busi-ness but he was assuming from July 1,with Ramsay’s local operations to con-tinue at break-even in the last quarterof thefiscal year.New shares issued under the place-

ment will rank equally with existingRamsay ordinary shares. Settlement isexpected on April 27 with shares to beissued, andcommence trading,onApril28. Ramsay shares began trading againyesterday, and were down $3.35, or5.2 percent,at$60.94late in thesession.Ramsay is also seeking to raise up to

$200 million via existing shareholdersto participate in a non-underwrittenshare purchaseplan.Eligible shareholders will be able to

apply for up to $30,000 of new shareswithoutbrokerageor transactioncosts.The SPPoffer closesMay 20.

It will . . . ensurewecan continue topursue long-termgrowth objectives.Craig McNally, left, Ramsay CEO

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Australian Financial ReviewFriday 24/4/2020Page: 23Section: Companies and MarketsRegion: Australia Circulation: 38,015Type: NationalSize: 234.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTF--

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API rejects capital raisesbut cuts interimdividendCarrie LaFrenz

Australian Pharmaceutical Industriesboss Richard Vincent says the whole-sale pharmaceutical distributor willnot need to join in the equity raisingrush.A slew of companies, from NextDC

to Ramsay Health Care, have beenseeking to raise fresh capital in recentweeks as they look to shore up balancesheets amid theCOVID-19 crisis.Mr Vincent said it was a ‘‘fluid scen-

ario’’ but he had no plans to tap equitymarkets in coming weeks while hefocuses on unlocking working capitaland debt that already sits in the busi-ness, which also owns the PricelinePharmacy chain.‘‘Based on everything that is in front

of us now there is no need for that,’’ hesaid. ‘‘We were being prudent around[cutting our interim dividend]. Theboard couldhave paid the dividendbutchose a conservative view becausethere is somuch uncertainty about thefuture.’’CFO Peter Mendo said yesterday

‘‘cash is king’’ right now, and capexwould be reduced and priority given togrowth initiatives,while credit riskwasbeingmanaged closely.Mr Vincent said as things moved

back in terms of government controlsaround retail, the board would be in aposition to talk about any payment of afinal dividend.API remained well placed amid a

low-growth environment but hedeclined to give firm guidance for theyear given impacts of the COVID-19pandemic.The dispensary side of the business

continued tohave significant increaseddemand for drugs in the newhalf fromMarch as consumers stocked up onscripts due toworries over supply.Priceline store network like-for-like

sales for March were up on the priorcorresponding period, though self isol-ation slowed sales thismonth.Mr Vincent said sales results varied

by store and depended on location andwhether the storehad adispensary.‘‘Stores in CBD locations or those

buried inside shopping centres arebeing impacted,’’ he said. ‘‘Street-frontsites with good parking and goodaccess are doingOK.’’He saidwhile foot traffichad slowed,

basket size had gone up by about 4 percent or 5 per cent, with women doingmore targeted shopping for personalcare products suchas hair colour.

Priceline pharmacies and allcompany-ownedstoresareopen,whileonline sales are up about 300 per centas shoppers take advantage of click-and-collect and click-and-deliveroptions.API closed its Clear Skincare clinics

in New Zealand and Australia in lateMarch, and will follow governmentadvice as towhen they can reopen.Mr Vincent said as with Priceline,

negotiationswith landlordswereongo-ing, and threatened to close company-ownedstores if theydidnotplayball onrent reductions.The update came as API revealed

that underlying earnings beforeinterest and tax (EBIT) fell 6.1 per centto $41.7 million in the half year to Feb-ruary 29, or tumbled 11.5 per cent on areported basis. Underlying net profit,excluding new lease adjustments, fell1.9 per cent to $26.3 million. ReportedNPATwas down9.9 per cent.After adjusting for the impactofhep-

atitisCmedicines, total revenuewasup1.8percent to$2billion in theperiod,orup 2.8 per cent on a reported basis.Mr Vincent called the first half ‘‘a

solid’’ outcome in challenging

conditions. COVID-19 was presentingthe smaller consumerbrandsunitwithnew opportunities such as the produc-tion of hand sanitiser, and increasingproduction of cold and flu productsandanalgesics.API has more than doubled its sup-

ply of flu vaccines to 310,000 unitsacross its network. A year ago it sup-plied 150,000units.The supply of flu vaccines will

remain lowuntilCSL’sSeqirussuppliesthe nation with approximately 2 mil-lionadditionalfluvaccines for the2020flu season.

Despite the surge in demand, MrVincent said there was only a smallmargin on flu vaccines for API, and itwas not a money earner for phar-macists. But it showed the importantrole community pharmacy played andgot people visiting the store over aGP.Inmid-DecemberAPIabandoned its

merger plans with rival drug distrib-utor Sigma Healthcare, selling off itsmajor stake that was worth about$82.4 million with the funds used toretire debt.Adjusted net debt at February 2020

was $129.7million.

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Richard Vincent has no plans to tap equity markets while he focuses on unlockingworking capital and debt already sitting in the business. PHOTO: PETER BRAIG

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Sercohires 1500 forCentrelink,ATOrushSimon Evans

The Australian arm of British out-sourcing company Serco is hiring anextra 1500 workers to staff call centresand healthcare facilities amid surgingvolumesofcalls to theAustralianTaxa-tion Office, Centrelink, Medicare andgovernment agencies running theJobKeeper program.The biggest hiring program is for a

new call centre in Essendon in sub-urbanMelbourne which will have 400staff working by mid-May and couldpotentially rise to 700. The economicturmoil from the coronavirus pan-demic has triggered huge volumes ofcalls from people about the govern-ment payment programs and whoqualifies, as hundreds of thousandslose their jobs.Serco Asia-Pacific chief human

resources officer Julie Carroll said yes-terday that the group had been floodedwith applications for jobs in the callcentre from people stood down in thehospitality and aviation industries.Qantas and Virgin Australia havegrounded most of their planes andstood down staff. Qantas stood down8000 staff inMarch, while Virgin wentinto voluntary administration onMon-day after buckling under a $5.3 billiondebt load because of governmentrestrictions onaviation.Sixty people had been through a

rapid induction program this week,while a further 150 would start onTuesday fielding calls for Services Aus-tralia on a range of government pay-ment programs and services includingCentrelink, Medicare, Child Supportand the JobKeeper program.Sercowas also proving extra staff for

call centres handling Australian Taxa-tion Office inquiries. ‘‘We’ve seen ahuge spike in people wanting informa-tion,’’MsCarroll said.Serco, listed on the London Stock

Exchange, has 27 large-scale contractsin Australia, helping to run prisons,onshore detention centres for asylumseekers, healthcare facilities and con-tact centres. Its Australian workforceprior to the hiring spree was around10,000.Serco Asia-Pacific chief executive

Mark Irwin said the economy wasgoing through a major upheaval andpartnerships had been set up withQantas and Virgin Australia to allowfor a fast-track mechanism into someof thenew roles.The demand for government ser-

vices as unemployment rose sharplywas enormous and had required arapid ramp-up to help handle the extravolumes.Ms Carroll saidmost of the positions

were casual and for fixed-term con-tracts. ‘‘We’ll have amix of opportunit-ies,’’ he said.

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Australia’s next national security plan can’t be like the last onePolicyGovernmentseverywhererated globalpandemic as avery high risk.So how didCanberramanage tomiss thisoutbreak?

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Carl UngererBythetimeKevinRuddgot tohis feet todeliver thefirstnationalsecuritystatementtoParliament inDecember2008, thetraditionalconceptofnationalsecurityhadalreadypassed itsuse-bydate.Ruddoutlinedabroadandgrowing listof

securityrisksandpressures intheinternationalsystem.Amongthem,herecognisedthat ‘‘apandemic isboundtocreaterealphysicalandsocialhardshipandpolicychallenges forAustralia’’.Thatwas12yearsago,anditnowlooks

likeanunderstatement.Rudd’sassessmentonthethreatof

pandemicdiseaseasanationalsecurityprioritywasnotwithoutprecedent.Since the1990s, theworldhadfaced

pandemicoutbreaks includingSARS,avianfluandswineflu.Indeed, in its2007nationalriskregister,

theBritishgovernmenthadidentifiedpandemic influenzaasboththehighestprobabilityandhighest impactsecurityevent facingtheUnitedKingdom.Theriskregisterwasdesignedtodrive

policyplanningandresponsesacross theemergencyservicesandtoguidecommunities, familiesandindividualsontheirowncontingencyplans.Therewasanexpectationthat

governmentswouldprioritiseresourcestowardspandemicplanning, includingstockpilingprotectiveequipment, fundingvaccineresearchandensuringthat itscitizenswere informedandbetterprepared.Butpolitics, inertiaandalackof

imagination intervened.

InAustralia’scase, thestructuralchangesto thenational securitycommunity toguidethesepolicychanges, includingtheestablishmentof thenationalsecurityadviser’sposition in thePrimeMinister’sdepartment,wereashort-livedexperiment.Thechangesweremeant tobuildgreater

co-operationandcohesionamongdepartmentsandagenciesandto focusontheseemergingnationalsecuritypriorities.

Tentativestepswere takentowardsasinglenationalsecuritybudget thatwouldhaveallocatedfundingaccordingtoidentifiedriskprofilesrather thanlegacyprojects.ButTonyAbbottabolishedthenationalsecurityadviser’sposition in2013.AndalthoughheandMalcolmTurnbull

madestatements toParliamentonthethemeofnational security, theywerefocusedentirelyonthethreatofglobalterrorism.So insteadwegetPeterDutton’sHomeAffairsDepartment,a leviathansobloatedthat it can’tmoveamuscle.

TheMorrisongovernment isnowcontemplatinganewnationalsecuritystrategy.Ofcourse, itwillhaveresilienceagainstglobaldiseaseasacentral theme.Indoingso, itwill repeatmanyof the

ideasRuddput forwardadecadeago.But for thestrategytohaveany

meaningful impact today, itwillneedtoaddressfivecriticalareas.First,nationalsecuritybeginsathome.Buildingnationalresiliencewill requirea

fundamentalshift inhowwethinkaboutself-relianceandself-sufficiency ineverythingfromdefencemanufacturingtoemergencymedicine.Thecomplacency inournational

economy, includingrelianceonothers forsubmarinesandfacemasks,compromisesourability toprovide forourownsecurity.Second,astrategywithoutmoney is just

rhetoricalfluff.Thealignmentofways,endsandmeansrequiresgreaterdiscipline innationalplanningandtherecognitionthatwewillonlyget thesecurityoutcomesthatweareprepared topayfor.Withthefiscal stimuluspackage,and

soaringnationaldebt, the temptationwillbetorein inspending inotherareas, includingdefenceanddevelopmentassistance.Butthatwillbecounterproductive,andultimatelyself-defeating.Third, thegovernmentmustaddress the

lackofco-ordinationat theapexofnationalsecurity.Noone is incharge.Thegovernmentshouldreinstate thenationalsecurityadviser’sposition inthePrimeMinister’sdepartmentandestablisha

nationalsecuritycouncil staffedwithexpertsacross thedefence, scienceandtechnologysectors.Fourth, thegovernmentshould

commissionanationalsecurityriskassessmentbasedonexpertadvice,notpoliticalexpediency.Butdon’tundertaketheexercise ifyou’renotpreparedtodealwithanswers.Governmentswereawareofthedamageanotherpandemiccouldcause,butchosenot toact.Finally, the intelligenceagenciesneedto

bedraggedinto the21stcentury.For too long, theyhavebeenstructured

alongtraditional linesdividingdomesticandinternational threats.TheCOVID-19pandemicchallengesnot

only theconceptofhowAustraliaapproaches itsnational security,but therelationshipbetweenintelligence, theeconomyandtheprotectionofcivilians.As farasweknow, thispandemic isnot

deliberate.Butdiseasecanbeusedasaweapon.Andmuchmoreeffort is requiredtounderstandandanticipatewherethenextthreat iscomingfrom.At itscore, thenewnationalsecurity

strategymustaddress thissimplequestion:ifgovernmentscan’tprotectus fromaglobaldisease thatstarts inawetmarket inChinaandspreadsaroundtheworldwithinweeks,what’s thepointofnationalsecurity?

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

CarlUngerer lectures in internationalrelationsat theUniversityofNotreDameandisa formernationalsecurityadviser to theAustralianLaborParty.

A strategy withoutthemoney is justrhetorical fluff....we only get thesecurity outcomesthat we pay for.

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Authorities asked veterinarians for ventilatorsKirsten Lawson

IN ITS push to boostAustralia's ventilatorsnumbers, authorities hadapproached veterinariansto see whether they hadhumanmachines that couldbe "cleaned" for coronavirususe, acting Health Depart-ment secretary CarolineEdwards said onThursday.

She did not say whetherany had been sourced fromvet use.

Ms Edwards said author-ities had been "aggressivelyprocuring" ventilators,buying them from overseas,gearing up local produc-tion and sourcing themfrom elsewhere.

There were 2400 intensivecare beds with ventilators

around the country at themoment. Another 2000had been found from otherparts of the health systemand community, includinganesthetic machines thatcould be used withminorchanges. More than 3000have been bought, fromoverseas locations and usinglocal production.

"We now have on order wethink sufficient ventilatorsto enable us tomeet that7500 aim and a bit more,"Ms Edwards said, speakingto a Senate inquiry on thecoronavirus."We're be-ing cautious."

Earlier, Chief Medical Of-ficer BrendanMurphy saidthe decision had beenmadenot to go beyond about 7000because that number would

stretch the workforce to"the absolutely limit", with

insufficient nurses beyondthat number to operateventilators and insufficientdoctors to look after people.

The national restrictionsonmovement andmeetingswere designed to ensureAustralia got nowhere nearthat level, he said.

As Australia moved toless restrictive rules aboutmovement, it needed veryaggressive contact tracingand isolation, he said.

"Thatmeans testing likeyou've never tested before,"he said. "There is a perma-nent risk of further waves,this is a highly infectiousvirus and it can take off fairlyquickly," he said.

He was preparing advice

for measures that could berelaxed in three weeks' time.

"Certainly we would notbe contemplating large-scalegatherings but certainlysome relaxation of the sizeof small groups is possible,"he said.

" ...Things like communitysport, some retail measures.All of those things will bein themix. But we have toweigh up the public healthrisk versus the benefit tosociety and the economy."

International travel waslikely to remain out for sometime, other than the possi-bility of a relaxation of travelrules with New Zealand.

"I cannot in the foresee-able future see the interna-tional risk to be such that wewould do amaterial change

in the bordermeasures,"he said.

While the NationalRugby League has discussed

restarting at the end ofMay,ProfessorMurphy saidhe hoped any decision torestart would go to nationalcabinet. To date, the nationalhealth committee had notbeen asked for approval.

Acting Health Departmentsecretary Caroline Edwardssaid it was not clear federalapproval was needed otherthan for the New ZealandWarriors, but she hoped itwould go to national cabi-net. To date there had beenno approach to the HealthDepartment, she said. PrimeMinister Scott Morrison saidthe NRLwas amatter for theNSW government.

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Chief Medical Officer BrendanMurphy, who gave evidence at a Senate inquiry held by video conference on Thursday. Picture: SitthixayDitthavong

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Aged shaming callJESSICA MARSZALEKANNASTACIA Palaszczukhas threatened to name andshame “cruel” aged care homeskeeping people from visitingtheir elderly parents.

A defiant Premier has de-

manded the managers of agedcare homes across the state im-mediately lift “callous” restric-tions that are keepingresidents from receiving visi-tors, and, in some cases, pre-venting them from leavingtheir rooms. REPORT P7

Premier’s broadsideat ‘cruel’ homesJESSICA MARSZALEK

PREMIER Annastacia Pal-aszczuk has threatened to nameand shame “cruel” aged carehomes keeping people from vi-siting their elderly parents.

A defiant Premier has de-manded the managers of agedcare homes across the state im-mediately lift “callous” restric-tions that are keeping theirresidents from receiving visi-tors, and, in some cases, pre-venting them from evenleaving their rooms.

The Premier’s doubling-down came after a stream ofcomplaints to her from upsetQueenslanders, includingfrom a woman who said her fa-ther was “inconsolable” afterbeing blocked from seeing hiswife who is in a home.

Another had been blockedf h

from seeing hismother and wasonly allowed tovisit to collecther things aftershe passedaway.

Ms Pal-aszczuk (pic-tured) said that

behaviour was in direct defianceof clear advice from the Nation-al Cabinet that there were nohealth reasons to keep elderlypeople from their loved ones.

“I think they should benamed and shamed and I willbe raising this issue with theNational Cabinet – they needto stop defying the advice ofboth my government and theFederal Government,” she said.

“In Queensland some agedcare homes are in lockdownwhen there is absolutely noneed or requirement for agedcare homes to be in lockdown.

“Families should be able tovisit their loved ones – their

v elderly mums and dads, unclesand aunts and grandparents.

“I’m extremely shocked andconcerned that there are agedcare homes which are saying torelatives; you can’t come andvisit.That is callous. It displaysa lack of compassion and a lackof basic human decency.”

Chief Health Officer DrJeannette Young this week saidshe was worried about the men-tal health impacts on elderlyQueenslanders who weren’t re-ceiving visitors and urged peopleto keep up human connections,while observing distancing rules.

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EXCLUSIVE Teacher virus plan may leave kids home until July

CLASS OUT UNTIL SAFE

NATASHA BITAMICHAEL WRAYDOMANII CAMERONHOME schooling could bestretched out until the end ofthe June/July school holidays,the teachers’ union has toldprincipals.

That is despite Australia’stop medical body – which in-cludes Queensland’s chiefhealth officer – heaping pres-sure on the State Governmentto allow students back in class-rooms, having deemed schools“a safe environment to open”.

But the powerful Queens-land Teachers’ Union is threat-ening to have schools shutdown if “too many” kids turnup to class, or if schools runshort of cleaning products. REPORTS P4-5

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Schoolfight brews over safetyNATASHA BITAMICHAEL WRAYDOMANII CAMERONHOME schooling could bestretched out until the end ofthe June school holidays, theteachers’ union has toldQueensland principals.

That is despite Australia’stop medicos heaping morepressure on the PalaszczukGovernment to allow studentsback into classrooms after de-claring schools are safe andshould reopen.

Chief Medical OfficerBrendan Murphy said yester-day the nation’s top health ad-visory body, which includesQueensland’s chief health of-ficer, had been unanimousthat “schools are a safe envi-ronment to open”.

But the powerful Queens-land Teachers’ Union isthreatening to have schoolsshut down if “too many” kidsturn up to class, or if schoolsare found to run short ofcleaning products.

And it has told principalsthat skeleton schooling – withschools only admitting thechildren of essential workers –

might stretch beyond the fiveweeks already announced byQueensland Education Minis-ter Grace Grace.

“If health and safety iscompromised – whether by

lack of hygiene products ortoo many students attending –the union will seek to have theoperation of schools sus-pended until the safety issue isresolved,’’ Queensland Teach-ers’ Union general secretaryGraham Moloney said in anupdate to principals.

“The changes to school op-eration are currently in placeonly for the first five weeks ofTerm 2.

“In spite of speculationabout an early relaxation ofrestrictions, the risk of a ‘sec-ond wave’ of infection may ex-tend the changes for theremainder of the term.’’

Shutting schools downuntil Term 3 would forceabout 450,000 children tostudy at home until July 13.

Professor Murphy was ada-mant yesterday during a Sen-ate Inquiry into the responseto COVID-19 that schoolswere safe .

“All state and territoryhealth officials, all the expertsthat are advising me, about 30of them, we all believe thatschools are a safe environ-ment to open,” he said.

“They can be made saferfor teachers by excludingthose teachers who are vul-nerable, the teachers andadults practising social dis-tancing, practising good hy-giene and so we are

encouraging schools to re-open.”

The revelation comes afterthe Queensland Governmentinsisted it had closed thestate’s schools for the first fiveweeks of Term 2 on health ad-vice, which Premier Annasta-cia Palaszczuk has sincerefused to release.

Chief Health Officer Jean-nette Young said yesterdaythat the “very difficult andtough” decision to closeschools to all but the offspring

of essential workers’ and vul-nerable children was based onher advice to Ms Palaszczuk ofthe need to “minimise move-ment and minimise contact”.

The Queensland Teachers’Union had been calling forschools to shut down for Term2 to all students except thechildren of essential workers,citing concerns for the healthof students and some teachers

QTU president KevinBates said the union woulddiscuss whether to keep

schools half-closed when thestate government reviews thesituation in two weeks.

“The safety of students andeveryone who works inschools will remain our pri-ority,” he said. “It is crucial toassess the status of the crisis atthat time to determine whatshould happen in the secondhalf of Term 2.”

Ms Palaszczuk has said she“listened to the advice of theschool community” to helpmake her decision.

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“The teachers have a legitimateright to express their concerns,” shesaid.

Prof Murphy said schools werenot a “high risk for transmission fromchildren” and the Australian HealthPrinciple Protection Committee hadbeen “consistent” in its advice thatschools should remain open.

He said there had been some in-stances of student-to-teacher andteacher-to-teacher transmission butchildren did not seem to be trans-mitting coronavirus in schools.

“We have had concerns about

adults, vulnerable teachers, olderteachers and teachers with chronicdisease and adult-to-adult trans-mission in the school environmentso the measures we’ve recommend-ed have been around that,” he said.

The AHPPC released guidelineson April 16 for operating schoolssafely, citing that the “greatest riskof transmission in the school envi-ronment is between adults”.

Education Queensland has ad-vised state schools to limit classsizes to a maximum of 12 students.

“In a general learning area of

52m2, there should be no morethan 12 students and one staffmember,’’ it states in Term 2 oper-ating guidelines sent to schools.

But a Queensland Health spokes-man yesterday revealed the dozen-student limit was not based onhealth advice: “Queensland Healthhas not issued a directive to have nomore than 12 children in classes.”

PM Scott Morrison, who is keenfor his own daughters to return totheir classrooms in New SouthWales, said he welcomed movesfrom some states to reopen schools.

“The school changes are a veryimportant step in how we reopenour economy going forward and,most importantly, to ensure thatchildren are getting the best poss-ible education,” he said.

Currently, only the children ofessential workers who cannot workfrom home, or vulnerable childrenknown to the departments of ChildSafety or Youth Justice are to phys-ically go to school in Queensland.

Parents or carers working fromhome have been urged to contactprincipals if they have concerns.

PARENTS GIVE

Nicole Ryder Whose children attend Albany Creek State School and Albany Creek State High School Today is going extremely well. No technical glitches at all. Kids have been able to access everything that they have needed today. The kids and teachers have been emailing back and forth. Communication is excellent. It’s actually been very easy today. The work is there, the kids know what needs to be done and they complete it. Jane SmithWhose child attends St Patrick’s College, ShorncliffeIt seems like the school system is working well now. Nothing replaces face-to-face instruction, and I think they will be behind at the end of this, but for the moment this is a happy medium. Kelly Peugh-JonesWavell Heights High, Albany Creek State High and Albany Creek State SchoolIt’s an A today, we’re smashing it. We are just following the printed-out schedules we have from the schools plus chucking in a few fun things for my Preppy. Latticia ByramWhose children attend Wishart State School, Mt Gravatt State High SchoolThe kids are finally getting into a routine, the information is coming out from the school via emails and in our parents Facebook group from parents who have personally spoken to teachers. The teachers have been modifying the work daily based on feedback received from parents.Most importantly the teachers have been prioritising the work in order for what the kids should be doing like core

HOME LEARNING REPORT CARDS

subjects. Melissa ArkellWhose child attends Queensland Academies – Creative IndustriesIt’s working very well. Teachers are doing a great job with communication and getting work out and supporting students.

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y

Right now I’m pulling

my hair out because it’s

driving me nuts, it’s

really difficult

Teacher/mum Holly Maddigan

Teacher Holly Maddigan, 32, with her daughter Aurora, 4, and baby Deyanira. Picture: Liam Kidston.

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We are on road to recoveryEXPERTS CHART BEST WAY OUT

MICHAEL WRAY

COMMUNITY sports, reopen-ing retail operations and smallsocial gatherings will be amongthe first activities to have re-strictions eased, while bans onlarge events, weddings andinternational travel will remain.

For the first time, Austra-lians have been shown theroad map to easing draconiansocial distancing measures ashealth authorities revealedthe first “cautious” steps of

easing restrictions and whatthey were likely to include.

Chief Medical Officer Bren-dan Murphy said the keyhealth measures that couldtrigger National Cabinet toease restrictions in three weekswould be how much the viruswas spreading, especially com-munity transmissions, and thenational testing capability.

“There is great concernthat if we relax too much tooquickly we could get a secondwave as has been seen in

Singapore,” he told a Senateinquiry yesterday.

But Prof Murphy warnedborder controls would “absol-utely” be the last measurerolled back, with internationaltravel likely to stay banned forat least the next four months.

He said the most likely butstill speculative scenario wasto open the border to a coun-try such as New Zealand,which had also successfullyflattened the curve.

“Any relaxation of border

measures would be veryrisky,” he said.

While being careful not to“pre-empt” the National Cabi-net, Prof Murphy said themedical expert panel was cre-ating a “comprehensive” re-opening plan that could beginrolling out in three weeks.

“Certainly some relaxationof the size of small groups ispossible,” he said. “There are arange of measures (NationalCabinet) has asked us to con-sider, things like community

sport, some retail measures,all those things will be in themix but we have to weigh upthe public health risk versusthe benefit to the society andthe economy.”

He said resuming commun-ity sport was “really important”and it could be done safely.

“We have to keep the pub-lic with us,” he said.

“The public have been fan-tastic but we have to make sureour measures are sustainable

because there will be some sortof measures that will be need-ed for quite a long time.”

Prof Murphy said the mostimportant measure authori-ties would be monitoring asthey navigated the road out ofrestrictions was communitytransmissions, which have re-cently reduced to a “tinyhandful” a day.

“If you’ve got cases that areappearing in the communitywithout a known contact,they’re the ones that are worry-ing us and that’s why we intro-

duced the distancing,” he said.He said National Cabinet

also needed to be convincedthere was sufficient testing soeveryone in the country withacute respiratory illness andsome asymptomatic peoplewere being sampled.

It comes as Queensland’sChief Health Officer Jean-nette Young revealed she wasbeginning to relax restrictionsaround funerals, which arelimited to 10 people.

She said she had been

granting exemptions withinthe Sunshine State, which yes-terday recorded just two newCOVID-19 cases, to allow up to20 people at a service, provid-

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We have to weigh up the

public health risk versus the benefit to

society and the economyProf Brendan Murphy

Adriana Palombi, 10, of Wavell Heights, with tennis coach Damien Roberts at Shaw Park tennis centre yesterday; and (above) Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy. Picture: Liam Kidston

ing mourners kept 1.5m apart,used hand sanitiser and did notattend if they were unwell.

Meanwhile, Prime Minis-ter Scott Morrison said Aus-tralia is “on the road back”from the coronavirus shut-down and talked of moving toa “COVID-safe economy”.

Mr Morrison said he did

not want to “get ahead” of themedical experts’ recommen-dations but he was focused onresuming activities that were“more low-health risk andmore high-economic value.”

“My priorities are to getkids back to school, to get peo-ple back to work,” he said.

“And in terms of the broad-er social restrictions that areoverseen by the states, I thinkthere is a reasonable expec-

tation from the public – basedon the tremendous patience

and discipline that they’veshown – that they will getsome relief on those fronts aswell.”

He said despite the currentlow rate of new cases, Austra-lians should not become com-placent.

“We are on the road backand that is demonstrated bythe measures that we alreadyhave taken and we are on theway back to a COVID-safeeconomy as well, which is whatwe have to achieve,” he said.

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FRIDAY APRIL 24 2020 COURIERMAIL.COM.AU

e

OUT

COURIERMAIL.COM.AU FRIDAY APRIL 24 2020

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Palmer does his bit with malaria drug donation RENEE VIELLARIS

CLIVE Palmer has snapped upalmost 40 million doses of amalaria drug in the fightagainst the coronavirus.

The Queensland-basedbillionaire yesterday revealedhe had donated them to thenational stockpile.

With a shelf-life of threeyears, the hydroxychloroquinetablets could be used in thefight against the deadly diseaseas the world waited for a vac-cine, Mr Palmer said.

The Courier-Mail revealedearlier this month that MrPalmer was using his connec-tions and wealth to buy the

drug, which is being harvestedby countries using it for clinicaltrials.

Mr Palmer said HealthMinister Greg Hunt said thismonth the drug would bemade available to doctors whowanted to use the drug to treatCOVID-19 patients.

“Since that time, Australia’sdeath rate from COVID-19 hasbeen the lowest in the worldand the curve has flattened,”Mr Palmer said.

He said the Federal HealthDepartment provided thePalmer Foundation with anexemption to buy the drug anddonate it to the national stock-pile.

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Drunkenflirt failNurse pays high price

KAY DIBBEN

A FORMER alcohol and drugservice nurse, who went to anex-patient’s home, got drunkand made sexual advances to-wards him, has been reprimand-ed for professional misconduct.

During an evening at the ex-patient’s home, nurse KathleenMary Passmore drunkenlyflirted with the man, touchinghis body and kissing him, adisciplinary tribunal heard.

The man, in his early 50s,later sent a Facebook messageto a friend saying he felt scaredand trapped. Ms Passmore,then in her early 60s, had takena bottle of wine to the ex-pa-tient’s home, knowing he hadalcohol dependency problems,the Queensland Civil and Ad-ministrative Tribunal heard.

Ms Passmore went to the ex-patient’s home, after he phonedsaying he had some issues. Shedrank most of the bottle of wineand became verbally and physi-cally flirtatious, according tothe agreed set of facts before

the tribunal. After she kissedthe ex-patient, he moved out-side, but the nurse followed, sit-ting next to him, touching hishair and rubbing his leg.

Ms Passmore came up be-hind him while he was prepar-ing dinner, put her armsaround him, and started slidingher hands up and down hisbody, over his genital area. Hesays he pushed the nurse awaybefore telling her to stop, thetribunal was told. The next dayMs Passmore phoned the ex-patient to apologise.

After the man complained toher employer about the 2014 in-cident, she was reassigned tonon-contact care. The Office ofthe Health Ombudsman laterput conditions on her registra-tion, she resigned from her jobin 2015 and has not renewed herregistration since 2016. TheHealth Ombudsman broughttwo disciplinary charges againstMs Passmore and on February19 she was reprimanded. Shetold the tribunal she had no in-tention of returning to nursing.

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Unimaginable heartbreak for Vic police family

RAY HADLEY

1. It’s impossible to imagine theheartbreak suffered by the families

and colleagues of four police officerstragically struck in Victoria. Investiga-tions are continuing after a truck ca-reered into the officers during a trafficstop. The bloke who was being ques-tioned allegedly ran from the scene.

2. Among the many complex issuesconfronting us as a nation with

COVID-19 is the lockdown of nursinghomes and aged care facilities. Thisweek I was contacted by familieswhose parents were at the Newmarchfacility in Western Sydney. On Wed-nesday I spoke with federal aged careminister Richard Colbeck and withinhours of our discussion he hadmoved a special medical task force toNewmarch. For that he should becongratulated.

3. This week I’ve decided to call outthose who keep insisting

COVID-19 is no worse than the regularflu, for which people can be vaccinatedto reduce the impact. If we pull backtoo early on restrictions we’ll be in allsorts of strife.

4. There are few people running aline that I find greatly offensive,

namely that these “old” people are notdying because of the virus, they’redying with the virus and other pre-ex-isting conditions. Some of these “old”people are only in their 60s and thosemaking light of the deaths need to pulltheir heads in.

5. There are still mixed messagesabout children returning to

school. First we were told childrencould return for a day a week on May11. Then NSW Education MinisterSarah Mitchell told me that anyonewho needed their children to attendschool five days a week would not bestopped from sending them. Mean-time, the PM and the federal govern-ment seem to be at odds with the

NSW Premier.

6. Stand by for more startling rev-elations from the inquiry into

the Ruby Princess fiasco. On the firstday the chief doctor on board re-vealed she was surprised passengerswere disembarked without furtherhealth checks but admitted she didnot provide the health authoritieswith the most recent cases of elevatedtemperatures.

7. A great Australian, NormanElias, passed away this week

aged 86. Like many people arriving

here after the World War II, Norm andhis wife Barbara made a wonderfulcontribution to our nation. Norm andBarbara had seven children, 23 grand-children, and now great grandchildren.One of their children is Benny Eliasand one of their grandchildren is Mit-chell Moses. A wonderful legacy forNorm and Barbara.

8. The new private operators atParklea prison aren’t doing any

better than the former operators.We’ve had riots, officers being chargedwith alleged corrupt behaviour andnow a stabbing death of an inmate.They might be cheaper but they arecertainly not better than government-run jails.

9. The end of Todd Greenberg’stenure as NRL CEO was not sur-

prising given what he has presided over— a bloated staff of over 400 wheneven the English Premier League gets

by with less than half that number. Inthe end that was a factor but he’d alsolost the support of the majority of theclubs and that meant he could not con-tinue. I know Peter V’landys very well.He is a man of action and not words.He doesn’t leak to the media and hesurrounds himself with like-mindedpeople. The NRL is in safe hands whilehe’s at the helm. However, the ARLChairman will need his best negotiat-ing skills to get the Warriors to Austra-lia. Border Force and the federalgovernment have knocked back manyapplications for Kiwis and others tocome to Australia on compassionate

grounds since the virus lockdown.

10. The decision by 10 Wallabycaptains to call for changes to

Rugby Australia should be curtains forthe current administration. If the gameis to recover and prosper, changes mustbe made.

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TRANSMISSION RISKS TO

GRANT McARTHUR

LOCKDOWN

EASING coronavirus restrictions could be a matter of trial and error over the coming months, with experts warning a full return to normal life is impossible without a vaccine.

As governments and health authorities plan to ease social and travel restrictions, epidemiologists warn a return to mass gatherings such as weddings, conferences, sporting events and even working in big, open-plan offices is not on the agenda.

Rather, extended family

dinners and meetings with loved ones may be back on the menu in the first opening up of society in a move to lift spirits and overcome mental health issues.

Because Australia successfully introduced so many measures at the same time, University of Melbourne infectious diseases epidemiologist James McCaw said it was difficult to know which

actions had made the biggest difference and therefore which could be wound back safely first.

Monitoring the spread ofCOVID-19 cases as measures were relaxed — such as encouraging public transport or allowing football matches and community-level sport to restart — would help show which ones carried the least risk.

Prof McCaw said it wouldbe a balancing act that could see some social distancing measures relaxed and then reintroduced if the increase

DICTATE RETURN OF SOCIALISING

in COVID-19 cases was too severe.

“Depending upon the long-term strategy we might tolerate any small, very slow-growing epidemic,” Prof McCaw said.

“The rational and logicalpolicy approach here is to try one thing, monitor it very carefully, and see if we can tolerate it in an epidemic transmission sense.”

Regardless of how well coronavirus was subdued in

Australia, University of Melbourne infectious disease epidemiologist Kathryn Snow said a return of weddings and big sporting crowds before a vaccine was developed would see Australia reach Italian levels of COVID-19.

Even with testing availablefor all, Dr Snow said asymptomatic cases or people who shunned tests

presented too much danger to allow bigger crowds.

“It is not the case that allthe restrictions that we have currently are going to be gradually relaxed over the next month,” Dr Snow said.

“There will always be some people who are not picked up by a surveillance system. So we still need

enough measures in place that when cases do seep through that the consequences of that are not out-of-control transmission.”

The epidemiologists havealso raised the prospect of different restrictions between states, or even areas within territories, to address individual outbreaks.

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Melbourne streets areshowing more signs of

life as people stepout. Pictures: TIM

CARRAFA

With regional towns lessable to respond to an outbreak, Dr Snow warned activities such as camping or travelling too widely could present problems.

The increasing impact ofsocial distancing measures on mental health, suicide rates, chronic disease, family violence and child abuse was also being balanced with the risks of the virus.

However, Prof McCaw warned it was unrealistic to expect a return to normal life anytime soon.

“The reason the case numbers are down low is because of the control measures, it is not because the virus has run its course.

“The absolute vast majority of Australians, I suspect it is more than 99 per cent of us, are still susceptible to this infection.”

A phased easing of social restrictions is predicted.

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No vaccine, no return to normalEASING coronavirus restric-tions could be a matter of trialand error over the comingmonths, with experts warninga full return to normal life isimpossible without a vaccine.

As governments and healthauthorities plan to ease socialand local travel restrictions,epidemiologists warn a returnto mass gatherings such asweddings, conferences, sport-ing events and even working inbig, open-plan offices is not onthe agenda.

Instead, extended familydinners and meetings withloved ones may be back on themenu in the first opening up ofsociety, in a move to lift spiritsand overcome mental healthissues.

Because Australia success-fully introduced so manymeasures at the same time,University of Melbourne infec-tious diseases epidemiologistJames McCaw said it was diffi-cult to know which actions hadmade the biggest differenceand therefore which could bewound back safely first.

Prof McCaw said changeswould be a balancing act.

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Hobart MercuryFriday 24/4/2020Page: 9Section: General NewsRegion: Hobart Circulation: 28,265Type: Capital City DailySize: 81.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTFS-

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Complacency a no-no: ScoMoSCOTT Morrison has warnedcoronavirus complacencycould lead to Australia beingexposed to soaring death ratessweeping Europe and the US.

The Prime Minister be-lieves the nation is on the roadto a virus-safe economy thanksto $320 billion in rescue packa-ges, as well as people taking so-cial distancing and home-working seriously.

Australia’s coronavirus deathtoll rose to 75 yesterday after aman in his 60s died in hospital.

Mr Morrison said the num-bers paved the way for a grad-ual relaxing of restrictions, buturged against complacency.

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TRADE AND TOURISM

Broad support for openingborder with NZ as first stepDana McCauley

Australia’s borders look set to re-

main closed for months but the

Morrison government is weighing

a proposal to open up travel to and

from New Zealand that could

injectmuch-neededmoney into the

collapsed tourism sector.

The so-called ‘‘trans-Tasman

bubble’’ plan would open up a mar-

ket of millions of tourists and en-

able business travel between the

two nations, which Prime Minister

Scott Morrison said yesterday

were on ‘‘similar trajectories’’ in

tackling coronavirus.

‘‘If there is any country in the

world with whom we can recon-

nect with first, undoubtedly that’s

New Zealand,’’ Mr Morrison said,

saying he had discussed the idea

recently with New Zealand Prime

Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Travel industry and business

leaders welcomed the comments,

which came after Chief Medical

Officer Brendan Murphy told a

Senate teleconference that Aus-

tralians should not expect interna-

tional travel to resume for three to

four months.

A Qantas spokesman said open-

ing the border to New Zealand

would be ‘‘a welcome step in the

recovery of the tourism industry’’,

which has collapsed since interna-

tional borders closed in March.

‘‘Kiwis are the second biggest

source of tourists and business

travellers into Australia,’’ the

spokesman said.

New Zealand is second only to

China as a source of tourists. In

2018, 1.8 million Kiwis travelled to

Australia and spent $2.6 billion.

Mr Morrison, who will update

Australians on the latest transmis-

sion data today in a briefing expec-

ted to cast light on the first stage of

easing social restrictions, said

Australia was ‘‘on the road back to

a COVID-safe economy’’.

Professor Murphy said while it

was ‘‘very hard to put a timeline on

anything at the moment’’, opening

borders would likely be the last

stage of any easing of restrictions.

‘‘I wouldn’t be envisaging any

material changes to border meas-

ures in that three to four months,’’

he said.

Australian Chamber of Com-

merce and Industry executive

chair John Hart said opening the

trans-Tasman border would be ‘‘a

really good way of testing’’ the re-

start of international travel, but

that state borderswould need to be

opened first.

Australian Tourism Industry

Council executive director Simon

Westaway said the proposal was

‘‘a cracking good idea’’ that could

bring much-needed tourism

dollars to Australia, so long as

social restrictions were lifted

so that visitors could enjoy the

sights.

Tourism and Transport Forum

chief executive Margy Osmond

said New Zealand was ‘‘an obvious

first choice’’ for reopening Austra-

lia’s border ‘‘given their success

in containing COVID-19, our

strong ties and the fact that they

are our second biggest tourism

market.’’

Professor Raina MacIntyre, the

head of the biosecurity program at

theUNSW’sKirby Institute, said it

would be possible for Australia and

New Zealand to ‘‘work together as

a block’’ in tackling COVID-19,

‘‘ideally if we each had exactly the

same disease control approaches’’.

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The Senate select committee meeting on COVID-19 was held via teleconference yesterday. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

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Fourth death at understaffed aged homeMary Ward

A fourth resident has died from

COVID-19 at Newmarch House

aged care facility in western

Sydney, as the facility’s operator

says it remains understaffed

despite receiving federal govern-

ment assistance.

A 79-year-old woman with mul-

tiple serious health issues died

early yesterday, operator Angli-

care confirmed. The facility near

Penrith has the largest corona-

virus cluster outside of the Ruby

Princess ship.

‘‘I have talked directly to the im-

mediate family of the resident and

conveyed our sincerest condol-

ences,’’ Anglicare Sydney chief

executive Grant Millard said.

‘‘Every death of one of our resid-

ents is always difficult for our staff,

other residents, their family and

our extended Anglicare family.

‘‘We sincerely appreciate every-

one’s thoughts and prayers during

this terrible situation.’’

There have been 44 cases of

COVID-19 linked to Newmarch

House, which is part of Anglicare’s

Caddens Village, after a staff mem-

ber worked for six days while infec-

tious earlier this month. Fifteen

staff and 29 residents, four of whom

have died, have tested positive.

The remaining 25 residents are

being treated through the Nepean-

Blue Mountains Local Health Dis-

trict’s ‘‘hospital in the home’’ pro-

gram. This provides a daily visit

from NSW Health doctors and

nurses, but does not extend to daily

living support, which is the respon-

sibility of Anglicare, a spokesper-

son for the district said.

Mr Millard said the facility was

still strugglingwith staff shortages

after the outbreak forced 55 of its

regular staff to self-isolate.

The facility operated with less

than two-thirds of its usual staff

numbers on Wednesday, despite

the efforts of the federal govern-

ment and employment agencies to

find extra carers.

In a statement, Anglicare said the

process of dressing in full personal

protective equipment, additional hy-

giene practices and maintaining so-

cial distance meant it was taking

staff at least five times longer to

deliver ‘‘the care [their] residents

and their families expect’’.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer

Paul Kelly said the federal govern-

ment was providing more staff for

the facility, as well as protective

equipment and testing services.

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COVID-19 TRACING

New laws cover appafter fears of misuse

EXCLUSIVEMax Koslowski

New laws will be passed to cover

privacy fears about the corona-

virus tracing app after experts and

the opposition raised concerns po-

lice could get access to the data.

The federal government will in-

troduce legislation in the May par-

liamentary sitting period, increas-

ing the likelihood that emergency

Biosecurity Act powers could gov-

ern the app for several weeks before

control is handed to the legislature.

Government sources said yester-

day that while the details were not

yet finalised, legislation would be in-

troduced to govern the app, which

will be able to identify when users

have been within 1.5 metres of other

users for more than 15 minutes.

The laws will expressly protect

data anddealwithprivacy concerns.

Labor had said the only way to en-

sure police do not access the person-

al data collected by the govern-

ment’s proposed coronavirus app

was to have legislation regulating it.

ShadowAttorney-GeneralMark

Dreyfus said Attorney-General

Christian Porter’s assurance on

Wednesday that ‘‘specific regulat-

ory action will be taken to prevent

such access for law enforcement

agencies’’ was insufficient.

‘‘The only way to provide these

protections is to build privacy into

the design of the app and to enact

rigorously drafted legislation to ad-

dress all remaining privacy and se-

curity concerns,’’ Mr Dreyfus said.

Under the Crimes Act, law en-

forcement agencies could seek a

search warrant that allows them to

unlock a potential criminal’s phone

and scrutinise metadata, including

that collected by the tracing app.

Experts believe that under the

largely untested encryption laws

passed 18 months ago, intelligence

services may be able to change the

app’s code to grant themselves ac-

cess to information on the user’s

phone – without a warrant.


said yesterday the app will make

Australians safer by hastening

state health departments’ contact

tracing efforts.

‘‘EveryAustralianwill be safer if

those health officers are able to

contact you more quickly,’’ Mr

Morrison said. ‘‘That means that

you will be less at risk of infecting

others if they can get to you fast.’’

Legal experts fear reassurances

aroundpersonal datadonot address

the controversial encryption laws,

which give intelligence services

greater access to phone content.

‘‘The primary concern is that po-

lice or intelligence agencies, using

their new encryption powers, could

use the government’s coronavirus

tracing app as a gateway to gain

access to all of the information on

your phone,’’ Human Rights Law

Centre senior lawyer Alice Drury

said. ‘‘The Attorney-General’s

claim that he will not permit the

AFP to access metadata created by

the app is beside the point.’’

Digital Rights Watch chair Liz-

zie O’Shea urged the government

to release the app’s source code

and privacy assessments before

the app is rolled out.

Cyber security associate pro-

fessor Vanessa Teague also called

on the government to release the

app source code, and said the gov-

ernment should not store the app’s

data in a central database thatmay

be attractive to hackers.

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CONFIRMED CASES

DEATHS

BY STATE2976 (32)

THE NATIONAL TOLLNUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES

6000

7500

9000

6660CASES

Total76DEATHS

CONFIRMED CASES BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

TOP AREAS BY CASESWaverley 180Sydney 157Northern Beaches 154Central Coast 116Sutherland Shire 113

Blacktown 107Penrith 101Woollahra 92Canterbury-Bankstown 89Randwick 85

Source: NSW Health

1-10 11-30 31-60 61-100 101+

PANDEMIC STATE OF PLAY

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Scott Morrisonhas sought toallay privacyfears about thenew app, whichmay impact onits uptake bythe public.Photo: AlexEllinghausen

SOURCE: STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENTS, MONASH UNIVERSITY

546(7)

NTACTTasWA SAQldVicNSWApr 23Mar 18

1337(16)

1026(6)

438(4)

104(3)

205(8)

28

As at 5.30pm, April 23

1500

3000

4500

1HERSD1 A010

100

200

300

400

500

CONFIRMED CASES IN AUSTRALIA EACH DAY

SOURCE: COVID19DATA.COM.AU Apr 23Jan 25

As at 5.30pm, April 23

WORLD NUMBERSTotal confirmed

2,630,005Total deaths

183,470Total recovered

713,768US 842,621Spain 208,389Italy 187,327France 157,135Germany 150,648

US 46,784Italy 25,085Spain 21,717France 21,340UK 18,100

Germany 103,300Spain 85,915China 77,911 US 76,614Iran 63,113

SOURCE: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

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MENTAL HEALTH PACKAGE

Sleep’s the word asmums find reliefEXCLUSIVEAlexandra SmithState political editor

JessBunting remembers one

particular nightwell. Sitting in bed

holding her newborn son,Ms

Bunting desperatelywanted the

advice that plagues all newmums –

how to settle a crying baby.

MsBunting turned to the

internet and found a lifesaver in

theSleepWellBaby app, developed

in consultationwith leading early

parenting organisation, Tresillian.

It has helpedMsBunting track

feed and sleep patterns for

William, nowfivemonths old, as

well as offer her vital pieces of

advice and support that she cannot

access fromhermothers’ group

since isolation rules came in.

‘‘I’m a teacher and so I really

struggledwith not having a

schedule at first so I needed

something like this because it gave

me aplan toworkwith,’’Ms

Bunting said.

TheBerejiklian governmentwill

boost funding toTresillian to

ensure free access to the app as

part of its $73millionCOVID-19

mental health package to be

announced today. It comes as the

federal government announced

last night $6million in additional

fundingwill be divided between

online andphone drug and alcohol

support services.

InNSW,more than 180mental

healthworkerswill be deployed as

part of its package to bolster

mental health services during the

pandemic.

Therewill be capacity for an

extra 60,000 calls in the next 12

months to the 1800NSWMental

Health Line and the creation of

pop-upmental health Safe Space

sites to reduce pressure on

emergency departments.

PremierGladysBerejiklian and

MentalHealthMinisterBronnie

Taylor said the fundingwill help

support themental health and

wellbeing of people across the state.

MsBerejiklian said the extra

mental health staff and newdigital

resourceswould ensure anyone

who requires supportwas able to

access it.

‘‘We knowhowchallenging the

past fewmonths have been.Many

people have lost their jobs and all

of us have had to change theway

we live,’’ she said. ‘‘During this

time it is vital we deliver robust

mental health services that fit the

evolving needs of the community –

thismeans employingmore front-

lineworkers and greater

investment in remote technology.’’

MrsTaylor said theNSW

government’smeasures

complement federalmental health

plans and enhance the ability to

support people in their homes

rather than in hospitals.

‘‘TheNSWMentalHealthLine is

staffedby specialistmental health

clinicianswhocanprovide

immediate careandexpert advice

andmakereferrals to appropriate

services andwith this additional

funding itwill nowbeable to takean

extra60,000calls,’’MrsTaylor said.

NSWTreasurerDominic

Perrottet said boosting technology

for vulnerable peoplewould have

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an immediate impact.

‘‘Virtual serviceswill connect

specialistmental health clinicians

with remote and at-risk

populationswhere face-to-face

service options are limited,’’ he

said. ‘‘This fundingwillmake a real

difference to somanypeoplewho

will be confronting an extremely

difficult period in their lives.’’

Jess Bunting with her five-month-old sonWilliam. She has been using theSleepWellBaby app. Photo: Louise Kennerley

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The Sydney Morning Herald

COVID-19 is on theropes but it couldstill fight back

Australia is nowmore than threeweeks into the stage

three lockdowns introduced to fightCOVID-19 and

the truly encouraging news is that the disease is

losing.When the lockdownwas declaredAustralia

was recordingmore than 300newcases a day. Yesterday the

national figurewas just seven.We are the envy of countries

around theworld but our success creates newdangers.

Themost obvious of these is succumbing to the growing

pressure to scrap social distancing restrictions and fully

restart the economy.

It is natural that peoplewant to return to normal,meet

their friends and relatives and send their children back to

school. Hundreds of thousands of businesses are on the brink

of financial ruin andwant to get back towork.

In theUSprotesters have even taken to the streets

demanding a premature end to the lockdowns. The result is

someUS states are rushing relaxing restrictions even though

theirmorgues struggle to bury the dead.

Australia has got this far by sticking to a careful plan,

however, and now is not the time to throw it out thewindow.

The restrictionsmust be rolled back gradually and in away

that ensures the coronavirus remains under control.

PrimeMinister ScottMorrison foreshadowed yesterday

that hemay ease restrictions soon and thatAustralia could

even reopen borderswithNewZealand,which hasmade

similar progress flattening the infection curve. But he also

insisted itmust be a ‘‘COVID-safe economy’’ and the process

could takemonths.

That delaywill be frustrating tomany because they imagine

that the crisis has passed. This is understandable. Even the

government saysmodelling shows the rate of undetected

disease in the community is very low.

But to understand the danger of dropping our guard, look to

Singaporewhichwas once the poster child for howbest to

manage a national COVID-19 response. Over the pastweek

Singaporean authorities discovered a neglected cluster of

infections and suddenly cases have shot up to thousands a day.

It is back in lockdown – jolted back to square onewhile the

death rate rises fast.

To avoid that fate the timetable for reducing restrictions

should bebased ona careful assessment of amultitude of

factors rather than simply the rate of new infections or deaths.

Unfortunately, evenwith cases close to zero, there is always the

possibility a fewcases have goneundetected in the community.

AsChiefMedical Officer BrendanMurphy told aSenate

committee yesterday, ‘‘we have to be very aware thatwhilewe

have only had seven cases in the last 24 hours, there is a

permanent risk of further cases. This is a highly infectious

virus and it can take off fairly quickly.’’

Australia cannot relax until we are surewehave the

capacity to test all suspected cases as an earlywarning and to

ruthlessly track any cases that do occur.Wemust ensure our

health services are prepared for any accidental outbreaks.

Andwe should also embrace the government’s

TraceTogether app,which can identify peoplewho have come

into contactwith someone diagnosedwith the virus.

With those conditions in place, governments should start

TheGreatReopening, carefully selecting activities and

businesses that delivermaximumeconomic and social benefit

forminimumrisk of spreading thedisease. Itmight take

months to reopenhigh risk activities suchas sports stadiumsor

night clubs and even longer to reopenour borders to tourists.

If we keep our cool, however, Australia can emerge in a few

monthswith the disease under control, thousands of lives

saved and businesses ready to start rebuilding. If we fold too

soon, the hardwork could be lost.

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Sydney Morning HeraldFriday 24/4/2020Page: 16Section: EditorialsRegion: Sydney Circulation: 74,348Type: Capital City DailySize: 314.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTFS-

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Row over crucial aged-care role for Princess consultantMEDICAL COMPANYThe private medical company brought in at the height of the Ruby Princess cruise ship fiasco has been appointed by the federal government to manage COVID-19 outbreaks in aged-care facilities.

Despite its links to the cruiseship, Aspen Medical — the independent contractor appointed by the government to manage the Ruby Princess during quarantine — has been selected by the commonwealth to create emergency response teams for deployment into aged-care homes in the event of coronavirus outbreaks.

Aspen Medical’s proposed involvement in aged-care outbreaks was attacked on Thursday by the NSW opposition, with health spokesman Ryan Park saying that given the Ruby Princess fiasco was now the subject of an investigation, any involved

parties should not be given any other coronavirus-related work.

“I think it’s ridiculous that they have been appointed,” Mr Park said.

“The people trapped on boardthat ship have been completely out of the loop, and Aspen Medical has been no good for them.

“It’s incredible, given the wayin which the Ruby Princess fiasco has been handled, that anyone with involvement in it should be contracted to do more work in another government sector, especially one as sensitive as aged care. You would think, anyway, that NSW Health would be able to provide its own people to respond to any outbreak in aged-care homes.”

NSW Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck defended the use of Aspen Medical and denounced the NSW opposition for its criticisms.

“Mr Park clearly doesn’t understand the responsibilities of the aged-care sector and should be ashamed of using the current situation to score cheap political points,” he said.

DAVID PENBERTHY

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The AustralianFriday 24/4/2020Page: 5Section: General NewsRegion: Australia Circulation: 94,448Type: NationalSize: 118.00 sq.cms.Frequency: MTWTF

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Staffing at fatal nursing home down by a thirdNEWMARCH

DEBORAH CORNWALL

A Sydney nursing home says it isdesperately short-staffed and inserious trouble trying to cope witha coronavirus outbreak thatclaimed the life of an elderly resi-dent on Thursday, bringing thedeath toll from the outbreak tofour residents in one week.

Almost a third of the 100 resi-dents at Newmarch House havebeen infected with the virus, while12 staff have tested positive and 55staff are in home isolation.

Anglicare, which runs thehome, said on Thursday it wasgrateful for the community’s“prayers during this terrible situ-ation” but admitted the aged-carefacility at Penrith, in Sydney’swest, was still scrambling to findreplacement workers.

“At least one-third of the staff-ing needs are still to be met despitethe efforts of Anglicare, third-party staffing agencies and thecommonwealth government,”Sydney Anglicare chief executiveGrant Millard said.

Maintaining proper hygieneduring the outbreak, including theuse of personal protective equip-ment by staff, and confining resi-dents to their rooms with novisitors had also put a heavy strain

on the level of care. “Weappreciate and understand whyfamilies are upset, frustrated anddisappointed,” Mr Millard said. “Ittakes our staff at least five timeslonger to deliver the care our resi-dents and their families expect.”

Anglicare and NSW Healthrepresentatives conducted a vir-tual meeting on Thursday withdistressed relatives of residentswho have demanded urgentaction over allegations of “horren-dous” conditions inside the home.

They say residents feel fright-ened, neglected and “in danger”.

Some residents have also re-ported they are missing meals andno laundry was being done, forc-ing them to lie in dirty bedsheets.

“We are working hard tocontain this virus and provide resi-dents with the care they have beenused to and deserve,” Mr Millardsaid.

Relatives of some of the resi-dents who gathered outside New-march House on Wednesdayaccused Anglicare of failing tomove quickly enough to manageconditions inside the home.

One distressed relative, identi-fying herself only as “Savannah”,told Sydney radio station 2GB onThursday that the lack of staff hadleft her 92-year-old grandmotherfeeling her “dignity was stripped”when she was forced to go to thetoilet in a garbage bin.

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Media ad blitz to coax app adoption TECHNOLOGY

ROSIE LEWISOLIVIA CAISLEY

Scott Morrison’s appeal for thepublic to help Australia’s para-medics, nurses and doctors bydownloading the government’ssoon-to-be launched coronavirusapp is set to be turbocharged by astate and federal ad campaign.

The Prime Minister also saidthe federal government wouldhave “no access whatsoever” toencrypted data stored by the app,amid revelations health authori-

ties would receive a person’s agerange, postcode, phone numberand name if they were using thetool and had come into contactwith an active coronavirus case.

A communications campaign isto be rolled out across television,print and social media to assurepeople that the app only has onejob — to help health officials traceclose contacts of coronaviruscases.

It will also detail “very signifi-cant” privacy protections Mr Mor-rison insists will be in place.

“It’s got one job. Just one job.We’re not having it do other jobs.It will never do other jobs. It’s for a

time-limited period. It has the spe-cific job of helping public health of-ficials help you. Help them helpyou,” Mr Morrison said.

“There is no geolocation. Thereis no tracking of people’s move-ments. None of that is true.

“You want to help nurses, youwant to help paramedics, you wantto help doctors and say thank youfor the great job they’re doing?Then you can help them by sup-porting and downloading the app,which will be released soon.”

Josh Frydenberg has enlistedAustralia’s major business leadersto support the app as the nationplots its way out of the coronavirus

crisis. The Treasurer raised the appat a meeting with key players suchas Ai Group, the Business Council

of Australia and the AustralianChamber of Commerce and In-dustry earlier this week, amid con-cerns not enough people woulddownload the contact-tracing tool.

The Australian understandsthe groups were largely supportivebecause the app is seen as key togetting the economy back up.

The app, which will allow great-er tracing of the coronavirus, is oneof three key measures Mr Morri-son said must be in place by mid-May in order for state govern-ments to consider easing social-

distancing restrictions. A moreextensive testing regime and abolstered local response to containany outbreaks were also para-mount.

Australia is one week in to afour-week timeline set by nationalcabinet to begin looking at scalingback shutdown measures.

Department of Health sec-retary Caroline Edwards told aSenate committee scrutinising thegovernment’s response to thecoronavirus pandemic that priv-acy was a key priority and userdata would be accessible only tostate or territory health officials.

“When you first download the

app, the only thing shared is yourname, age range and your post-code, which goes to a nationalstore and that’s how you get allo-cated your unique identifier,” MsEdwards said.

While Health Minister GregHunt has previously said the app’sefficacy was dependent on at least40 per cent of the populationdownloading it, Ms Edwards saidno “base level” was required but“the bigger the uptake, the biggerthe impact”, and any downloadswould be useful to health profes-sionals on the frontline.

Modelling of 17 countries tohave already rolled out similar

apps, conducted by global consult-ant Kearney, showed the most anycountry had managed to achievewas a 20-25 per cent take-up.

Attorney-General Christian

Porter pledged to take regulatoryaction to prevent law enforcementagencies at state and federal levelsfrom accessing information col-lected via the app, but DigitalRights Watch chair Lizzie O’Sheasaid the assurance was “wholly in-adequate” because it was unclearwhether the government could“wall off” the app from powersavailable to law enforcement.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING:DAVID PENBERTHY

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POLL POSITION UP FOR GRABS The next election was always going to be fascinating; the crisis has made it more so GRAHAM RICHARDSON

The choices available to governments in a time of crisis such as this are limited. In proud democracies such as Australia’s, nobody likes government interference in the day-to-day decision-making of households. Now we have armed police officers enforcing social distancing, and our society acquiesces in this infringement on our basic freedom because we all know how quickly this virus can spread.

I never imagined a scenariowhere Australians would have to endure anything like what we now willingly accept.

Perhaps the weirdest thing tome is the news coverage showing images of empty streets and shopping malls.

Thus far, doomsday predictions have not been met. We are not dropping like flies and life goes on, if a little differently. The pandemic is being arrested and more people around the globe are breathing easier - no pun intended.

Donald Trump was, as usual,very slow out of the box but when he finally woke up to the gravity of things, he ramped up

considerably the delivery of vital drugs and services. For reasons I find unaccountable, Spain and Italy remain the basket cases. You would imagine that the underlying health of the populations in those First World countries would be pretty good.

As I write this, the Prime Minister and Treasurer are speaking about the crisis on Sky News. I remember when I first met Scott Morrison. Mutual friends introduced us and I

instantly recognised the charm of this sometimes corny but always decent bloke. His intellect is sharp, and that too was obvious. He was a warrior and Anthony Albanese, when he first attained the Labor leadership, said to me — “now he is about to meet one”.

Albanese has all the attributes needed for the top job and the next election will see a clash of styles and ideas that should be entertaining.

The other strength that Morrison has demonstrated is his capacity to take a punch or two. He is no sook and his love of contact sport serves him well in politics. There are always plenty of MPs and ambitious party members carrying batons in their knapsacks.

In the Liberal Party, only Josh Frydenberg could take over if the PM got on the wrong side of a bus, because he has the overwhelming support of his caucus. If Albanese went tomorrow, I would imagine at least three shadow ministers would put their hands up to nominate. In no particular order, they would be Richard Marles, Joel Fitzgibbon and Jim Chalmers. The likelihood is, though, that the die is cast. Albanese will take on Morrison in a no-holds-barred contest.

Albanese will have to do what few Labor leaders have. He must convince voters he can be trusted to mind the till. This will be particularly hard because the Morrison government has been forced by circumstances to throw huge sums of money at the economy. They will have

borrowed up to their eyeballs, albeit at historically low interest rates. In fact, interest rates are so low that I can’t understand why our state governments aren’t borrowing to the hilt to build the infrastructure. The investment would pay amazing dividends.

At the end of the government spending spree, whichever party is in power will have to work out how we repay that debt. This will be a hell of a job. Both sides of parliament have spent years supporting lower tax rates, with the notable exception of the Shorten-Bowen tax grab so totally rejected at the last election.

Albanese is too smart to godown that path but his task will be an uphill battle anyway — balancing Labor’s natural tendency to look after those at the bottom end first, with the need to maintain or increase business confidence, will certainly not be easy.

The question for federal Labor will be how to win an election when financial reality dictates that you can’t make big promises. I believe Australians may be ready to accept a harsh lesson.

Real leadership is about having the wisdom to diagnose what is wrong and having the courage to implement a solution that will bring the voters little joy.

The PM is in the great position of not making big promises; all he must do is assert he will deliver more of the same solid but unexciting stuff, which is his forte. I do not envy the Labor leader’s position. He has

f d

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run out of good options.Once again, the Greens

hardly figure in election speculation. As they continue their endless, vicious feuding, they are stuck on about 10 per cent of the vote. It is now pretty much a far-left bedrock vote, because the original appeal of the Greens was based on care for the environment. When they talked about trees, they were relevant. Now they seem to be more about the “whacko” Adam Brandt type of useless leftie. Their vote plunged in the Tasmanian election and is in danger of tanking at the next federal poll. If you are thinking that impending electoral doom might help the Greens to focus on producing policies that are relevant to today’s society, you would be wrong.

Lastly, a word about Trump.He looks like a child playing deadly games. He clearly imagines himself as the fastest gun in the west. His order to his forces to “shoot down” Iranian gunboats harassing US shipping is as terrifying as it is dangerous. Being the one to fire the first shot is never a good look and may give some legitimacy to these mad mullahs who control Iran. Those ignorant, hate-filled theocrats should never be presented as being only as bad as the world’s superpower. The Israelis have been right all along. As long as the mullahs run the show, there can never bepeace in the Middle East.

The question forfederal Labor willbe how to win anelection when financial reality dictates that youcan’t make big promises

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WE NEED G20 SWAT TEAM IN FIGHT AGAINST FLASHDEMICSIt is the most powerful forum to facilitate a globally co-ordinated medical response

JOE HOCKEYJACK CHOWAustralia knows how to handledisasters. The bushfire seasonshowed the world that Australiacan get its rapid response right. Italso has done really well handlingthe coronavirus pandemic. It hasthe credibility on the global stageto shape the international re-sponse to future pandemics.

Meanwhile, the rampantspread of COVID-19 is revealingstructural weaknesses in healthsystems across the globe, fromChina’s authoritarian command-and-control systems to the hap-hazardness of the response inmuch of the developing world.This is a virus that does not care fornational borders.

The power of the state to closedown its society and the level of re-sources that can be applied to thebattle will have the biggest impacton every government’s response.However, this virus is indiscrimi-nate and complicated. It’s hard todefine. Its operating rules are com-plex. There is no rule book. Weneed to get used to it.

Coronavirus’s destructive dy-namic adds to the tragic legacy ofrecent killer epidemics such as se-vere acute respiratory syndrome,H1N1 influenza and Ebola. Wenow have accelerating caseloadsand escalating anxiety. Welcometo the new world of “flashdemics”.

A flashdemic is an explosive

outbreak that quickly overwhelmshealthcare capabilities and be-comes a destructive, destabilisingforce. As it blossoms across bor-ders a flashdemic creates interna-tional tensions, from travelrestrictions to financial marketturmoil. It will disable the strong,such as US and French aircraftcarriers, and no one — from primeministers to ayatollahs — will beimmune.

A flashdemic has three charac-teristics that make it particularly

fearsome: it moves fast, its high in-tensity rapidly consumes medicalresources and it is highly lethal. Aflashdemic is overwhelming.

As coronavirus reaches all cor-ners of the Earth, fragile countrieslacking the health personnel andfacilities needed to confront theinvasion may become permanenthomes for the virus. Those vulner-able areas could spawn even dead-lier variants in the future.

As Scott Morrison has ident-ified, governments should work

together to determine how to livein a world with the ever-presentthreat of coronavirus pandemics.

During the Ebola crisis, a UNspecial envoy was appointed toprepare for the worst. Should thispandemic worsen, world leadersshould consider the appointmentof a global coronavirus action“tsar”.

The G20 would be the logicalfacilitator of that co-ordination.G20 health ministers have the im-mediate attention of key worldleaders and finance ministers. It’san effective forum to work out astrategy. Just as the G20 workedtogether during the GFC, it shouldwork together to build a pandemicresponse infrastructure that worksclosely with the World HealthOrganisation.

We need a globally co-ordinat-ed and funded response-readyteam, a medical SWAT unit en-dowed with technical gear anddoctors and nurses who can ad-minister care until local authori-

ties are strong enough to take over.One lesson of battling Ebola inWest Africa was it showcased theneed for early aggressive inter-vention. Creating and deployingsuch a specialised unit during aflashdemic’s early stages wouldavert greater disaster.

This response unit could treatthe ill within any stricken country.

The WHO does not have thiscapability but we will need to haveits global reach to train healthcarecorps from developing countriesthat would implement those localresponses. We also will need toshare and benchmark best-prac-tice experiences. What masks real-ly work? What are the best tests?What type of shutdown policiesare most effective? Every countryhas different rules and experi-ences, but let’s not repeat eachother’s mistakes.

Such a multilateral advance isneeded bulwark against futureflashdemics. As Australia is a lead-ing health power in the Pacific

with a storied history of medicaldiplomacy in the region, Austra-lia’s scientific contribution to glo-bal health defence is critical. ThatMelbourne’s Peter Doherty Insti-tute for Infection and Immunityhas replicated the genetic formulaof the coronavirus is a significantcontribution for rapid develop-ment of vaccines and diagnostictests.

Coronavirus has proven po-tency to disrupt every aspect of ourlives. Haphazard and uncoordi-nated responses fail. We can beat aglobal virus only by working to-gether. It is critical that we movequickly to set up the infrastructurethat will prevent coronavirus fromdoing its worst in the future.

Joe Hockey is a former treasurer and ambassador to the US, and chaired the G20 finance ministers; Jack Chow is a former US ambassador on global HIV/AIDS and assistant director-general of the World Health Organisation.

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Regions crucial to recovery MIA DAVIES

Never have I heard thephrase uttered somany times. “Theseare interesting andchallenging times for

us all.” There it is — thecatch-all line for WestAustralians navigating theirway through the unchartedwaters of COVID-19.

I’ve lost count how manytimes I’ve been asked how weare going, whether theGovernment is doing the rightthing, when will this all end?

Whether it’s the PrimeMinister, Premier or HealthMinister State or Federal — myanswer is we want them all todo their very best.

That’s why this isn’t the timefor business as usual betweenparliamentary parties.

It is not in anyone’s interestto play petty politics when thewellbeing of our populationand health of our economy areat stake.

During the turmoil ofCOVID-19, The Nationals WAteam has taken a supportiveapproach to ensure the nation’sbattle against an opponent thatplays by its own rules amidever-changing circumstancescan be won.

We accept the Premier andHealth Minister are facing anenemy they cannot see. Evenour wartime leaders didn’t haveto endure such a predicament.So, these unprecedentedcircumstances require anunconventional approach fromMPs — on both sides of thedivide — yet one that still fulfilscommunity expectations.

To counter the impacts of the

virus, government has madedecisions with breakneckspeed. The role of a goodOpposition is to holdgovernments to account — butthere is very little to be gainedfor anyone at this juncture byplaying partisan politics.

As community leaders it is

better for us to “stick together”even if some policy viewpointsare poles apart.

The Nationals’ priority hasbeen to ensure our regions areincluded in the State andFederal Governments’response. Number one has beenwhether our regional healthservices are prepared and fullyresourced with personnel andequipment. We’ve used theParliament, briefings and everychannel available to us toquestion and probe the plans inplace from Albany toKununurra to respond toCOVID-19.

We advocated for intrastatemovement restrictions toprotect communities, and haveworked behind the scenes withWA Police and Government toaddress the challenges thisblunt — but effective — tool haspresented.

And when the order to closelicensed gun and ammunitionshops was made, our teamkicked swiftly into action toexplain to Government and WAPolice that grocery, hardwareand agriculture supply storeswould shut because ownerswere also licensed to sellfirearms and supplies.

To its credit, after ourintervention, the Government

swiftly amended the order.Every day, as this crisis

continues to unfold, there is anew issue impacting ourregions. The viability of

childcare, stretched grocerysupply chains, management ofvolunteer emergency workers,stranded backpackers andtravellers, export markets forhigh-value produce, the failureof airlines and impact onregional patients requiringongoing medical treatment inPerth — these issues are justthe tip of the iceberg.

In addition, our team hasworked with the StateGovernment inless-than-perfect circumstancesto pass legislation designed forthe COVID-19 fight. Again, ithas been my view it is best to“stick together” and supportthe Government action to getthe best result for thecommunity at this time.

It will also require a “teamWA” effort to deal with apost-COVID-19 world. Webelieve there is a vehicle thatcan drive that recovery acrossregional WA already at hand.

In 2008, The Nationals WAdelivered Royalties for Regionsas a platform to invigorate ourregions. One important legacyof that investment is the

state-of-the-art telehealthservice now used so extensivelyto support regional healthservices. It also underpinnednew hospitals, an emergencyservice rescue helicopter, andfunding for new Royal FlyingDoctor Service jets andequipment.

It was a program that fundedsmall community projects andset up major projects todiversify and drive economicchange. It was a holisticregional development programthat acknowledged our regionsas significant contributors tothe State economy.

Under the Labor Government

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that investment has ground to ahalt. Royalties for Regions hasbeen underspent to prop up theBudget bottom line. It has alsobeen funding basic governmentservices, like WaterCorporation. If used to its fullpotential Royalties for Regionscan be a transformative tool torebuild our economy as WAemerges from these dark days.

Everything should be on thetable as we plot a new path.

A revised country localgovernment fund to stimulatedevelopment and providecrucial jobs in our regionsshould be considered. Aregional cities investment

program to support adecentralisation agenda couldbe developed to leverageFederal and local governmentand private sector funds.

Boosting regionaltelecommunications andconnectivity, and re-activatingthe tourism and event sectorshould be a priority. Removingbarriers to accessing qualityeducation close to home,developing and enhancing ouragricultural supply chains, andworking to identifyopportunities formanufacturing or value-addinghere in WA should be explored.

Something must be done toaddress the expensive andfragile regional airlineindustry.

And surely now is the timefor the Federal and Stategovernments, along with themining sector to re-evaluate theFIFO workforce model.

A greater proportion ofresidential workers would be awin for both company andcommunity.

We are not advocating for aresidential workforce for aremote Pilbara mine site. Butfor long-term, stable projectsbased in or near major regionalcentres like Kalgoorlie-Boulder,Coolgardie, Newman, PortHedland, Karratha and other

major mining centres a greaterresidential workforce justmakes sense.

Finally, the regional borderclosures highlighted the flawsin having most of ourgovernment agencies andresources in Perth. Anaggressive decentralisationagenda should be on the table.

It is crucial regional WA is atthe forefront of plans forrecovery.

Most importantly — nomatter where we live, ourprofession or situation we face— we need to play our part inmaking sure we emergetogether and without segmentsof the WA community leftbehind.

Mia Davies is leader of TheNationals WA

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Illustration: Don Lindsay

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SAVE OUR PARENTS

RELATIVES’ FEARS FOR ELDERLY

DANIELLE GUSMAROLI & NICK HANSEN

CRISIS HITS HOME

HORROR stories of theneglect of elderly residentshave emerged from inside theNewmarch House aged carehome that has been ravagedby coronavirus, including onewoman left bleeding on theground after a fall and anothersent into a “diabetic attack”.

Claims of a collapse in carestandards at the Anglicare-run home at Caddens yester-day prompted a flash protestby relatives and an emergencyintervention by the federalGovernment.

Anglicare has now called a“resident and family meeting”today, and apologised for thecurrent standard of care.

Anthony Bowe was one of10 relatives to front up at thegates yesterday, saying hiscoronavirus-positive mother

Pat Shea, 76, waited two hoursafter having a fall and pressingher call button.

“Panic button means

you’re supposed to arriveimmediately but the staff havebeen too busy to come,” MrShea said. “She fell in the bathand cut her arm open, theypatched her up but she’s beenlying on her bed in blood-covered sheets for four days.It’s disgusting.

“Pretty much everyone inLawson wing where she ishave tested positive for thevirus. Mum’s anxiety has gonethrough the roof, she thinksshe’s dying.”

Diabetic Jan Doble, 81, wasdiagnosed with COVID-19 onTuesday. She told The DailyTelegraph through the barredwindows of her bungalow:“I’ve got the virus and itterrifies me.

“I’ve lost my appetite andhave to wear a mask in myroom, I just don’t want to give

it to anyone ... it’s like a prisonin here. “It’s like World WarII, we’ve been through worse— us Aussies are fighters andI will get out of this home formy children and my grand-children.

“I’m doing alright, I’mhanging in there. I’m tired but

I want to come out.”Son Brett Doble said his

mother waited hours to be fedone day. “She’s diabetic andnot getting breakfast until10.30am, she needs to have itat 7.30am,” Mr Doble said.

“I could hear her on phonehaving an attack, I rang a 1300customer number at the headoffice and they finally dealtwith it. It should never havehappened. She got a rissoleand plastic knife for dinnerlast night.”

Marie Watson said hermother Alice Bacon, 93, hasterminal cancer and she isworried sick for her. “Mumwon’t die of a coronavirus,

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she’ll die due to a lack of care,”Ms Watson said.

Louise Payne said hermother Yvonne Vane, 89, wasworried sick after testing posi-tive for COVID-19.

“She said she feels tired andterrible all the time — thankgod she’s got dementia, I’mnot telling her she’s got thevirus, she’ll be worried evenmore,” she said.

“I blame Anglicare for notmanaging this well.”

Matt Steele took to socialmedia after his grandmotheralso suffered a fall at New-march House. “My 101 yearold Nanna had a fall the otherday and was left on the floorfor two hours and was onlydiscovered when they broughther breakfast in after herbuzzer was repeatedlyignored,” he wrote.

Three residents of New-march House have died fromCOVID-19 and 28 have testedpositive. There are 14 staff

members also positive withthe virus and 55 of the home’s90 regular workers have beenput in quarantine.

Nepean Hospital staff cre-ated a semi-permanent “hos-pital in the home” there lastweek but NSW Health said itwas only for the treatmentand tracing of COVID-19.

“It would not extend todaily living tasks provided byaged care workers,” NSWHealth said.

Federal Aged Care Minis-ter Richard Colbeck yesterdaysent Aspen Medical, the same

private firm which boardedthe virus-stricken cruise shipRuby Princess, into the hometo urgently upgrade services.

The Aspen emergencyresponse team will include anurse to initially assess thesize of the staffing shortfall,then registered nurses andallied health professionals.

He also said the healthdepartment would draw up a

roster of general practitionersto work in the home.

“We understand the con-cerns from families regardingtheir loved ones,” Mr Colbecksaid.

He said he was “fast-track-ing” access to personal protec-tive equipment for NewmarchHouse staff.

Earlier yesterday Mr Col-beck told 2GB’s Ray Hadleysome health workers were notwilling to put their own healthon the line to enter New-march House.

“A lot of people get reallyconcerned about going intothe facility, that becomes anissue because people obvious-ly don’t want to catch the virus… it’s been a very difficult jobto find backfill for that,” MrColbeck said.

It was revealed earlier thismonth Mr Colbeck had AspenMedical on standby in case a“surge” workforce was re-quired at an aged care home.

Anglicare has called a “res-ident and family meeting” fortoday with representativesfrom the Department ofHealth, the Aged Care Qual-

ity and Safety Commissionerand the Older Persons Advo-cacy Network due to attend.

Anglicare chief executiveGrant Millard apologised forthe standard of care at New-march House during the out-break.

“We are deeply sorry forthe effect that it has had onsome of the people we lookafter and that they have hadto wait for the care they de-serve during this crisis,” MrMillard said.

“We will talk to those fam-ilies who have raised theirconcerns and we will invitefamily representatives to aconference with us.

“This has been a terriblesituation for us and I want tothank those who are thinkingof us and praying for us.”

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Grandmother Yvonne Payne is battling ndmother Yvonne Payne is battling Grancoronavirus inside Newmarch House and navirus inside Newmarch House ancoronavirus inside Newmarch House ancoro(below) Mr Doble talks to his mother.

Relatives Louisa and Ken Payne, Anthony Bowe,Relatives Louisa and Ken Payne, Anthony y Bowe,Natalie Nix, Joyce Parker and Victoria Mitchelltalie Nix, Joyce Parker and Victoria Mitchelltalie Nix Joyce Parker and Victoria Mitchell

outside the Anglicare Newmarch House inoutside the Anglicare Newmarch House inoutside the Anglicare Newmarch House inCaddens yesterday and (inset far right) residentsterday y and (inset far rigght) residentsterday and (inset far right) resident

Jan Doble. Picture: Christian Gilles

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