Australia politics live news: Barnaby Joyce returns as Nationals leader; Sydney mask rules likely to continue after two new Covid cases in NSW

3.58am EDT 03:58

The Senate Covid committee is just about to start, hearing from the health department, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

It will run for about two hours, and I expect it’ll all be about vaccines. I will bring you the latest from that hearing.

Updated at 4.03am EDT

3.51am EDT 03:51

The re-Joycing will be complete at 8am tomorrow, sparing Michael McCormack another question time in the hot seat as the outgoing leader.

3.48am EDT 03:48

Kopika and Tharnicaa out shopping in Perth

This afternoon, the Home to Bilo campaign sent out this video of the Murugappan family daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa, out shopping in Perth. When they were on Christmas Island they were not allowed to go to the shops like this, and all trips outside of home were supervised by Border Force officials, so this is likely their first big shopping trip in over three years, after they were removed from Biloela by Border Force in March 2018.

Tharnicaa and Kopika out and about in Perth store– video

Updated at 3.49am EDT

3.43am EDT 03:43

I just double checked, and it seems the states still requiring people from Melbourne to quarantine are Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

Tasmania will ease its restrictions on Melbourne from midnight tonight.

So people in Melbourne will be able to go to New Zealand before about half of the states and territories in Australia.

3.23am EDT 03:23

Victoria-NZ bubble to reopen from midnight tomorrow

Victorians will be able to go to New Zealand again without quarantining from 11.59pm tomorrow night.

Officials say there have been no new cases of the Delta variant in Victoria in the past week.

3.14am EDT 03:14

Thank you, Amy.

I just received a freedom of information refusal from the federal health department over documents related to the operation of the COVIDSafe contact tracing app.

The health minister, Greg Hunt, is required to produce reports on how well the app is going every six months since the legislation governing the app passed. If you hadn’t realised, it has been over a year since the app was launched.

I asked for the report under FOI, but the department claims it can’t release the 28 documents it located related to the report because it would “reveal preliminary opinions and recommendations” made and would “prejudice the ability of the department to provide all information and options”.

The department claims the report will be tabled in the winter sitting of parliament, which ends on Thursday. So the clock is ticking for them to show us how well the COVIDSafe app is actually working.

Updated at 3.24am EDT

3.07am EDT 03:07

And on that note, I am going to hand you over to Josh Taylor to take you through the rest of Monday, 21 June – also known as the day of Australia’s re-Joycing.

It will all get very serious tomorrow when Barnaby Joyce is sworn in as deputy prime minister, so make sure you get an early night tonight, because you’ll all need to be fighting fit.

Thank you to everyone who has joined me today as we waded through the day. It was… a lot. For those wondering, the Coalition seems a little split on what it all means – there are those who think that seats in central Queensland and the Hunter Valley just got easier to keep, and those who think some Victorian electorates just got a bit more wobbly.

As usual though, no one knows until they actually know.

A very big thank you to Mike Bowers who kept me updated on all the things happening in the corridors today – he is, as always, an invaluable pair of eyes, ears (and of course cameras) for this project. And to the whole Guardian crew who managed to keep me at my desk and not in a puddle on the floor.

I will be back early tomorrow morning for the third time Joyce is sworn in as deputy prime minister (there was also the section 44 pause, for those keeping count).

As always, please – take care of you.

Updated at 3.16am EDT

3.01am EDT 03:01

What does Ken O’Dowd think about net zero emissions by 2050?

(O’Dowd has done a lot of things in his life, but science and research is not one of them).

For anyone to sign up to net zero by 2050 are weasel words. I could say you could go -1 degree but what does it mean? It means I’m just plucking figures out of the air. We are trying to get emissions to net zero as quick as we can. How do we do it? I don’t know but I tell you what, being a nuclear power energy source would be a start in the right direction.

If you want to take all the planes out of the skies, that would be another start, but how we going to get around?

Updated at 3.05am EDT

2.58am EDT 02:58

Outgoing LNP MP Ken O’Dowd, who sits in the Nationals party room, confirmed on the ABC that Barnaby Joyce has spent the past three years ‘white anting’ Michael McCormack:

That’s the nature of politics.

He has [in answer to a question on white anting], and everyone’s got an ego, and he wasn’t there for the good of his soul, I can tell you that.

You can always count on O’Dowd to say the quiet things out loud.

Updated at 3.05am EDT

2.56am EDT 02:56

A little earlier today, when all the Barnaby Joyce stuff was happening, the head of the vaccine roll out, General John Frewen confirmed that there will be no vaccination campign from the government until there are vaccine supplies.

We are 18 months into the pandemic now

I mentioned the other day, we are close to moving into a rallying phase of the campaign, to inspire as many Australians to start taking up the vaccinations. We’re just working at the moment manage the commencement of that in line with the supplies available because we want to make sure we don’t start the campaign until we are comfortable to meet the demand.

2.53am EDT 02:53

Anne Webster is speaking to the ABC now – ahead of the leadership spill, she said it would be a problem for some women if Barnaby Joyce became leader once again.

She now says:

I think what I said was I’d had a few people contact me about that issue. Democracy is what it is. We have a new leader in the party room and I respect that process. I will be working hard to make sure women in my electorate and the men in my electorate, and the children in my electorate for that matter are all represented to the best of my ability, and I’ve taken no back step in confronting Michael McCormack over this period of time and I look forward to working with Mr Joyce as well

So it is still an issue for women?

I imagine we are going to find out. History is what it is and is Mr Joyce said today, he has learned from his past, and all mature adults to learn from their past, hopefully. And look forward to a new day. That’s what we need to do.

How does Barnaby Joyce show he’s changed?

I think it’s a great question. First and foremost, women need to feel they have been heard and what they raise, the issues are taken seriously. I do take heart from the fact that Mr Joyce worked really well with Fiona Nash as his deputy leader, and I’ve spoken with Fiona Nash this afternoon, and she is positive about the future and that is the road that we need to move forward on.