Australia news LIVE NSW surpasses 90 per cent full vaccination rate as total COVID-19 cases continue to grow across the nation

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NSW has recorded 216 new, locally acquired COVID-19 cases and three deaths.

There were 95,804 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday, while one overseas or interstate case was also reported.

Of the state’s population aged 16 and older, 90.1 per cent are fully vaccinated and 94 per cent have received at least one dose.

There are 235 people in hospital with the virus, including 41 in ICU.

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded 1003 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths. Today’s tally is down on yesterday’s 1069 cases.

There are now 15,031 active cases of coronavirus across the state.

Today’s numbers are off the back of yesterday’s 71,601 coronavirus tests.

There are now 471 coronavirus patients in Victorians hospitals. Of those, 84 are in intensive care. Forty-six are on a ventilator.

In terms of vaccines, 84 per cent of Victorian residents aged 12 and over have had two jabs of a coronavirus vaccine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says it’s time to abandon politically dictated climate targets and timetables and move to a market-led solution to climate change.

Mr Morrison said Australia would oppose mandates that impacted the country’s employment, regions and lifestyle on the path to net zero carbon emissions.

“It’s not about if and why and when. It’s now about the very practical question of how. The world does not need to be punished for climate change we just need to fix it,” he said.

“That’s the Australian way.”

Mr Morrison said for Australia to become a low-emissions technology leader, it had to invest in innovation that hadn’t been developed yet.

“We’ll reset to letting the economy do the work,” he said.

This will be done through “a combination of public and private finance and personal assistance on the road to net zero”, the PM added.

Mr Morrison also dismissed claims the federal government wasn’t doing enough to cut down emissions, and said Australia was faring better than South Korea, Canada and the US.

As mentioned earlier this morning, the Morrison government has announced a new emissions technology fund. It’s hoped the $1 billion fund will drive investment in Australian companies developing new technology that will assist in decarbonising the economy by 2050.

But Labor has questioned whether the fund is diverting money away from existing renewable energy technologies.

Australia’s economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with Reserve Bank of Australia forecasts projecting the economy will grow by 5.5 per cent by 2022.

Unemployment is also on track to drop by 2.4 per cent by the end of 2023, the lowest rate since August 2008.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison arriving at this morning’s Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Addressing the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia had done the hard yards during the pandemic.

“Especially here in Victoria and especially those running small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.

“You’ve had to endure what no one else in this country’s had to endure ... recovery renewal is everywhere to see here.”

He said the biggest challenges for Australia’s economy were US-China relations in the Pacific region, changes to supply chains and the transformation of the economy as the world adapts to climate change.

Federal MP and Labor’s spokesman for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, appeared on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning.

He was asked to respond to the Government’s new low emissions technology fund. It’s hoped the $1 billion fund will drive investment in Australian companies developing new technology to help the federal government in its push to slash greenhouse gas pollution and decarbonise the economy by 2050.

Shadow Minsiter for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Here’s what Mr Bowen had to say:

Our objections have been the diversion of money for [existing] renewable energy into other technologies.

The Government’s spin says this is new money. This is all about politics.

Just two weeks ago the Prime Minister said he didn’t need any new policies.... it was all based on existing policy and technology. Because of political pressure, we’re seeing a policy a day. All this comes after Glasgow because the Government’s feeling the pressure.

We have opposed a diversion of renewable energy funding to carbon capture and storage [in the past]. If this is genuinely new money, we’ll look at it in that light.

My position on carbon capture and storage remains the same. I’m a pragmatist. The Government puts too much [faith] in it [and] it’s an excuse not to reduce emissions.

If it can play a role in some sectors, fine. There’s no evidence it will ever play a role in coal. Can it play a role in some other areas? Hopefully.

Australia’s top immunisation advisers will wait on safety data from at least several hundred thousand young children in the US who will be vaccinated in coming weeks before giving the go-ahead for the jab in 5- to 11-year-olds, with experts stressing risks to unvaccinated children in schools are low.

A trial of Pfizer’s paediatric COVID-19 vaccine in 1500 children was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The trial found the vaccine was safe and effective.

ATAGI co-chair Allen Cheng said the group would wait for real-world data before making a decision on vaccination in children under 12.Credit:Joe Armao

But with low cases and high rates of adult vaccination coverage, Australia will wait to see how the vaccine plays out in reality before approving the shot, with a larger sample size needed to determine the risk of very rare complications, such as the heart condition myocarditis.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention independent panel unanimously recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 last week, after it was granted emergency use authorisation by the FDA. The first children received the vaccine on November 3.

More on this story here.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has finished speaking in Melbourne.

He is addressing the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Apologies for the delay: we were told the PM would be up earlier, but it now appears that was the time he was arriving at the function.

We’ll have the playback version with you shortly.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean says the federal government can “go a lot further” with its electric vehicle initiatives, noting a range of taxes and charges could be waived to make them more accessible for families and businesses.

“We want to see things like the federal government investing more heavily in electric vehicle charging infrastructure,” Mr Kean told ABC’s 7.30 program last night.

“I mean, the funding that they’ve put on the table doesn’t even match the funding that we’ve put here just for the state of NSW.”

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The NSW government will spend $105 million to encourage uptake among fleet operators, in addition to the $490 million electric vehicle package announced at the 2021 state budget.

But Mr Kean said the “biggest thing” the federal government could do would be to deal with fuel standards, describing them as worse than in China and India.

“What that means is that Australia is becoming the dumping ground for the vehicles the rest of the world doesn’t want,” he said.

“That’s not only bad for the environment, but it means consumers are getting less choice and they’re paying more at the bowser. That’s not acceptable.”

The NSW Treasurer said he hadn’t spoken to the federal government before it released its plan, but that he looks forward to working with Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor on the rollout of more electric charging stations.

Mr Kean was asked by broadcaster Laura Tingle whether the Morrison government had been “hoisted on their own petard” following their approach to electric vehicles at the 2019 election, to now “turn around and embrace them more fully than [had previously]“.

“I can’t comment about their political strategy but what I do know is this new technology is coming whether people like it or not and we need to be ready for the future,” Mr Kean replied.

“You can’t sit by and hope for the best, you’ve got to put in place the policies and show the leadership required to roll that technology out at scale.

“That’s what we’re doing in NSW, that’s what we’re working with other states and territories on achieving and we welcome the opportunity to work with the Commonwealth to ensure that Australians get the best deal and the best technology available.”

Former Victorian state Labor minister Adem Somyurek has conceded some of his actions could be categorised as corruption, while admitting he lost all perspective during a factional war and should be condemned for his behaviour.

On the second day of his appearance before the state’s anti-corruption commission, Mr Somyurek agreed he was involved in the practice of paying electorate staff who worked on factional activities, but he denied he was part of a scheme that endorsed widespread rorting of public money.

Former Victorian minister Adem Somyurek. Credit:Eddie Jim

The former Labor Party powerbroker, who left the party after The Age and 60 Minutes last year revealed a widespread branch stacking operation, is being investigated as part of an IBAC and Victorian Ombudsman probe into what Mr Carr has described as the “premeditated and systematic rorting of taxpayer resources”.

The hearings continue on Thursday.

Read the full story here.

Ninety per cent of people aged 16 and over in NSW have now received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, as the state sets its sights on a 95 per cent rate.

Federal government data released yesterday afternoon shows 90.12 per cent of the age group were double-dosed, with 93.97 per cent having received at least one shot.

The rate is 75.6 per cent of the state’s total population vaccinated, including doses administered to children aged 12 to 15, surpassing many countries who started their rollouts months before Australia.

Just over 67 per cent of the UK population is fully vaccinated and the figure in the US is about 57 per cent, according to the Our World in Data vaccination tracker. Seven countries have higher double-dose rates than NSW: the UAE, Portugal, Singapore, Chile, Cambodia, Spain and South Korea.

NSW is the second jurisdiction in Australia to achieve 90 per cent, after the ACT reached that milestone on October 27 (its rate is now more than 95 per cent).

Read more about NSW’s vaccination coverage here.

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