NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian slams Victoria border shutdowns to Sydney

18/1/2021

(See translation in Arabic section)

Sydney - M E Times Int'l:  New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has lashed out at the Victorian Government saying state border restrictions should have been dropped “quite a while back”.

In a daily press conference where the NSW government confirmed six new local cases of COVID-19, Ms Berejiklian said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had not made contact with her about potential areas of Sydney being able to travel to the southern state in the coming days.

The new cases in NSW are linked to a man who was identified as a positive case on Saturday, however the state’s government is urging for an increase in daily testing rates to ensure there are no further outbreaks.

Ms Berejiklian said the border closures between Victoria and Sydney are against Commonwealth health advice, which on Sunday confirmed there were no COVID-19 hot spots in Australia.

“He‘s not been in touch with me at all but I also say that (border opening) should have occurred quite a while back because we don’t have a hot spot in New South Wales,” Ms Berejiklian said of her Victorian counterpart.

Australia to provide 20 flights to bring its stranded citizens home

Canberra: The Australian Government has agreed to provide 20 repatriation flights for Australians trapped overseas by COVID-19 lockdown measures.

The flights will be targeted to regions of most need and which are not met by regular commercial options. They will run from January 31 to March 31.

Australians on these flights will quarantine at Howard Springs, Northern Territory, and in states and territories willing to work above the current caps, on a case by case basis.

Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the Government would continue to work closely with the states and territories.

“These flights will bring people back from the United Kingdom, Europe, India and other places where vulnerable Australians are most in need of assistance,” Mr McCormack said.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Marise Payne “within the past 24 hours a government facilitated flight from London landed in Darwin with 199 Australians on board”.

NSW reports six new cases of COVID

Sydney:  NEW South Wales has recorded six new cases of community transmission in the 24 hours until 8pm on Saturday.

All six are close contacts of a person from western Sydney who tested positive yesterday. A staff member who worked at Concord Repatriation General hospital is one of the new cases.

Victoria has recorded its 11th consecutive day of zero locally acquired cases of Covid-19, out of just over 11,000 tests.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has backed the decision to proceed with the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, saying the Victorian government has “taken appropriate steps” to ensure the safety of the tournament.

His comments follow the news that 47 players and 143 travellers were confined to their rooms after a coach and a flight attendant on the charter flight from Los Angeles and one person on a flight from Abu Dhabi tested positive for Covid-19.

Australia seeking advice on vaccine safety

Canberra: The Health Minister has sought to reassure Australians safety is the number one priority when it comes to approving a COVID-19 vaccine.

In Norway, 23 elderly people died after receiving their first shot of the Pfizer jab, but there is no confirmed link to the vaccine.

Greg Hunt said he is unsure “whether this is a function simply of age, and people who are older and sadly facing the natural loss of their life or whether there is any causation that hasn’t been asserted as yet”.

“But we are proceeding with an abundance of caution, so there is no changes with our timeframes at this point,” he said.

Mark Latham leads inquiry into controversial bill that could see school lessons discussing gender fluidity banned

Sydney:  Mark Latham is leading an inquiry into a proposed NSW bill that could see school lessons discussing gender fluidity banned and allow parents to pull children out of classes they disagree with.

Mr Latham says the Education Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill would stop schools from providing instruction on “ideologically-based and political material” that is inconsistent with the wishes of parents.

The private members bill aims to ban the “promotion of gender fluidity” in schools, including through course and professional development of teachers.

Mr Latham said the bill used a definition of gender based on “biological science” rather than “social construction”.

Equality Australia has said the bill harms trans and gender diverse students by denying their existence, and preventing teachers and counsellors from supporting them.

But Mr Latham insists the rights of transgender students to access support in schools will not be affected by the bill.

The One Nation Senator said the formation of a child’s social, moral and ethical values must be the responsibility of their parents.

“This bill is about winding back the creep of gender fluidity ideologies into NSW schools and re-establishing the primacy of parents in shaping their children’s development and sense of identity,” the committee said in a statement on Sunday.

“This inquiry will provide a forum for evaluating the merits of the bill, and subjecting it to detailed examination informed by expert evidence.”

The committee will hold public hearings in the coming months, and individuals can also complete an online questionnaire.

Trump children ‘angling for leadership’ within Republican Party

A post-Donald Trump presidency will see sizeable division within the Republican Party which could leave the door open for the president’s children “angling for leadership” within the party.

The New Republic’s Alex Shephard told media there is a “huge division” within the GOP right now stemming from the President’s post-election behaviour.

He said the traditional party power base “wants Donald Trump out,” with some in the party’s ranks believing the president has made it “toxic in a lot of corners”.

“Most importantly the donor base that these Republicans rely on has just dried up”.

Mr Shephard said the President wants to hold onto his power within the party as seen by recent appointments of “loyalists” to key positions at the Republican National Committee.

“His sons and his daughter Ivanka will certainly be angling for leadership in a number of ways.”

Donald Trump will be ‘with us for a while’

President Donald Trump is going to be “with us for a while” even after Joe Biden is inaugurated, according to American actress and director Dineta Williams-Trigg.

Joe Biden’s inauguration in Washington DC on January 20 will be a vastly different one to previous ceremonies and will be marked by a significant absence.

President Trump will not be attending Mr Biden’s inauguration, and plans to hold a departure ceremony the previous day, before leaving for Florida hours before the swearing-in ceremony.

Ms Williams-Trigg said despite the president losing the election, he will not go away quietly and will remain very much in the public space.