Australia news live: health officials say hotel quarantine ‘fit for purpose’; Port Arthur massacre commemorated
Port Arthur #PortArthur
7.08pm EDT 19:08
Queensland reports no local Covid cases but nine in hotel quarnatine
While Queensland has recorded no locally acquired cases of Covid-19 today there were nine more overseas acquired cases.
This Queensland premier Anastacia Palaszczuk has expressed concerns over the number of returned travellers carrying high contagious variants of the virus in the quarantine system, urging the commonwealth government to step up and establish federal facilities.
Updated at 7.10pm EDT
7.02pm EDT 19:02
Victorian off-duty police suspended after chase
Two off-duty police officers are under investigation after a car chase in central Melbourne, reports Callum Godde from AAP.
The pair were allegedly among five men in an unregistered Mercedes-Benz that fled from police after running a red light early on Saturday morning.
It stopped on Little Bourke Street with its occupants fleeing on foot.
The first off-duty police officer, a senior constable from northwest metro region, was arrested nearby before being released.
He is expected to be charged with drug possession and has been suspended with pay.
The other off-duty officer, a 28-year-old recruit, was spoken to by police and also suspended with pay.
Two of the three other men in the car have been identified.
Victoria police’s Professional Standards Command is investigating the incident.
Updated at 7.11pm EDT
7.00pm EDT 19:00
Former prime minister John Howard has spoken to Radio National about why he took action cracking down on guns in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.
Howard said he was counselled by some not to, but he thought given he had been elected in 1996 with a “huge majority” that wouldn’t last, he should use his political capital for a “good cause”.
He said:
I thought if I couldn’t do something I wasn’t up to the job … I thought the country should be given a greater assurance of safety – we deserved better. If the political system couldnt’ rise to the occasion, then something was wrong. But it did, I had bipartisan support from [Labor leader] Kim Beazley, and we got states together [to pass stricter gun laws].
Howard acknowledged that stricter gun laws were tough for the Coalition partner, the National party, and he thanked its leaders Tim Fischer and John Anderson for the support they gave him.
Howard acknowledged that firearms control had helped spur support for One Nation, and the National party had also seen an erosion in their vote to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party although he said this was for “broader political reasons”.
Given the growth in the vote and lobbying efforts of people who resent the laws, Howard said these should be resisted, and it is “up to current and future governments to ensure there is no erosion” in the laws.
We’ve secured a safer community, we mustn’t do anything to unpick that.
Former Australian prime minister John Howard. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP
Updated at 7.16pm EDT
6.45pm EDT 18:45
Just for everyone who thought the mouse plague was over, here is a rather concerning pic from Dubbo.
6.40pm EDT 18:40
Ongoing black deaths in custody are a “national crisis” that requires urgent action, the Greens senator, Lidia Thorpe, has said, after confirmation of deaths in Victoria and NSW.
Seven Aboriginal people have died in custody across Australia in the past two months. Four of the deaths were in NSW jails.
An Indigenous man died at Port Phillip prison in Melbourne’s west on Monday night, Corrections Victoria said. It is believed he suffered a medical episode. A smoking ceremony was being arranged.
Separately, NSW authorities confirmed that a 37-year-old man had been found dead in his cell at Cessnock correctional centre on Tuesday morning.
“Another two people dead. More suffering and more pain,” said Thorpe, a Gunnai Gunditjmara DjabWurrung woman.
You can read the full report below:
Updated at 6.52pm EDT
6.38pm EDT 18:38
Man dies during arrest in Victoria
A man has died while being arrested by police in Melbourne’s south-east, triggering a homicide investigation, reports AAP.
Police patrolling High Street in Cranbourne spotted a 32-year-old man walking in traffic just before midnight on Tuesday.
The man was asked to get off the road but didn’t follow the request and allegedly became aggressive towards the officers.
When they tried to arrest him, the man appeared to suffer a medical condition and died at the scene, despite resuscitation attempts.
Homicide squad detectives will investigate the death, with oversight from Victoria Police’s Professional Standards Command.
“This is standard protocol when a person has died in police custody,” police said.
Updated at 6.54pm EDT
6.33pm EDT 18:33
An environmental consultant who holds interests in a property that made more than $40m selling conservation offsets to governments is part of a consortium that has made tens of millions of dollars more, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Steven House is a former director of Eco Logical Australia, a firm that advised governments on major projects in western Sydney.
He is also a director of Meridolum No 1 – a company that Guardian Australia revealed had made more than $40m selling offsets for infrastructure projects that Eco Logical, which employed two of Meridolum’s directors, provided offset advice on.
The directors denied any suggestion of wrongdoing or conflict of interest and said they had made the appropriate declarations.
You can read the full report below:
Updated at 6.54pm EDT
6.24pm EDT 18:24
Victoria records no local Covid cases
No new local cases of Covid-19 in Victoria today!
Updated at 7.07pm EDT