Australia live news: four new Covid cases in Victoria, Traralgon residents told to evacuate as flood waters rise
Traralgon #Traralgon
11.27pm EDT 23:27
Qld state Labor MP dies, aged 40
The Queensland state Labor MP, Duncan Pegg, has died from cancer just seven weeks after telling parliament he would not survive.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced the death of her friend and colleague on Thursday, saying the Stretton MP had shown great courage during his 18-month battle with the disease, reports AAP.
During his last major address to parliament, Pegg urged fellow MPs to listen to people with terminal illnesses before deciding whether to support the introduction of voluntary assisted dying laws in Queensland.
Queensland Labor MP Duncan Pegg has died after an 18-month battle with cancer. Photograph: Glenn Hunt/AAP
Palaszczuk said in a statement:
He battled cancer with incredible bravery and grace. He was the common thread that united so many groups in his community. He loved them. And they loved him.
He showed politics could be a force for good. It was an honour to call him my friend.
The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, said the cricket-mad MP would be missed by many and that he fought cancer with “the same tenacity as he did for his community and values”.
Pegg died just shy of his 41st birthday. In late April he told parliament he would formally submit his resignation.
During that speech he urged colleagues to seek out the views of terminally-ill people before deciding whether or not they should be given the legal right to an assisted death in Queensland.
He told parliament:
Let’s be very clear, people with terminal illnesses don’t want to die, they want to live. They fight to live every day. I personally fight to live every day.
However, if you are diagnosed terminal then ultimately you are going to face death. People with terminal illnesses won’t have an option.
I will not tell members how to vote your conscience, but before making a decision I encourage every MP in this place to make sure they speak to and listen to people with terminal illnesses and their families.
Queensland parliament will vote on legalising euthanasia for terminally ill people in September.
Updated at 11.37pm EDT
11.17pm EDT 23:17
International students to return to NSW this year
International students will be welcomed back to New South Wales in the second half of the year under a pilot plan announced by the state government.
The NSW treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said on Thursday that 250 international students would be able to come to Sydney each fortnight from mid-year, reports AAP. They will spend their quarantine period in purpose-built student accommodation.
The arrival of these students will be in addition to the returning Australians arriving at Sydney Airport each week amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The plan has been submitted to the federal government for review.
Updated at 11.18pm EDT
11.09pm EDT 23:09
Here are some pictures from Traralgon, in Victoria’s east, where residents have been told to evacuate.
10.57pm EDT 22:57
Lockdown restrictions in Victoria will ease on Friday, but people living in Melbourne will need to wear masks when outside after four new Covid cases were reported on Thursday. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP
That Victorian press conference has wrapped up. Some of the key details:
Updated at 11.10pm EDT
10.50pm EDT 22:50
James Merlino says he can’t say for sure whether AFL games scheduled for next week in Victoria will go ahead.
He says:
Football fans are anxious for the answer but I can’t give a definitive answer on the question of the games and what that might mean for crowds.
10.49pm EDT 22:49
Federal Covid income support to end, despite Victorian pleas
Merlino is asked about the situation for gym owners who say they will struggle to pay their bills given the continued restrictions on their business.
He says:
We understand the impact and it is why we have provided additional support for those businesses.
Merlino also confirms the federal government’s Covid disaster payments will end at the end of the lockdown.
The advice from the national CMO to the federal government is that Melbourne is no longer a hotspot, and therefore that income support is no longer provided in Victoria.
We tried to get them to reconsider, our state treasurer went to Josh Frydenberg to see if it would be reconsidered. My understanding is that the Commonwealth is not going to reconsider the timing or nature of their income support. We understand that this is a difficult week for a few thousand businesses across Melbourne who will need to continue to be closed, which is why we provide that support.
Updated at 10.54pm EDT
10.45pm EDT 22:45
Thanks Matilda. Luke Henriques-Gomes here. I’ll pick up where Matilda left off.
James Merlino has been asked about the Victorian Liberal opposition’s questions about Daniel Andrews’ fall. They maintain some are unanswered.
Merlino says:
It is a very poor reflection on the opposition and the Liberal party that they are focused on what are just bizarre conspiracy theories. I think it’s a poor reflection on the Liberal party, the leader of opposition, the fact they are doubling down today, on these nutbag conspiracy theories, is, I think, a great disappointment to the people of Victoria. We are dealing with a pandemic. We are dealing with an extraordinary storm event overnight. We need to respond maturely and appropriately and I don’t think the people of Victoria, are seeing that from the Liberal party. This is clearly sanctioned by the leader of opposition and I think that is a disgrace.
Updated at 10.53pm EDT
10.41pm EDT 22:41
With that I shall leave you for today, handing you over to the amazing Luke Henriques-Gomes to take you through the afternoon.
10.41pm EDT 22:41
It’s time to talk about masks. Take a sip of coffee every time “outdoors” is said.
Reporter:
Do we have a percentage of family people that are Covid-19 cases who caught the virus outside?
Weimar:
It depends how you define outside, to be pedantic. If I look at exposure sites, small shops we talked about previously, the Telstra shop, Craigieburn shopping centre, Epping Plaza, we have by my count 10 or 11 cases who contracted Covid-19 through that exposure site. All indoors?
Reporter:
All indoors. Were any outdoors?
Weimar:
Reporter:
No cases of people picking up the virus outdoors?
Weimar:
No, no evidence we have seen in this outbreak for the most recent ones, of outdoor transmission.
Reporter:
Why are we being made to wear face masks outdoors?
Weimar:
We have … community transmission. We have done a [lot] of work over the last two week under the lockdown previously to get as much information as possible, to isolate 8000 primary close contacts at one point, to hold down the head of this outbreak to the very low numbers we see at the moment. The evidence overnight is we have community transmission happening we are not aware of.
Reporter:
That was in a household. There is no current evidence on the most recent outbreaks in Melbourne there has been transmission of the virus outdoors?
Weimar:
Updated at 10.51pm EDT
10.35pm EDT 22:35
Dutton says chance of conflict in our region is “less remote” than before 
The prospect of conflict in our region is “less remote” than it has been in the past, the defence minister, Peter Dutton, has said.
Dutton is addressing a conference held by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
The address comes a day after Dutton and the foreign minister, Marise Payne, met virtually with their Japanese counterparts, and the group raised concerns about China’s actions in the region and spoke out against economic coercion.
Dutton – who has previously said the risk of conflict over Taiwan could not be “discounted” – said it was important to have a “frank and nuanced discussion with the Australian people about the threats that we face”. He argued the debate was maturing about the realities in the Indo-Pacific.
Today our region in the Indo-Pacific is far more complex and far less predictable than at any time since the second world war.
Dutton cited the strategic competition between the US and China, the modernisation and build-up of militaries in the region, new and disruptive technologies, and increased prevalence of “grey zone activities which fall short of armed conflict”. Such grey-zone activities could “injure” other countries including Australia. He cited examples such as disinformation campaigns, economic coercion and militarisation of disputed features.
Dutton said it should go without saying that the Australian government’s priority was to maintain peace in region. But he said the “unfortunate fact” was that not all countries were acting consistently with that goal.
He said the prospect of conflict was “less remote” than in past, especially through miscalculation.
Dutton said Australia “must be prepared for any contingency” including by making sure the ADF was well trained and well equipped.
He said it was critical that like minded neighbours rallied together around concepts such as prosperity and sovereignty.
Australia was “working to shape the region together” so that nations big and small had their sovereignty respected, he said.
Updated at 10.39pm EDT
10.33pm EDT 22:33
Weimar has been asked why contact tracers haven’t been able to speak to this couple yet, but he didn’t provide much of an answer:
Queensland health, Queensland police stepped in last night as well. We want to make sure we have a coordinated approach. We are all after the same thing. We want a reasonable discussion between Queensland, New South Wales and ourselves to get the right information.
Updated at 10.37pm EDT
10.31pm EDT 22:31
The Victorian testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, says the contact tracing team are “very concerned” now we know the Victorian couple were likely most infectious while moving in Melbourne before they departed for Queensland.
We are very concerned about this. The focus for the team is to get as much information as possible to understand their movements, potential source of acquisition. We want to link it to one of the existing clusters that we know about.
Right now, we have next to no information to go from. We are working with authorities. We will put our work into action. The only thing we have to go on is a relatively small number of QR code registrations. That is what we are exploring, and Craigieburn.
We are encouraging people in the Craigieburn shopping centre area to get tested again because it is a hotspot we have been dealing for several weeks. It is a priority to get as much information today so that we can be confident.
Updated at 10.36pm EDT
10.27pm EDT 22:27
James Merlino is now doing the tough job of calming the angry, burning pitch-fork carrying, mob coming after the infected Victorian couple who travelled to Queensland last week.
It is important that we interview the couple.
As we said at the outset, if they were relocating that is not a breach of directions in Victoria. There may well be the things they should have done in Queensland. I don’t yet have the answer to that. That is a question for Queensland authorities.
I want to make it clear that we do not know yet. We need to interview the couple. There are reasons we haven’t been able to interview them and I will ask Jerome to add to my comments.
I want to be clear, a relocation is not a breach of directions.
Updated at 10.35pm EDT