Australia Covid live update: NSW records 22 new cases, Qld three; Alice Springs to enter lockdown after five SA cases linked to NT mine

7.42pm EDT 19:42

Social housing struggling to keep pace

There are some 436,000 social housing dwellings in Australia, accommodating more than 800,000 people. But the nation’s social stock is not keeping pace with growth in the rest of the housing sector, a new report released on Wednesday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed.

The institute’s report on housing assistance showed the proportion of social housing decreased from 4.7% of all dwellings in 2010 to 4.2% last year, reports AAP.

Social housing is defined as public housing, community housing, state-owned and managed Indigenous housing, and Indigenous community housing.

There were about 802,000 occupants in Australia’s social housing network in 2019/20, up from 797,100 the previous year.

Across all social housing, 62% of occupants were women, and 49% were aged 40 years or older.

Demand for Commonwealth rental assistance climbed sharply last year as Covid-19 took a toll on the national economy.

Families receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance rose from 1.29 million in 2019 to 1.7 million in late June last year, the institute found. That figure had been 1.31 million in 2018 and the previous peak was 1.35 million in 2016.

The report comes as the Victorian government announced residents are starting to move into new social and affordable housing.

More than 240 homes are available under the state government’s $5.3 billion Big Housing Build, announced in last November’s Victorian budget.

The program aims to construct more than 12,000 homes for social housing across the state over the next four years.

Updated at 7.55pm EDT

7.35pm EDT 19:35

So just a heads up we are expecting the Queensland update in about 30 minutes when the premier will stand up for a press conference, and we will likely hear from NSW at around 11.

Likely we will get an update from the NT and WA today as well, but no times have been confirmed as of yet.

7.21pm EDT 19:21

AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid has tweeted, urging the federal government to “fix hotel quarantine” by establishing purpose-built quarantine facilities.

(Side note: Bold choice to make your Twitter name “AMA President”)

Updated at 7.28pm EDT

7.13pm EDT 19:13

Infected Covid-ward worker offered vaccine, QLD health minister says.

Queensland’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, has told ABC radio she “wouldn’t be surprised” if family members of a known Delta case of Covid-19 have tested positive overnight.

A 19-year-old Sandgate woman who was a clerical worker at Brisbane’s Prince Charles hospital has confirmed to have the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19, with her brother, a high school student, already testing positive.

So, you know, we have concerns about them being positive, and we won’t be surprised if, you know, a number of those do come up positive.

And that’s why this lockdown so important, what we do over the next three days can make all the difference of what we do over the next 30 days.

D’Ath said the woman had been offered a vaccine, but hadn’t had any doses.

Look, I’m not aware that she’s refused it, I think she just didn’t take the option up.

Everyone in health has been offered to go and get vaccinated.

The minister said the woman shouldn’t have been posted outside the Covid-19 ward without being vaccinated and the government was investigating who was responsible.

I’m asking that question: who made the decision to put someone who was unvaccinated into that position in that hospital?

Updated at 7.17pm EDT

7.09pm EDT 19:09

The chair of one of Australia’s largest aged care providers has welcomed the belated decision to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for all workers, reports Daniel McCulloch from AAP.

Nursing home staff will need to have their first shot by mid-September if they want to keep working in aged care.

Unions are concerned the government is not offering enough support to workers, while aged care providers are worried about how their staff will get access to the vaccine.

Peter Shergold, who runs Opal Aged Care, is relieved by the national cabinet decision to mandate vaccines for all staff.

Shergold acknowledged it raised questions around whether the requirement would deter people from working in aged care, as well as respecting the rights of individuals to make their own decisions.

But Shergold told ABC radio on Wednesday frail, elderly people in aged care settings were the most vulnerable in Australia.

Protecting them has got to be our number one, two and three priorities.

In this crisis we do need to say ‘sorry, if you want to work in an aged care home, we require you to be vaccinated’.

Shergold said the vast majority of frontline aged care staff wanted to get vaccinated, having put themselves at significant risk throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

He said workers had shown resilience, dedication and courage throughout the 18-month ordeal.

What we need to do is to make it easy and convenient for them to do so.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus also believes it is too difficult for aged care workers to get vaccinated. She wants teams of vaccinators deployed to aged care homes to give out jabs to staff.

Shergold supports the idea and also wants roving virus clinics to be rolled out across the country.

Updated at 7.17pm EDT

6.59pm EDT 18:59

It is a weather forecast that may make those who travelled north for the school holidays – only to be plunged into lockdown – feel a little better: soaking rain is set to hit most of Queensland and northern New South Wales, lasting into the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology expected that a high over the Tasman Sea and an upper trough and surface trough that would move over the east coast in coming days could result in heavy isolated falls and thunderstorms, particularly in south-east and central Queensland, and north-east NSW.

Parts of NSW had already received a soaking, with weather stations in the Hunter and Central Coast regions copping more than 30mm of rain in the 24 hours to Tuesday night.

You can read the full report below:

6.38pm EDT 18:38

Regional communities will still be able to do most of their banking at Australia Post branches across the country after the agency penned new 10-year agreements with two of the major banks, reports AAP.

But while Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank customers now have certainty, Westpac customers are only guaranteed service for another year.

Australian Post said in a statement on Wednesday:

Westpac and Austalia Post have commenced negotiations around a possible new longer agreement.

The government-owned enterprise’s Bank@Post service is available at more than 3500 local post offices and is valued by regional communities and small businesses that don’t have easy access to traditional bank branches.

Australia Post said the CBA and NAB deals would also support thousands of licensed post offices and their owners, many of whom are small businesses and families servicing local communities.

Community and consumer general manager Nicole Sheffield said:

Our post offices also play a critical role during natural disasters, emergencies and more recently through the COVID-19 pandemic, with access to products and services through lockdowns and travel restrictions.

6.36pm EDT 18:36

Paul Karp

Labor MPs have criticised the Coalition’s $660m commuter car park fund, which allowed Liberal MPs and candidates to select and announce projects in their electorates, some of which were never and could never be built.

On Monday the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) released a scathing report finding the infrastructure department selected none of the 47 car park sites, which were instead selected by the government using a “non-competitive, non-application based process” that “was not demonstrably merit-based”.

Labor MP Josh Burns said the Coalition announced a $15m commitment for a car park at Balaclava station, in his Melbourne electorate of Macnamara despite the fact the land was already set aside for public housing.

“A call to Port Phillip council or the Victorian government would’ve told them … there was no chance the land was ever going to be used for car parks,” Burns told Guardian Australia.

You can read the full report on the program Labor has dubbed “Sports rorts on steroids”, below:

Updated at 6.46pm EDT