What we know today, Wednesday February 16
More people have died in residential aged care from COVID-19 in just two months than during the whole of 2020, a Senate committee has been told, but the responsible minister has slapped down repeated calls to resign.
- Australia’s aged care COVID crisis revealed
- Australia cautiously optimistic about Russian drawback
- Vic puts hand up for 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Suspect in Newton shooting found dead
- New desalination plant mooted for state’s north
- Eyre Peninsula set to cop more heavy rainfall
- New enterprise agreement for hospital cleaners
- US wants ‘verifiable’ de-escalation
- Prince Andrew settles ahead of sex trial
Australian aged care COVID crisis revealed
More people have died in residential aged care from COVID-19 in just two months than during the whole of 2020, a Senate committee has been told.
Since the start of the year, 691 aged care residents have died from the virus, as Omicron cases surged across the country.
That’s compared with 685 aged care fatalities during the whole of 2020 and 282 throughout all of 2021.
Despite the large numbers of deaths, Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck has slapped down calls for him to resign.
During a fiery round of questioning at Senate estimates, Senator Colbeck said the number of deaths in aged care from the virus were not an indication of performance.
“We are in the middle of a global pandemic, and the completely tragic result of that is people will catch the virus across all parts of the community, and tragically, some will die,” he told the hearing on Wednesday.
“The performance in managing COVID-19 has improved.”
Colbeck said he had not offered his resignation to Prime Minister Scott Morrison over issues in aged care.
After the government announced up to 1700 Australian Defence Force personnel would be sent into aged care to assist the workforce, just 106 had been deployed.
As of Wednesday, ADF members had been deployed to 21 residential aged care facilities out of the 2900 across the country.
There were 25 ADF personnel deployed in Queensland, 12 in NSW, 45 in Victoria, 18 in South Australia and six in Western Australia.
Colbeck said the government had moved quickly to implement new rules on furloughing staff following workplace shortages in aged care.
Health officials said the situation was exacerbated in early January due to large numbers of COVID cases in aged care and staff also being on leave.
It was revealed there were 915 COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities across the country.
Of those, 479 have been in NSW, 148 in Victoria, 176 in Queensland, 85 in South Australia, three in Tasmania, six in the Northern Territory, 16 in the ACT and two in Western Australia.
Health officials also told estimates that between four and five per cent of the aged care workforce had missed shifts due to testing positive for COVID-19.
The aged care minister said while there were issues in the sector that needed to be addressed, he criticised people who wanted to “talk down” aged care.
“Every time you tell (workers) how bad it is, you’re saying how bad they are,” Colbeck said.
“Mistakes have occurred and we’ve acknowledged that.”
Australia cautiously optimistic about Russian drawback
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A deputy secretary at Australia’s foreign affairs department says Australia remains cautiously optimistic about reports of Russian troops withdrawing from the Ukrainian border.
But Katrina Cooper told a Senate committee there was deep concern about the situation as US President Joe Biden said there are more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine and Belarus and “an invasion remains distinctly possible”.
“We’re hearing suggestions that a diplomatic off-ramp is still possible,” she said.
“There’s grounds for very cautious optimism in terms of what we’ve seen overnight. It’s an encouraging sign we are hearing (but) those reports are coming out of Russia – we do need to drill down a little bit into that.”
But reports have also emerged that the Ukrainian defence department and armed forces have experienced a significant cyber attack, Australia’s Ukrainian envoy says.
The embassy’s Chargé d`Affaires Volodymyr Shalkivski says banks and their websites were also targeted and remain down.
“But there is no panic on the ground. We are prepared for any case scenario,” he told the ABC on Wednesday.
Australia’s cyber affairs ambassador Tobias Feakin said detailed discussions regarding cyber cooperation with Ukrainian counterparts are “well progressed”.
Cooper also flagged that while Australia’s sanctions regime was quite broad, the department was actively considering strengthening its autonomous sanctions regime subject to the government’s approval.
Vic puts hand up for 2026 Commonwealth Games
Victoria has made an exclusive bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday confirmed his government had entered exclusive negotiations with the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The state government and Commonwealth Games Australia will now develop its hosting submission.
Andrews said the Games would not only be held in Melbourne, with a number of regional cities and towns to host different events.
The Commonwealth Games Federation will assess the submission before awarding the 2026 Games to Victoria.
Tasmania last week put its hand up to host the next Commonwealth Games.
The South Australian Government in 2019 opted against submitting a bid for the Commonwealth Games after a report commissioned from Deloitte found the cost of hosting the event could reach $3.5 billion with the projected long term economic boost only between $380 million and $1.2 billion.
Suspect in Newton shooting found dead
A man wanted over yesterday’s shooting in Adelaide’s north-east has been found dead.
Police say the man’s body was found near the River Torrens about 9.30pm last night, several hours after they located his car on Gorge Rd.
They allege the deceased was wanted over a shooting at a Newton house yesterday, in which an 81-year-old man was shot in the arm and leg.
The shooting triggered a five-hour search for the gunman, including Star Group officers doing a sweep of nearby houses.
The elderly victim remains in a stable condition at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Police say he knew the deceased.
A woman from the same address, a relative of the victim, was also admitted to hospital suffering from shock.
In a statement overnight, police said they were preparing a report for the Coroner.
New desalination plant mooted for state’s north
A desalination plant could be built in the Upper Spencer Gulf to ease reliance on existing water sources used by miners in the state’s north.
Premier Steven Marshall and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce have announced $15 million in funding for a business case to explore the idea.
BHP and Adelaide-based company Oz Minerals have backed the plan, saying it would make their operations “more sustainable”.
The governments say building a desalination plan would ease reliance on the Great Artesian Basin and the River Murray.
They also predict that if it gets the go-ahead, the desalination plant would create 8000 construction jobs and 6000 jobs once operational.
Marshall said the Northern Water Supply project had the potential to create “thousands of jobs throughout South Australia”.
“This project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure a brighter future for South Australia and create jobs in an environmentally sustainable way,” Marshall said in a statement overnight.
BHP asset president Dr Jennifer Purdie said the plan would help continue copper production in the future.
“We are taking action to reduce water use across our operations, and partnering with others in the communities and creating opportunities for future investments and jobs.”
BHP operates the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine while Oz Minerals mines copper and gold at Carrapateena and Prominent Hill.
Eyre Peninsula set to cop more heavy rainfall
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued another severe weather warning for heavy rainfall across the Lower and Eastern Eyre Peninsula this morning, with the State Emergency Service telling residents to remain vigilant for potential flash flooding.
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After a spate of summer storms across South Australia’s regions prompted a major emergency declaration last month, the Bureau has again warned that it is anticipating six-hourly rainfall totals across the Eyre Peninsula between 30 to 50mm this morning.
Wudinna, Cleve, Cummins and Tumby Bay are among the areas potentially affected.
Cummins Airport has received 11.6mm of rain since 4pm yesterday while Cleve recorded 5.4mm overnight, according to the Bureau.
Rain is expected to ease in the afternoon although the thunderstorms may lead to flash flooding in the early hours of Wednesday, the Bureau warned.
Earlier on Tuesday, the SES urged residents on the western Eyre Peninsula to stay alert and said the SES was operating at a “heightened level of preparedness”.
“Where possible, stay on main roads with hard surfaces, as unsealed roads may become impassable, and people run the risk of becoming stranded,” SES state duty officer Dave O’Shannessy said.
“Regardless of the surface type, we remind people to never walk, ride or drive through floodwater.
“Although we’re not expecting to see the amount of rain experienced in early February, there is still the possibility of some heavy falls and we’re asking people to remain vigilant, drive to the conditions and not take unnecessary risks.’’
New enterprise agreement for hospital cleaners
South Australia’s hospital cleaning workers and disability services staff have voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement, signalling the conclusion of a long-running industrial dispute.
Cleaning workers and support staff took industrial action, including “cleaning bans”, on April 21 last year after negotiations with the State Government over a new enterprise bargaining agreement fell through.
The staff, numbering more than 6500 people and represented by the United Workers Union, were seeking a pay rise and commitment from the State Government to maintain current employment conditions.
The new enterprise agreement put forward by the State Government offers 4x annual increases of between $21 a week, increasing to $22.50 a week by 2024, along with two one-off $500 payments this year.
Around 94 per cent of the UWU’s members voted in favour of the new agreement, according to Treasurer Rob Lucas, who welcome the “sensible conclusion” to negotiations.
“The Marshall Government values the important work of the thousands of weekly paid staff in our hospitals and disability sector and this agreement ensures they will continue to be paid fairly for that work, Lucas said.
The agreement will now go to the SA Employment Tribunal for ratification.
US wants ‘verifiable’ de-escalation
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States continues to hold fears over Russia’s ability to launch an invasion of Ukraine, despite Vladimir Putin announcing a drawback in troops at the border.
Blinken spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by phone after Russia said some of its troops were returning to base after exercises near Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to continue talks.
But Western nations are yet to confirm they have observed a reduction in Russia’s build-up of some 130,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.
Blinken told Lavrov that Washington was committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution to “the crisis Moscow has precipitated” and looks forward to Russia’s written response to US and NATO papers on European security, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
“Secretary Blinken reiterated our ongoing concerns that Russia has the capacity to launch an invasion of Ukraine at any moment and emphasised the need to see verifiable, credible, meaningful de-escalation,” Price said.
Lavrov stressed the need to continue working together and called for pragmatic dialogue on security, but told Blinken that “aggressive rhetoric” inflated by Washington was unacceptable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Prince Andrew settles ahead of sex trial
Prince Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre have reached an out-of-court settlement in the civil sex claim filed against him in the US.
In a letter submitted to the United States District Court on Tuesday, Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies wrote jointly with Andrew’s lawyers to say that the parties had “reached a settlement in principle”.
Court documents show the Duke will make a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
Andrew has also pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein” by supporting the “fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims”.
Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.
Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, made the claim against Andrew for damages in her home country of the US, claiming she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew’s friend, to have sex with the royal when she was 17, a minor under US law.
An attachment to the letter announcing the settlement gave brief details of the agreement between Andrew and Giuffre but indicated the sum would not be disclosed.
It read: “Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew have reached an out of court settlement.
“The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement (the sum of which is not being disclosed).
“Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.
“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.
“It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years.
“Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.
“He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”
Responding to the settlement, Boies said: “I believe this event speaks for itself.”
– with AAP and Reuters
