Coronavirus restrictions to ease in Brisbane tomorrow; Scott Morrison rebukes Cricket Australia for dropping Australia Day reference. Follow all the latest news and updates, liveNSW hotspots; Queensland hotspotsState-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explainedPfizer Covid vaccine could be approved in Australia ‘pretty soon’NSW records no new locally acquired Covid casesFollow the global coronavirus liveblog 2.50am GMT Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar is one of 25 more refugees being released from the Park Hotel today and moving onto a bridging visa after 26 were released yesterday. This is the most beautiful moment of my life and one that I would like to share with you all. After 2,737 days locked up in detention – I am free.
Thank you to all of the amazing people who helped me to stay strong.#GameOver pic.twitter.com/Y5HjFrN9U0 2.42am GMT Employment minister Michaelia Cash also addressed the media a short time ago about today’s labour force figures, which showed unemployment has fallen by 0.2% to 6.6% and the underemployment rate decreased to 8.5%.Cash says this is good news, and puts the country back on track to the record high participation rates of March 2020, which obviously took a dive when the pandemic hit.When you look at where we are now, compared to where we were, with 90% of the jobs that were lost during Covid now returning to the economy, with that strong jobs growth – and certainly note that since Victoria has lifted its restrictions, you are seeing more and more jobs return to the economy. We are well and truly heading in the right direction … The resilience of the Australian economy – but in particular – you know, the Australian employers and the businesses out there should never be underestimated.As it stands, Morrison and Frydenberg would rather jobkeeper money go to executive bonuses in Sydney than to small businesses in Cairns. And that’s a disgrace. What we’ve heard from the peak organisations, businesses of all sizes and workers that we have spoken to already today, is that when JobKeeper ends, too many local workers will lose their jobs. So we need to avoid that. We need Mr Morrison and Frydenberg to understand what’s going on in Cairns and in the surrounding areas. We need them to understand that when the international borders are closed and tourism is impacted, that doesn’t just impact the tourism sector. It impacts the entire local economy. They need to understand that. That’s why jobkeeper and other sorts of economic support are so crucial to this town. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/jan/21/coronavirus-tennis-dead-students-hecs-covid-19-nsw-queensland-australian-open-victoria
Author : Calla Wahlquist (now) Nino Bucci (earlier)
Publish date : 2021-01-21 02:54:15
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