What we know today, Friday March 18
SA Health has reported four more cases of Japanese Encephalitis in South Australia and confirmed the death of one person from the virus.
- Four more Japanese Encephalitis cases in SA
- Adelaide Festival reports box office triumph
- Costing allegation looms on eve of election
- Spike in SA COVID cases, three deaths
- Liberal complaint over Labor ramping ad upheld
- Survivors emerge after theatre bombing in Mariupol
- Bulldogs coach apologises for post-game tirade
- Calls to tighten rules for child restraints in cars
- UK takes call from fake Ukrainian PM
Four more Japanese Encephalitis cases in SA
SA Health has reported four more cases of Japanese Encephalitis in South Australia and confirmed the death of one person from the virus.
It brings the number of Japanese Encephalitis infections detected in SA to eight after health authorities discovered four cases of the virus last week – all of which were hospitalised.
Japanese Encephalitis is a potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease that can also cause long-term neurological damage, although most who contract it are asymptomatic or develop a “mild febrile illness”, according to SA Health.
SA Health confirmed one person who was suspected to have died with Japanese Encephalitis earlier this month had the virus.
Five of the eight cases in SA remain hospitalised, while two have been discharged, according to SA Health’s executive director of health protection and licensing services Dr Chris Lease.
“It is crucial that we all continue to take extra precautions against mosquitoes and continue to ‘fight the bite’,” Lease said.
“People planning activities around the River Murray are warned to be especially vigilant, particularly between dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.”
Lease reminded the public to apply insect repellent when outdoors to protect from mosquito-borne diseases.
“Cover up with long, loose fitting and light-coloured clothing. Mosquitoes can bite through tight clothing such as jeans or leggings,” he said.
“It is important that people remain vigilant in protecting themselves against mosquito bites particularly during periods of warmer weather when mosquito activity is high.”
Adelaide Festival reports box office triumph
The Adelaide Festival has reported exceeding its box office target for 2022, with more than 220,000 people turning up for this year’s program.
The 17-day event, which still has two days to go, has issued 74,926 tickets so far to reach a gross box office figure of more than $4.9 million
Just under a quarter of all ticket sales went to travellers from interstate, organisers say, with 227,404 people attending Adelaide Festival events (excluding WOMADelaide) so far.
The highest selling shows were The Golden Cockerel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Icehouse, Wudjiang: Not the Past and The Rise of Spring.
Adelaide Festival Artistic Directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield said the box office result demonstrated the community was “hungry for a Festival that restored and sustained”.
“If delivering 2021 was difficult, 2022 was an obstacle course in which we climbed ladders and slid down snakes with unrelenting intensity,” they said in a joint statement.
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“But now with the finish line in sight, the sensory memory of the last 17 days contains unforgettable riches; the best of international performing arts, and the brilliance of Australian artists who have travelled here to showcase outstanding work, or to collaborate on new work of enduring quality.”
Costing allegation looms on eve of election
The Marshall Government has seized on Labor’s election-eve costings release to accuse the Opposition of a “rookie error” in its budget modelling.
Shadow Treasurer Stephen Mullighan yesterday released Labor’s long-awaited costings summary – with non-essential public sector savings initiatives helping offset a $3.118 billion election splurge.
A $243 million increase in already-record debt and a deep draw down into $2 billion in uncommitted capital reserves would also pay for Labor’s list of pledges, he said.
But outgoing Treasurer Rob Lucas seized on the document to accuse Mullighan of “rookie errors”, saying he had misunderstood Treasury advice delivered during last year’s budget estimates about the size of the contingency fund – which he said was earmarked only for transport-related projects that would be co-funded by the Commonwealth.
“Transport-related projects are in many cases 80 per cent federal funded [whereas] health and hydrogen projects have to be 100 per cent state funded,” Lucas told reporters.
“That’s just blown completely the investing capital works projects out of the water… the only way $3 to $4 billion of promises can be funded is through a massive increase in revenue: taxes, charges, levies, the removal of exemptions and the like.
“These are rookie errors by a rookie leader and a rookie shadow treasurer.”
Lucas said if Labor was elected “the first thing Treasury will say to them is ‘I’m sorry, there isn’t $2 billion sitting behind a sofa to spend on a hydrogen plant or to spend on all these health projects – you’re going to have to raise the money some other way to fund these projects’”.
Today marks the final day of the campaign, with Premier Steven Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas set to make their final pitches to voters – beginning with the morning radio rounds.
Spike in SA COVID cases, three deaths
A man in his 40s is among three people to have died with COVID-19, as daily cases in South Australia surged to 4474 to their highest level in two months.
The spike in cases comes just days after authorities eased restrictions further ahead of the long weekend.
SA Health issued a statement yesterday saying two women aged in their 80s and a man in his 40s died after testing positive to the virus.
Hospitalisations dropped slightly to 132, with eight of those in intensive care and three on a ventilator.
Of those hospitalised, 80 people were fully-vaccinated, 47 were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and five had an unknown vaccination status.
There are currently 19,541 active COVID-10 cases in the state, bringing the total number of infections in South Australia since the start of the pandemic to 191,573.
COVID-19 cases spiked this week following the long weekend, the return of dancing and singing, and the removal of all hospitality and home gathering density limits.
The state’s COVID-Ready committee made no changes to restrictions when it met on Tuesday, with state emergency coordinator Grant Stevens citing a wish to monitor hospitalisation numbers in the wake of relaxed rules during a busy weekend of festivals.
It comes as SA Health yesterday afternoon reported one to two-hour queues at the Victoria Park, Repat, Port Adelaide and Bedford Park testing sites.
Premier Steven Marshall said there was enough capacity in the hospital system to cope with the surge in cases.
“We created the equivalent of 393 additional beds – we’re nowhere near that,” Marshall told reporters yesterday.
“Lifting those restrictions is driving more and more people back to work.”
Liberal complaint over Labor ramping ad upheld
The Electoral Commission has ordered the Labor Party remove a television ad claiming ramping is “worse than ever” because it is not accurate.
The Liberal Party lodged a complaint about the television ad, which features serving paramedic Ashleigh Frier criticising the government over hospital ramping.
In a letter to the Liberal Party’s state director Sascha Meldrum, electoral commissioner Mick Sherry said the ALP has been asked to stop publishing the statement by noon today.
Sherry said he found the statement “ramping is worse than ever” contradicted data showing ramping had reduced by 47 per cent since its peak in October last year.
“Having considered the submissions I have received from both yourself and the respondent, and data obtained from SA Health in relation to the above complaint, I am satisfied, on the evidence before me, that the statement ‘… ramping is worse than ever…’ is misleading and inaccurate,” Sherry wrote in the letter.
Treasurer Rob Lucas described the breach as an “outrageous and desperate act” by the Labor Party.
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“On the eve of the state election, this determination by the independent Electoral Commissioner of South Australia is a clear indication that Labor will do and say almost anything to try and get elected,” Lucas said.
Survivors emerge after theatre bombing in Mariupol
Rescue workers have dug survivors out of the rubble of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol which Ukraine says had been hit by a Russian air strike while people sheltered there from bombardments.
Russia denied striking the theatre.
But its forces have blasted cities and killed many civilians in its assault on Ukraine, now entering its fourth week.
Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power as Russian forces pound it with artillery fire and air strikes.
A city mayoral adviser, Petro Andrushchenko, said the number of victims of the purported strike on the theatre on Wednesday was not known but the shelter had held.
“Now the rubble is being cleared,” he told Reuters by phone.
“There are survivors.”
Commercial satellite pictures showed the word “children” had been marked out on the ground in front of the building before it was hit.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the allegation that Russia had bombed the theatre was a “lie” and repeated Kremlin denials that Russian forces have targeted civilians.
“Russia’s armed forces don’t bomb towns and cities,” she told a briefing.
Bulldogs coach apologises for post-game tirade
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has apologised for an outburst at a journalist during a post-game press conference.
In an all-time verbal spray, Beveridge berated Fox Sports’ Tom Morris for an accurate report about Bulldogs premiership midfielder Lachie Hunter being dropped for the season opener.
After the extraordinary three-minute tirade, in which he labelled Morris a “gutter journalist”, Beveridge stormed out of his media conference on Wednesday night.
But after a day of the fiery exchange overshadowing the AFL’s season-opener, which Melbourne won by 26 points, the Bulldogs and Beveridge offered a written apology.
“I have reflected on my comments and actions from the post-game press conference after last night’s game and acknowledge that my exchange with journalist Tom Morris overstepped the mark,” Beveridge said.
In a development yesterday, Morris was stood down on another matter.
“Fox Sports has stood down a reporter pending an investigation regarding an inappropriate audio recording,” a Fox Sports spokesperson said
Calls to tighten rules for child restraints in cars
The next state government must require child restraints in taxis and increase the minimum age for children to travel facing forward, the RAA says.
The changes are part of several legislative changes the RAA’s child safety expert Belinda Maloney says would make it safer for kids travelling in cars.
Maloney says among the changes needed are requiring child restraints in taxis and ride share vehicles, ensuring people with a disability can access suitable restraints and lifting the minimum age for children to travel forward facing from six to 12 months.
RAA figures show of the 38 children killed in car accidents between 2005 and 2018, 24 were not properly restrained.
“It’s crucially important to improve motorists’ understanding about the selection of the right restraint for their child’s age and size, along with the correct installation and ongoing use’’ Maloney said.
“We checked just over 2,600 child restraints in the last year and found around 88 per cent have some form of misuse – with many having multiple issues.
“That’s why RAA is urging the next State Government to establish – as already exists in NSW, Victorian and WA – an authorised statewide child restraint fitting network to address the current deficit that exists in accessing child restraint fittings services across this state.’’
UK takes call from ‘fake Ukrainian PM’
UK defence minister Ben Wallace has ordered an inquiry after an impostor claiming to be the Ukrainian prime minister contacted him and asked several “misleading questions”.
“Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me. He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call,” Wallace said on Twitter.
“No amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks can distract from Russia’s human rights abuses and illegal invasion of Ukraine. A desperate attempt.”
A defence source said Wallace had ordered an immediate inquiry into how the incident was allowed to happen.
Wallace is not the first UK minister to fall foul of a hoax call.
In May 2018 Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was foreign minister at the time, talked about international relations and rude poetry with a prankster who pretended to be the Armenian prime minister.
– With AAP and Reuters
