Four new Covid cases; man dies in South Gippsland flood waters – as it happened

The Western Australian government is trying to find another company to conduct independent monitoring of damage to rock art at Murujuga on the Burrup peninsula, after parting ways with the company originally contracted to do the work just 14 months ago.

The Australian reported that Puliyapang Pty Ltd, which was awarded the $7.2m contract in February 2020, had its contract terminated in April due to a breach of contract.

Murujuga is the largest collection of rock art in the southern hemisphere, with more than one million petroglyphs, some of which date back more than 50,000 years. It was added to Australia’s tentative World Heritage list in 2020.

But there have been long-standing concerns that emissions from nearby industrial developments are eroding the rock art.

Emissions have not been independently monitored since 2016, when the CSIRO pulled out following criticisms of its methodology. Industry groups have continued to pay for their own monitoring. The WA government had committed to a robust, scientifically sound, independent monitoring process as part of a rock art management strategy released in 2019. The monitoring was to use Indigenous rangers from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and be substantially funded by Woodside, Rio Tinto and Yara Fertilisers – the three biggest polluters on the Burrup.

The WA environment minister, Amber-Jade Sanderson, said today that the McGowan government remained committed to implementing that strategy.

Her office said in a statement:

The Murujuga Rock Art Strategy and Monitoring Program will deliver a world-leading scientifically rigorous approach to monitoring, analysis and managing the rock art and the department expects the studies will commence in line with the timeframe of the previous contract.

The department is working through a procurement process for a new contract for the monitoring program and that is expected to be finalised soon.

Protecting the rock art was one of the arguments mounted against the proposed Scarborough to Pluto liquified natural gas (LNG) development.

The emissions plan for that development was signed off by Sanderson this week. Her office said the emissions plan concerned greenhouse gas abatement and “was never intended to address the rock art monitoring program as it is not the appropriate mechanism to do so”.

The SES water and general rescue crews have made 37 rescues in the past 24 hours, Baker says.

Asked when people might be able to return to their homes, Baker says:

It is too early at this stage for those people that have been impacted out in the west Gippsland area, so we ask them to be patient and seek a safe place to be for now until such time that it is ... safe to return. And we’ll let them know later locally.

Victoria’s State Emergency Service agency commander, David Baker, is on the ABC talking about the flood situation in Victoria.

Baker says the more than 6,000 requests the SES has received means it’s the busiest 24-hour period in the agency’s history.

He says the situation remains fluid:

The floodwaters are continuing to present a problem as the rainfall comes through the system.

We ask Gippslanders in that west and south-west Gippsland area to be alert, to be aware of their circumstances, follow emergency services advice, keep abreast of Vic emergency warnings.

The WA premier, Mark McGowan, has argued the Morrison government’s ongoing refusal to resettle a Tamil asylum-seeker family detained on Christmas Island has become “internationally embarrassing”.

Asked about the fate of the ‘Biloela family’ on Thursday, Nine newspapers quoted McGowan as saying:

If that means they need to use one of their exemption powers under the act, just do it, and resolve the issue.

We actually need workers in Australia at the moment and to get this very unfortunate and somewhat internationally embarrassing issue behind us.

On Monday, the family’s youngest daughter, three-year-old Tharnicaa, was medically airlifted to Perth with her mother. However, her father and sister remain on Christmas Island.

NSW Health has updated its venues of concern list.

It says in a statement:

If you were at any of the following new venues of concern at the times listed, please immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and isolate until you receive further information from NSW Health:

• Forbes, The Bakehouse, 15 Templar Street, Tuesday 1 June, 2.30pm – 2.50pm
• Forbes, Browns Sportspower, 137 Rankin Street, Tuesday 1 June, 3pm – 3.30pm
• Dubbo, Best and Less, 95 Macquarie Street, Wednesday 2 June, 12.20pm – 1pm
• Dubbo, Chemist Warehouse, 166 Macquarie Street, Wednesday 2 June, 1.45pm – 2pm
• Dubbo, Coles, Bultje Street, Wednesday 2 June, 4.30pm – 5pm
• Dubbo, PKs Bakery, 105 Cobra Street, Thursday 3 June, 7.30am – 8.45am
• Coonabarabran, Coles Express, 2-6 John Street, Thursday 3 June, 11am – 12pm
• Moree, ASSEF’s clothing store, 139-143 Balo Street, Thursday 3 June, 3pm – 3.30pm

My colleague Ben Doherty has been watching the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial.

Accused former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has entered the witness box to defend himself against “devastating” allegations of war crimes, as a court heard he has been accused of six murders of unarmed people, of corrupting evidence, and of attempting to intimidate witnesses.

Victoria’s State Emergency Service has recorded its busiest day ever following wild weather that hit parts of the state overnight.

It’s taken 6,500 calls for help, SES spokesman Jamie Devenish has told ABC Radio Melbourne.

My colleague Calla Wahlquist reports.

A train that derailed in Victoria, killing two people and seriously injuring eight more, was travelling at more than eight times the speed limit through a rerouted section of track, an interim report has found.

The memes keep coming.

The Victorian Nationals senator, Bridget McKenzie, says there has been an “overreaction” from the state Labor government in response to the latest outbreak.

She tells Patricia Karvelas on the ABC:

And we’ve seen it time and time again. Even out in the regions today, gyms are closed. And businesses are going broke as a result. I’ve been quite disturbed about this heavy handed approach by the state Labor government. There doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason around a whole raft of different restrictions being placed on community and businesses as we go through the pandemic. It seems they’re almost making it up as they go along.

The Victorian Labor MP, Josh Burns, says the federal government has failed on quarantine and the vaccine roll out.

The ticket out of this is not to snipe at Victorians like what members of the government are choosing to do, it’s to get the vaccine rollout into as many people as possible.

That’s the end of that press conference with Paul Kelly.

Pressed on his decision to remove the hotspot declaration for Melbourne, which ends the Covid-19 disaster payments, Kelly says it’s ultimately a matter for the federal government.

He notes he simply provides the medical advice.

Kelly is asked about the blood clotting case that led to a woman’s death.

“I understand this is very concerning news,” he says. “It is clearly concerning news for the family affected but I would say this we have made those decisions based on the risk and benefit equation. At the moment, the AstraZeneca is a really important element of the vaccine rollout. But nothing is compulsory. Individuals who have concerns about any medical procedure but including and in particular the private vaccine at this time should talk to their GP about those concerns.”

Kelly says the coroner will look into the matter.

Commodore Eric Young says 62% of those aged 70 and above have now received at least one dose of vaccine and 48% of those aged 50 and above have received at least one dose of vaccine.

He says the last aged care home to get its first dose visit – a facility in WA – will complete that process today.

Young says 8,199 people with disability within residential setting have received at least one dose of the vaccine. There are about 22,000 in total.

Kelly says the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has issued new guidelines for pregnant women receiving the vaccine.

They state that those who are pregnant should “feel free, and if I go encouraged to receive the vaccine”. For those 40-49 that would be the Pfizer vaccine.

Kelly says the Atagi expert group has been monitoring the situation and has “confirmed that for people over 50 that [AstraZeneca] should be the vaccine of choice, and for under 50 the Pfizer vaccine currently is preferred”.

There is definitely a much lower risk of this event, this clotting events, the older one gets. There is a definite cut point there at about the age of 50.

The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, is speaking now about this blood-clotting case now.

He says it is “extremely unfortunate”.

I will point out that it is only the second death with now over 3.6 million doses of this vaccine being given across Australia, I will point out that this remains an extremely rare event to get these serious clots, but when they happen, as we have seen in this case, it can have tragic circumstances. My heart goes out to the family, and all the friends and colleagues of this particular person.

The TGA’s statement also notes:

With the ongoing risk of Covid outbreaks in Australia and the potential for severe long-term effects or fatal consequences of infection, the benefits for the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh the risks.

The department of health website states: “There is a very low chance of this side effect, which may occur in around 4-6 people in every million after being vaccinated.”

The Department of Health says 142,808 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered in the past 24 hours.

It takes the total number of doses administered to 5,487,670 since the rollout began.

Victoria saw the most jabs with about 27,000 in the past 24 hours, followed by NSW on about 15,000.

Woolworths’ takeover of distributor PFD Food Services will go ahead despite concerns the move will eventually lead to fewer workers in the industry, reports AAP.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Thursday allowed Woolworths to buy 65% of shares in PFD, which delivers food to cafes, restaurants, hotels, clubs and more.

The purchase will cost $552m.

Independent Food Distributors of Australia chairman Richard Hinson said he was disappointed the retail giant was allowed to buy one of the most significant players in distribution.

He said Woolworths would misuse its market power.

This would lead to the decline of rival distributors and cost hundreds of jobs, particularly in regional areas, Hinson said.

The competition watchdog said PFD had about 15% of the wholesale food distribution market.

ACCC chair Rod Sims said there were several competitors with similar market share.

He said the nature of their offerings also meant a reduction in competition was not likely.

However Mr Sims did say Woolworths’ purchase would likely lead to changes in the industry.

The watchdog made its decision after an investigation in which many people voiced concerns.

Master Grocers Association boss Jos de Bruin, like Mr Hinson, feared Woolworths would drive distributors out of business.

This statement has just come in from the health minister, Greg Hunt’s, office:

The human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015 will be extended for a further three months.

The emergency period, which has been in place since 18 March 2020 to protect Australians during the Covid-19 pandemic, will continue until 17 September 2021.

The extension, declared by the governor general today, was informed by specialist medical and epidemiological advice provided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and the Commonwealth chief medical officer.

The AHPPC has advised that the international Covid-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable risk to public health.

The extension of the emergency period is an appropriate response to that risk.

The human biosecurity emergency declaration ensures the government has the powers to take any necessary measures to prevent and control Covid-19.

This extends the four existing emergency determinations including:

• mandatory pre-departure testing and mask wearing for international flights
• restrictions on the entry of cruise vessels within Australian territory
• restrictions on outbound international travel for Australians
• restrictions on trade of retail outlets at international airports.

To date, these and other measures have greatly assisted in protecting Australia by preventing and controlling the entry, emergence, establishment and spread of Covid-19.

We will continue to review these determinations regularly to take into account the latest medical advice.

The government also continues to consult with the states and territories and the maritime industry on options for the staged resumption of cruising when the medical advice is that it is safe to do so.

These measures in place under the Biosecurity Act 2015 the can be amended or repealed at any time.

Volunteers from the State Emergency Service have been out in dinghies helping people cut off by floodwaters in the Gippsland town of Traralgon this morning.

Houses near Whittaker’s Road have been evacuated and access to some areas have been cut off, with waters continuing to rise.

Traralgon creek at Traralgon has reached 5.76m, well above the major flooding levels of 4.8m. Water is not expected to recede to below major flooding levels until this evening.

This video shows SES crews coming in to assist residents near the Traralgon showgrounds.

The showgrounds and reserve, which also house the football grounds, are completely flooded.

The Traralgon and Districts Agricultural Society says the flooding has impacted works to renovate the agricultural pavilion.

“Yes, there’s going to be damage, and a mammoth clean up,” they said in a Facebook post.

Works in the agricultural pavilion are obviously halted, and we will need to assess the damage when we can access the site. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking. But we’re no strangers to hard work and that’s what insurance is for. We’ll find a way.

Flood waters have also impacted facilities used by the Gippsland ranges roller derby and by Traralgon men’s shed.

Dozens of roads in Gippsland are closed due to flood waters. The Princes Highway at Grey Street, near the McDonald’s, is under water and closed to traffic. Brown Coalmine Road, from Yallorn to Tyers going past the Yallorn North open cut coalmine, is closed at Tyers Creek.

Emergency services have repeatedly asked people not to drive across flooded roads. The SES has has already conducted dozens of flood rescues, and they divert resources away from evacuations.

Awful images from Emerald on the outskirts of Melbourne.

Here are some pictures from Traralgon, in Victoria’s east, where residents have been told to evacuate.

That Victorian press conference has wrapped up. Some of the key details:

• Four new cases were reported, all in the same family in the northern suburbs.
• As a result, Melburnians will still need to wear masks outside when restrictions otherwise ease on Friday.
• The federal government’s Covid-19 disaster payment will end tomorrow when the lockdown is lifted, despite a plea from the Victorian government for it to continue.

James Merlino says he can’t say for sure whether AFL games scheduled for next week in Victoria will go ahead.

He says:

Football fans are anxious for the answer but I can’t give a definitive answer on the question of the games and what that might mean for crowds.

Thanks Matilda. Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll pick up where Matilda left off.

James Merlino has been asked about the Victorian Liberal opposition’s questions about Daniel Andrews’ fall. They maintain some are unanswered.

Merlino says:

It is a very poor reflection on the opposition and the Liberal party that they are focused on what are just bizarre conspiracy theories. I think it’s a poor reflection on the Liberal party, the leader of opposition, the fact they are doubling down today, on these nutbag conspiracy theories, is, I think, a great disappointment to the people of Victoria. We are dealing with a pandemic. We are dealing with an extraordinary storm event overnight. We need to respond maturely and appropriately and I don’t think the people of Victoria, are seeing that from the Liberal party. This is clearly sanctioned by the leader of opposition and I think that is a disgrace.

With that I shall leave you for today, handing you over to the amazing Luke Henriques-Gomes to take you through the afternoon.

It’s time to talk about masks. Take a sip of coffee every time “outdoors” is said.

Reporter:

Do we have a percentage of family people that are Covid-19 cases who caught the virus outside?

Weimar:

It depends how you define outside, to be pedantic. If I look at exposure sites, small shops we talked about previously, the Telstra shop, Craigieburn shopping centre, Epping Plaza, we have by my count 10 or 11 cases who contracted Covid-19 through that exposure site. All indoors?

Reporter:

All indoors. Were any outdoors?

Weimar:

Not that I confirm.

Reporter:

No cases of people picking up the virus outdoors?

Weimar:

No, no evidence we have seen in this outbreak for the most recent ones, of outdoor transmission.

Reporter:

Why are we being made to wear face masks outdoors?

Weimar:

We have ... community transmission. We have done a [lot] of work over the last two week under the lockdown previously to get as much information as possible, to isolate 8000 primary close contacts at one point, to hold down the head of this outbreak to the very low numbers we see at the moment. The evidence overnight is we have community transmission happening we are not aware of.

Reporter:

That was in a household. There is no current evidence on the most recent outbreaks in Melbourne there has been transmission of the virus outdoors?

Weimar:

Correct.

Weimar has been asked why contact tracers haven’t been able to speak to this couple yet, but he didn’t provide much of an answer:

Queensland health, Queensland police stepped in last night as well. We want to make sure we have a coordinated approach. We are all after the same thing. We want a reasonable discussion between Queensland, New South Wales and ourselves to get the right information.

The Victorian testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, says the contact tracing team are “very concerned” now we know the Victorian couple were likely most infectious while moving in Melbourne before they departed for Queensland.

We are very concerned about this. The focus for the team is to get as much information as possible to understand their movements, potential source of acquisition. We want to link it to one of the existing clusters that we know about.

Right now, we have next to no information to go from. We are working with authorities. We will put our work into action. The only thing we have to go on is a relatively small number of QR code registrations. That is what we are exploring, and Craigieburn.

We are encouraging people in the Craigieburn shopping centre area to get tested again because it is a hotspot we have been dealing for several weeks. It is a priority to get as much information today so that we can be confident.

James Merlino is now doing the tough job of calming the angry, burning pitch-fork carrying, mob coming after the infected Victorian couple who travelled to Queensland last week.

It is important that we interview the couple.

As we said at the outset, if they were relocating that is not a breach of directions in Victoria. There may well be the things they should have done in Queensland. I don’t yet have the answer to that. That is a question for Queensland authorities.

I want to make it clear that we do not know yet. We need to interview the couple. There are reasons we haven’t been able to interview them and I will ask Jerome to add to my comments.

I want to be clear, a relocation is not a breach of directions.

The pandemic ain’t over till all the jabs are jabbed and the quarantine facilities are built. That’s the message Merlino is sending at this press conference.

This is what I have been saying, we are not out of this pandemic until we have successfully rolled out the vaccine program, and we have purpose-built quarantine facilities to deal with our highest-risk individuals.

We know from advice from what is happening around the world that this pandemic will be with us for some time yet. We are dealing with it at a short-term level, which is what we are talking about today.

The easing of restrictions, continuing wearing masks outdoors, but there is also the long-term challenge that we have. Getting through that. It requires a rollout of the vaccine and purpose-built quarantine facilities.

The conversation has turned pretty sharply to policy around lockdowns and elective surgeries.

The Age reporter, Sumeyya Ilanbey:

The elective surgery waiting list blew up massively last year because they were on hold for a couple of months. There have been people on the waiting list for years. We talked about elective surgery, but it is not elective for many people. They desperately need it. Has there been any consideration with these lockdowns, when we have so few cases, to not completely ban elective surgery?

Cheng:

I would need to defer to someone else about the elective surgery settings, but there is a roadmap for hospitals and additional precautions are taken when there are active cases in the community. We do understand that and really sympathise with the people waiting for elective surgery, but equally having a case in a hospital that comes in undetected is also a major disruption...

Hospitals don’t just have staff in them. There are patients as well who are also at risk. Hospitals are places where we worry very much about people coming, and who may have infection. The other thing to say is vaccination isn’t a magic bullet. We have certainly seen people who have been vaccinated get infected, and they can continue to transmit. It is better. They have a lower risk of being infected, if they do, it is lower rates.

More wild weather images coming from Victoria.

So what happens if you are in Melbourne and you have a rural property that’s been battered by last night’s wild weather?

Well, Merlino doesn’t fully know, but basically, he says “use common sense”.

I might pass this over for some advice, but we take a common sense approach. This is a statewide emergency. I started talking about the storms, the floods, if there is an emergency requirement to attend a property than it can happen but I will come back to you in terms of the exact details and circumstances. We acknowledge that in an emergency scenario, obviously common sense applies.

Scott Morrison has been tight-lipped on whether sticking points in a free trade agreement with the UK will be overcome in time for his meeting with Boris Johnson early next week.

The Australian prime minister told 6PR radio this morning the work was “not yet” finished.

We’re still working on those details now.

It comes after the trade minister, Dan Tehan, signalled yesterday Australia would be prepared to walk away from the deal if it did not provide sufficient trade liberalisation, including increased access for Australian agricultural exporters in the British market.

Morrison also toughened up his language on trade actions taken by China against Australian exporters, saying the barley and wine sectors had been subjected to “trade sanctions that we believe are completely unconscionable”. Morrison then reaffirmed his calls for the international rules-based trading system to be upheld by all countries.

Morrison said he had a “good chat” yesterday with Mark McGowan, the WA premier who has been calling on the government to adopt a more nuanced and careful approach to China.

The prime minister was responding to comments from McGowan, whose state relies heavily of mining exports. McGowan has argued that it is in the national interest for Australia to have customers for its products “and our biggest customer is China”.

Morrison played down the prospect of China walking away from Australian iron ore, saying the trade was in both countries’ interests.

It’s time to talk about Dan! Everyone get excited!

The acting premier has just been asked when the *real* premier, Daniel Andrews, will be back to boot him out of the top job.

Merlino:

He put out a statement a little while ago. He is meeting with doctors this week. Based on that advice from his doctors, he will be able to indicate at what point he will return back to work as premier. I am not his doctor. I am in regular contact with him.

But it will be his doctor’s advice, meeting with him this week, and we will have a better sense.

The acting premier, James Merlino, seems confident that this (possibly) new small cluster can be contained locally and the city can proceed with the easing of the lockdown with increased mask requirements.

The public health advice is comfortable that the easing of restrictions we talked through yesterday, that come into effect tonight, they will all proceed.

Public health advice is that they can [proceed], subject to one small adjustment with regard to the wearing of face masks outdoors. I have said a number of times that we don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing the public health advice we like or don’t like, and not go ahead with elements of it.

The clear advice from the public health team, from Prof Chan, Prof Sutton, is we need to continue with wearing masks outdoors. It is inconvenient but an easy thing to do. We are used to it, we know it works, and as we come out of this period of lockdown, while we are driving these new cases to ground, I think it is a logical and common sense step to take.

Cheng has confirmed this household is connected to the disability care system but is not a disability facility.

One is the recipient of a disability pension and one provides care to somebody else who has a disability. One of the people that we are very keen to make sure we have results on is the people who had visited to provide care, and they were cleared. They will all remain in quarantine.

Cheng said the elderly infected man is not severely ill.

Cheng has been asked if Melbourne is at risk of lockdown once again, if this new household of four cases can not be linked to an existing cluster.

Cheng:

I have talked about upstream and downstream risks. In this situation, we do have concerns but they are more upstream, where they got the infection from rather than the possibility that they will continue to transmit.

We are very keen to ensure that the people we tested yesterday in the house, to make sure there aren’t any sensitive links such as schools, public housing.

Cheng says genomics to determine which strain of the virus is present is being done today.

Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar has announced a number of new exposure sites, mostly around the Melbourne north suburb of Reservoir.

We urge the community who have been to these exposure sites in particular, we need you to come and get tested.

They include the Marco fine food and groceries in Reservoir, the BP servo in Thomastown, the Coles at Bundura Square, and the Bunnings in Thomastown.

Full details are on our website, including dates and times of exposure. Please can I urge if you’ve been to any of those locations in those times indicated that you go and get tested today.

It’s so important now with a new cluster that we establish as much information as we can about what may have been happening there.

OK, this is a bit of a long one but Prof Allen Cheng has laid out all the possible places a returned traveller may have had the chance to accidentally spread Covid-19 while going through hotel quarantine.

The long and short of it is, basically, none of their theories have panned out yet, but I’ll let Cheng explain in more detail.

In terms of the Delta variant outbreak in West Melbourne, I previously said we were working on four main theories...

In terms of the first possibility, as I mentioned, we have reviewed the testing of all the other 24 arrivals on the plane and we’re still reviewing details about ground crew who may have been on the plane after... The flight crew, as I mentioned before, did not leave the plane.

We now feel that the second possibility - that the case transmitted to someone else after they’d left hotel quarantine - we think that’s probably unlikely, as he had been correctly cleared with positive serology. We now have some negative tests on his household members in the household that he was staying at after he left hotel quarantine.

In terms of the last possibility. We’ve recontacted the 12 residents and tested most of them again, but noting that they’d all tested negative multiple times while in hotel quarantine and in most cases had also been tested after their hotel quarantine period.

So this leaves that third possibility, of staff. We’ve cross-checked 268 staff at the Ibis and about 370 at the Holiday Inn, including health care workers, cleaners, hotel stars, VicPol, CQV and contractors who entered the hotel and we’ve ensured that they’ve all had their surveillance tests and they’re all negative.

We’ve also checked their addresses to make sure that they don’t live anywhere near either of the two families. We’ve continued to look upstream of the two families and have tested their contacts. While there are still a few tests still to come back, we’re not coming up with a transmission path between this case in hotel quarantine and either of the families.

So while it’s the judgement of the public health team that we are in a position to ease restrictions, these new cases are really the strongest reminder that we are, by no means, out of the woods yet.

The acting premier, James Merlino, flagged that the Victorian couple who travelled to Queensland while infectious may have been permanently moving homes.

In this case they would not have been in breach of Victorian lockdown laws, although may still have broken Queensland laws if they did not possess a valid exemption permit.

We are working closely with Queensland and New South Wales health authorities on the individuals who travelled into that state from Victoria who will not appear in Victoria’s numbers. Victoria was not able to speak to the couple yesterday for a case interview but we will do so today, and I think it is important to note that if they were relocating it is not a breach of directions here in Victoria but we just don’t know. We will have those discussions with those individuals today.

The deputy chief health officer, Prof Allen Cheng, said the pair may be linked to an outbreak at the Craigieburn Central shopping centre.

We understand that the first case became symptomatic on 3 June. That would put that case as being infectious from about the time that they left home, noting that they left early on 1 June.

While we can’t pinpoint the source of this infection, we’re aware that one of the cases had checked in at the Craigieburn Central shopping centre on 23 May so, at this stage, we’re not sure if either of them might have been in the shopping centre or at exposure sites close by but noting that we have had nine cases linked to that shopping centre to date.

I think the fact that we’ve been able to identify a possible link to the Craigieburn shopping centre within hours of hearing about these cases and even before being able to speak to these cases, really highlights the value that we have in QR codes that we can interrogate that database very quickly.

One of Victoria’s new cases includes a man in his 80s.

The deputy chief health officer, Prof Allen Cheng, the family has not yet been linked to any outbreak.

As yet, we don’t know where they’ve acquired the infection from. They’re not identified as close contacts.

The first man, a man in his 80s, was tested on 8 June and got his result yesterday. The other man of the household tested positive yesterday as well.

We’re already tested several close contact of these cases outside of the household and they’ve all come back negative but obviously will remain in quarantine.

The Victorian acting premier, James Merlino, is giving an update now about the wild weather in the state and the four new local Covid-19 cases recorded in Victoria today.

There is one extremely clear message coming through from this press conference.

Do not drive through floodwaters. The SES Victoria chief officer of operations, Tim Wiebusch, warned doing so could be fatal.

We can’t emphasise enough to not drive through flood waters. It will be the last decision you make.

We want to make sure that all Victorians, if you don’t need to be travelling on the roads in the Central Highlands, and the upper ranges ... please don’t travel on those roads over coming days because you are likely to find many will be closed.

During the autumn floods in NSW and Queensland, two men died in their cars after being taken by powerful flood waters.

Victorian emergency services have been overwhelmed with calls for help.

Crisp:

All our emergency services have been working really, really hard over the last 24 hours and some of those numbers in terms of the impact, particularly on the SES, as the control agency for flood. So more than 4,000 requests for assistance since first thing yesterday morning and those numbers are continuing to grow.

We’ve seen numbers in the hundreds in the Kilmore area, Lilydale, up over 700, Emerald, 400, we expect to see those numbers grow. So, a significant impact on our broader emergency services.

Crisp says flood waters have cut off major roads around the state, and is urging people never to drive through them, no matter how shallow they seem.

At the moment we have major flood warnings for the Traralgon creek, but also for the Avon, for the Latrobe, for the Macalister, the Thompson and the upper Yarra.

That’s having an impact in relation to moving around in the east of the state. At the moment, the Princes Highway is cut in Rosedale. It’s similarly in Traralgon and we expect that to be the case in Sale.

Crisp says the damage to electricity infrastructure was so severe that it may take days to return power to some areas.

I will say now in some areas it will take a number of days. We know for example in the Lilydale area there’s more than three significant power lines down and there’s power lines down across a significant part of the state.

That, in itself, poses a significant risk to the community... Don’t go out and about where there’s power lines [down].

That’s such a significant risk. I ask you all to be patient in relation to power.

Well this is just too much! Even the puppies are enjoying the snow in Orange today.

Morrison is laying down the hard word this morning when it comes to keeping international borders closed.

Morrison:

I mean, you go to where I’m heading to. To the UK. I mean, they have vaccination rates up in the 70s and with their older population even higher than that, and they have 4000 cases a day like that but they also.

Host Liam Bartlett:

They also have borders open to a lot more countries than we do.

Morrison:

Exactly, so if you’re suggesting that we, we should be aiming for a position where we can have 4000 cases a day then I know I don’t think Australians would agree with you, I don’t agree...

This is exactly, that’s why the vaccination program is incredibly important and that will give us more and more and more options going forward.

But I’m not about to swing the doors open and open up Australia to 4000 cases a day.

I mean all that would do is shut the country down internally, and it would ruin our economy. So we’re not about to do that either.

Scott Morrison is being grilled over the federal government’s reluctance to put a date on the reopening of international borders.

6PR host Liam Bartlett:

Why don’t you take the lead on this, why don’t you put a firm date on Australia opening up and give people a reason to get the jab?

Morrison:

Because the medical advice doesn’t support that... There’s no medical advice that I’ve received at any point in time, which gives a magical number of vaccinations that enable you to provide that level of certainty to Australians about when that can occur because. I mean, you don’t go from shut one day, fully open the next. That’s not how it works.

So the news is just in, we can expect to hear from Victorian officials about these four new local Covid-19 cases at 11.40pm.

I’ll bring you the important updates here on the blog.

Morrison’s pre-G7 rhetoric has been a pretty pointed criticism of China’s international trade practices, potentially ramping up already historically high tensions between the two countries.

Morrison has been asked why he doesn’t talk with China “like adults” to fix the situation.

We would be very happy to speak to them on any occasion. Those opportunities are provided to China.

At this point they’re choosing not to take those up. As I said yesterday, we’re keen to work with countries all around the world, particularly in our own region for a free and open Indo Pacific...

We work with China and on many other issues, including in the Pacific. But when, when the Chinese government is willing to have those discussions, again, then of course we’re available for them...

They have raised a set of issues with Australia that are issues that Australia are not prepared to to concede on. They go to our values, to our sovereignty.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking now to Perth radio station 6PR about his upcoming trip to Europe for the G7 summit.

More details on that urgent evacuation order in place for part of Traralgon in Victoria, as flood waters rise.

The mayor of the Sunshine Coast, Mark Jamieson, says two infected travellers testing positive to Covid-19 in the coastal region has already had a profound impact on business.

The couple also stopped off at a number of regional towns in NSW during their five day trip up to the Queensland border.

Victorian MP James Newbury has shared a photo of a young constituent’s self-harm scares across Facebook and Twitter, in an effort to show the mental health effects of Melbourne lockdowns.

Showing images like this goes against mental health and suicide prevention guidelines set up by mental health organisations BeyondBlue and Mindframe.

Mental health has been a huge sticking point for the Victorian opposition during the past year, suggesting Covid-19 restrictions have seriously impacted people’s wellbeing.

Genuinely unsure how posting a potentially triggering and dangerous image to try to one-up the government proves that the mental health of the Victorian people is your number one priority.

Home affairs minister Karen Andrews has revealed she is not investigating resettlement options for a Tamil family from Queensland being detained on Christmas Island.

Three-year-old Tharnicaa is receiving treatment for a blood infection at Perth Children’s hospital after being evacuated from the island with her mother, Priya Murugappan, earlier this week, reports Matt Coughlan from AAP.

Andrews on Tuesday raised a “range of resettlement options” when asked about the family, who were taken from their home in Biloela and detained almost three years ago.

But speaking to the Seven Network this morning, the minister insisted she was making a general comment about refugees evacuated to Australia for medical reasons.

I actually haven’t said that I’m investigating resettlement options for that family ...

What I did say is that I was looking at investigating resettlement options in a range of circumstances.

Let me be clear about what I said, it was a very general comment in relation to cohorts we have here in Australia that I’m on the record as saying that we will be working with.

Andrews said allowing them to stay would undermine the government’s pledge to never permanently resettle illegal boat arrivals.

It’s not a case of being mean, we are very strong as a government, and our policy, in relation to our border protection. These are longstanding policies.

Quite frankly, I’m not going to have people die trying to come to Australia by sea on my watch.

She said Australia Border Force, which manages the Christmas Island detention facility, had given assurances the family was “well accommodated”.

Supporters say staff refused to take Tharnicaa to hospital until Sunday despite her vomiting and having a high temperature since 25 May.

Police in Western Australia are searching for a kite surfer who went missing on the state’s mid-north coast. The surfer, aged in his 70s, was last seen at the mouth of the Murchison River at Kalbarri, about 570km north of Perth, yesterday.

Police were called about midday yesterday with reports a surfer was having difficulty offshore.

Police and the local water rescue were called out and searched the area using two boats and two fixed wing planes but did not locate the man. The search resumes this morning.

Just back to that wild Victorian weather for a second. Melbourne radio station 3aw is reporting nearly 5,000 calls for help were made to the SES “in recent hours”.

Now if you are in Queensland, I also have some good news for you.

The Doomben Racecourse has been converted into a new mass vaccination hub and is now open business.

Anyone aged between 40 and 49, or working in residential aged care or disability services, have been encouraged to go online here and book their jab.

More answers for the Victorian Liberals over premier Daniel Andrews’ fall.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young is being questioned over the state’s decision not to allow a pair of fully vaccinated new parents to visit their prematurely born baby in hospital as they were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

So, as we have seen in quarantine, people have been fully vaccinated, who then tested positive.

So we still need to work out what the ongoing risk, if someone gets infected and fully vaccinated, what is the risk for them to then pass that virus on ...

Now, a neonatal intensive care unit has a lot of very, very vulnerable babies and also their mothers and other visitors, so that’s why although [it] was heartbreaking for everyone involved, that’s why we could not let that family go and visit their baby.

Young:

I believe the response from the Sunshine Coast has been absolutely magnificent.

People have themselves come forward and said, I’ve been at this venue, what should I do, which is the best result. So people are really taking on board where the venues are.

We’ve already seen a ramp-up in testing, which is just fantastic. So yes, I am confident that we can [contain the virus]. With that continued cooperation from the people of the Sunshine Coast, I’m confident we can get on top of it.

Queensland’s health minister says they are still investigating if the Covid-19 positive pair had a travel exemption to enter Queensland, despite their home state of Victoria being in hard lockdown.

We mentioned that there was heavy snow in parts of regional NSW.

Well, the fantastically talented Mike Bowers has been out there this morning to capture these beautiful photos:

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young is giving more details about the two Covid-19 cases now.

So yesterday, that first lady was announced as a confirmed case. Her husband tested negative but he’s now tested positive. And we know that often happens towards the end of someone’s illness, and I’ve now had confirmation from serology testing results that both of these individuals are towards the end of their illness, which is very good news for Queensland, in that, that means the risk of transmission to anyone else is less.

But Young has urged people not to be complacent.

It’s still there, and I still need everyone to come forward who develops any symptoms at all who lives in the Sunshine Coast, or Goondiwindi or Toowoomba - it’s very, very important. And anyone who’s been to any of those many venue sites, it’s vital that they come forward. And more than 400 people already have, which is excellent. And we’ve seen a lot of testing already started. That needs to continue, just so we can make sure that there hasn’t been any transmission out there.

Ooh! Starting now!

So that Queensland press conference notionally should have started by now, but no sign of it yet.

I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on.

More news from the destruction from wild weather in the East Gippsland region in Victoria.

Peak medical bodies are calling on the federal government to reunite the Biloela family while their youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, continues to receive medical care in Perth.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) expressed concern for the mental health and wellbeing of the family and their unwell daughter.

Dr Kym Jenkins, chair of RANZP’s asylum seeker and refugee mental health network committee, said:

It’s beyond understanding why the federal government would separate the family when one of their daughters is so unwell.

It goes against everything we stand for as a country to continue to cause so much grief and suffering to this family. To be separated from each other during a time of significant stress and anxiety simply compounds the already existing mental health and wellbeing issues they’re suffering in detention.

The prolonged and indefinite detention of this family, and other asylum seekers and refugees, violates their rights to liberty and freedom, as well as their rights to seek asylum without punishment on account of their method of entry into a territory.

David Isaacs, a clinical professor of paediatric infectious diseases with the University of Sydney who works in refugee health, told Guardian Australia earlier in the week that when he was treating asylum seekers on Nauru he and other medical staff saw children suffering what is referred to as “pervasive refusal disorder” or “resignation syndrome”, where they were so traumatised and distressed that they stopped eating and drinking.

It was terribly traumatic for these children when receiving medical care to be separated from one of their parents, and what I cannot understand is why Tharnicaa was transferred to hospital with only her mother and not the whole family.

Oh you sweet young things, did you think the weird conspiracy theory based drama over the Victorian premier’s spinal injury was over? Not a chance.

Shadow treasurer Louise Staley has stated this morning that the government still hasn’t answered all the questions she asked about circumstances surrounding the premier’s fall.

You can read up on the background of this whole strange saga here:

There’s been some really significant damage to homes in regional Victoria today.

Looks like we will be hearing from Queensland authorities in about 15 minutes.

I’ll bring you all the updates here.

Australian of the Year and sexual assault survivor advocate Grace Tame says it’s “incredibly hopeful” to see the percentage of people who believe survivors are rising.

Tame spoke to ABC News Breakfast just before:

It’s incredibly hopeful and encouraging. What we’ve even is a stark increase in the value of speaking up, using our voices to call out injustice, and through that, what we’ve seen is an increase in awareness and an understanding of these issues, which clearly, as the metrics prove, produces change in attitudes. So that’s fantastic.

An internet blackout that knocked out some of the world’s biggest websites on Tuesday was ultimately caused by a single customer updating their settings, the infrastructure provider Fastly has revealed.

A bug in Fastly’s code introduced in mid-May had lain dormant until Tuesday morning, according to Nick Rockwell, the company’s head of engineering and infrastructure. When the unnamed customer updated their settings, it triggered the flaw, which ultimately took down 85% of the company’s network.

“On May 12, we began a software deployment that introduced a bug that could be triggered by a specific customer configuration under specific circumstances,” Rockwell said. “Early June 8, a customer pushed a valid configuration change that included the specific circumstances that triggered the bug, which caused 85% of our network to return errors.

“We detected the disruption within one minute, then identified and isolated the cause, and disabled the configuration. Within 49 minutes, 95% of our network was operating as normal.”

You can read the full report below:

There are now major flood warnings for the regional city of Tralagon in Victoria after wild winds and torrential rain overnight.

Here is a bit of what it looks like on the ground.

A senior New South Wales public servant recorded his serious concerns about a $50,000 payment to an agricultural cooperative associated with Angus Taylor’s family, after he was told the payment had been directed by the NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, and should be disguised as a contract payment.

The payment to Monaro Farming Systems (MFS) was made after January 2021 and was the latest in more than $800,000 in grants to the group made from state and federal coffers since 2015.

MFS is a farming research cooperative that was established by Richard Taylor, who is the brother of the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, and the brother-in-law of the NSW Nationals MP Bronwyn Taylor. Until 2019 Richard was the chair of MFS.

Read the full story below:

No, like the weather was REALLY wild.

The weather has been wild in Victoria overnight. To the point that this is what the state’s emergency alert map currently looks like.

If you are keen to read more about this Queensland case, reporter Naaman Zhou has all the details.

Hello my lovely people,

It’s Matilda Boseley here, in a particularly good mood because I’m now less than 24 hours away from being out of lockdown.

Although, as a Melburnian, it’s hard to celebrate too much this morning, as it seems our Covid-19 problems may have just moved up north.

Yep, Queensland has recorded a local Covid-19 case, a Victorian woman who visited the Sunshine Coast despite her home state being in hard lockdown.

Here is a breakdown of what we know so far:

• The woman and her husband left locked-down Melbourne to go on a road trip across NSW and Queensland before she tested positive to Covid while in the Sunshine Coast.
• The pair live in a – as-yet-unidentified – suburb on the outskirts of greater Melbourne. They left to start their road trip on Tuesday 1 June, several days into Victoria’s first week of hard lockdown.
• They travelled north, visited several regional towns across NSW, before entering Queensland on 5 June.
• This was allegedly two days after the woman started showing symptoms, but Queensland’s chief health officer says the woman may have been infectious since the day she began her trip.
• Queensland’s health authorities have published a list of exposure sites including a McDonald’s restaurant in Goondiwindi, where the couple crossed the border from NSW, and sites on the Sunshine Coast, including at Moffat Beach, Kings Beach, Buddina, Baringa and Caloundra.
• The couple also travelled through Toowoomba.
• In NSW alerts have been issued for the towns of Forbes, Dubbo, Moree and Gillenbah, which the couple visited.

So we will be keeping a close eye on Queensland’s daily numbers, which are usually published about 9am, and I’ll bring you all the updates when the state’s leaders step up for a press conference.

With that, why don’t we jump into the day?

If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.