Australia news live: Scott Morrison announces royal commission into veteran suicides; New Zealand travel bubble opens | Australia news

Two of Fiji’s largest cities will go into lockdown for 14 days after the country recorded its first locally-acquired case of Covid-19 in over a year.

The country’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama ordered Nadi and Lautoka into lockdown on Monday after a soldier at a border quarantine facility who tested positive over the weekend had one of his 69 close contacts test positive.

The new case is a 53-year-old woman working as a maid in the quarantine facility. The other 68 tested negative.

Bainimarama said she interacted with the soldier when he showed up early to his room as it was being cleaned.

The woman resides in Nadi, and has had symptoms since Thursday but did not notify authorities. She travelled through Lautoka and Nadi, including by public transport.

To prevent further transmission the two cities will be locked down with a curfew for the containment area

Supermarkets and food shops, banks and pharmacies will remain open but gyms, cinemas, video gam shops, bars and arcades will be closed. Restaurants will only be able to offer delivery and take-away services.

The PM said these rules will be in place for at least the next 14 days.

Schools nation wide will be closed from tomorrow until the end of term.

There will also be restrictions on religious services nationwide, and on non-work gatherings:

“Unfortunately, that does mean major events on the calendar over the next 14 days, including the Cocacola games, university graduations and rugby matches, will have to be cancelled.”

Bainimarama noted that Fiji’s success in containing Covid had caused some complacency:

“The truth is, the success Fiji has enjoyed 365 days of Covid-containment has made all of us far too comfortable with the pandemic that continued to rage beyond our shores. Social distancing has been ignored, masks have gathered dust tucked away in drawers, and businesses went back to operating as usual. The healthy habits that we learned 12 months ago were all but forgotten.”

There’s no mask mandate but the PM strongly advised people to wear one.

The veterans’ affairs minister, Darren Chester, mentioned in the press conference earlier that there had been some “robust” advice from former serving members currently in parliament on the issue of veterans’ suicide.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie would probably be the top of that list.

Some more on the first arrivals in NZ under the new the trans-Tasman bubble, from AAP:

Seven-year-old Alice Hawkins hadn’t seen her mum for 15 months.

Bee Dawson had been apart from her son James since last February.

John and Elizabeth Anderson were missing their daughter since two Christmases ago.

And Olivia Mouad was waiting with her two children, waiting to re-introduce them to their aunt Rebecca.

“She’s hasn’t met her niece since she was six weeks old and she’s almost 18 months. It’s been a while,” Mouad told AAP.

“She’s missed lots of birthdays and special times. I just can’t wait to have some big family time.”

On Monday, they all waited at Wellington airport for the first arrivals from Sydney on the first day of the trans-Tasman bubble.

Maori singing filled the anxious air as they got a first glimpse of their loved ones through a specially arranged camera through to the other side of the terminal.

And one by one, as friends and relatives dribbled through the arrivals door, each was met with a mighty embrace.

“It’s been an emotional time,” Dawson said through tears.

“It’s not like the olden days when you couldn’t see people far away. You just expect to be able to see people all the time.”

The scene will be repeated up and down the country on Monday and for weeks to come after New Zealand finally lifted quarantine requirements from Australian travellers.

Scammers are targeting South Australians with fake promises of early access to a Covid-19 vaccine, AAP reports.

SA police sergeant Jonathon Newman, from the Financial and Cybercrime Investigation Branch, said scammers were using the fear associated with the coronavirus pandemic to rip people off.

The Covid vaccination is free, but scammers will contact people offering them early access to the vaccine or to take part in a clinical trial if they pay them a fee.

Scammers will send emails and text messages purporting to be from legitimate sources.

These messages may contain links or attachments that will take the user to a fake website that asks for personal information and payments.

People are urged to watch out for Covid-19 vaccine advertisements sent through social media or by email.

Some are also being contacted by phone with offers to be placed on a vaccine waiting list or to undergo medical testing or procedures before obtaining a vaccine.

Some scammers are also offering to ship doses of the vaccine directly to people who pay a deposit.

It’s fair to say this scam could be anywhere in Australia, but SA authorities have felt the need to speak out.

O’Connor says Dutton has indicated there was “new evidence” that led to him making the decision not to strip special forces of their meritorious unit citations today, and O’Connor said that new evidence should be released:

To date, we have not been presented with any new evidence and therefore, we can only conclude that the defence minister has decided to make a decision at odds with Angus Campbell, the head of the Australian defence force.

He says the defence portfolio is a “mess”:

We have had six defence ministers in eight years. We have issues with the largest contracts of defence asset in our history. We have contradictions between former and current defence ministers in relation to serious inquiries. And the government needs to get its house in order to deal with these issues.

Labor’s shadow minister for defence, Brendan O’Connor, has welcomed the announcement of the royal commission into veterans’ suicides, but says the decision should have been made earlier:

We are glad to see the government has made a decision, although it does seem it has done so begrudgingly, belatedly and because of the pressure that has been brought to bear upon them by the veterans’s community, the veterans’s families. If anyone has spoken to Julie-Ann Finney, as I have, as many members of parliament have and others have, about the tragedy of her son’s suicide, David, and they would understand why she and other parents and family members of veterans suiciding needed to see this decision today.

He says Labor also supports defence minister Peter Dutton’s decision today to not go ahead with the revocation of citations of special forces who served in Afghanistan, as recommended by the Brereton report. But again he said it took five months too long to make this decision.

When asked whether some states might allow Australians who have been vaccinated to home quarantine when returning from overseas, while others like WA might not, Morrison said it is possible there might not be complete national consistency:

As the vaccination program continues, that if Australians who are properly vaccinated had their two doses, are able to travel overseas and return and have an alternative form of quarantine, that would have to be safe, it would have to go through all the medical advice to ensure that the systems are in place, to ensure we kept those protections there so we didn’t see the introduction of Covid, then I would hope premiers and chief ministers would, I’m sure, respond to that medical advice and take practical steps.

He says any such easing of travel restrictions is months away. He says we need to be patient about the return of international travel, stating, again, Australia is the “envy of the world” with the lack of internal restrictions and Covid.

And that’s the end of the press conference.

Morrison would not say how much Pfizer vaccine supply is currently in the country, or how much is arriving per week. He did say it was lifting, but that was it.

He says our vaccination rate is the same as Europe, and better than South Korea, Japan and France (which is part of Europe).

On the national cabinet meeting this afternoon, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, says there is a strong argument to bring forward the vaccination of over 50s using the AstraZeneca vaccine supply, but says he will work with the premiers and chief ministers about that in the meeting this afternoon:

There are strong, strong arguments for the bringing forward of over 50s with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a safe and effective vaccine for those aged over 50 and particularly important for those aged over 70 who are already in that priority group that we need to ensure are getting vaccinated across the country to protect them. Because we know if you’re aged over 70 you’re at terrible risk, we saw that with the outbreak in Victoria.

Australia has currently put 1.586m vaccinations into arms so far. Morrison said mass vaccination hubs would depend on supply of the Pfizer and Novavax vaccines, not due until Q4 this year.

Here are the themes of the consultation on the terms of reference for the royal commission into veterans’ suicides put out by the prime minister’s office just as he started speaking:

Systemic issues and analysis of the contributing risk factors relevant to defence and veteran death by suicide, including:

• Contribution of pre-service, service (including training), transition and post-service issues.
• The relevance of issues such as service, posting history and rank of the defence member or veteran.
• The manner of the recruitment of the person into the Australian defence force.
• The manner in which a person transitioned from the Australian defence force.
• The availability, quality and effectiveness of health, wellbeing and support services.
• How information about individuals is shared by and within the government.
• How matters of individuals’ mental and physical health are captured during enlistment and during and after service.
• The quality and availability of support services for families, friends and colleagues affected by a defence and veteran death by suicide.
• The risk factors of defence members and veterans who have attempted or contemplated suicide or have other lived experiences of suicide.

The protective and rehabilitative factors for defence members and veterans who have attempted or contemplated suicide or have other lived experiences of suicide.

The engagement of defence members and veterans with commonwealth, state or territory governments about support services, claims or entitlements.

The royal commission will be asked to make any recommendations, including recommendations about any policy, legislative, administrative or structural reforms.

Morrison says the royal commission on veterans’ suicides could take between 18 months and two years to complete from July:

It would take the royal commission, I anticipate, somewhere between 18 months and two years to complete. That’s based on the breadth of the terms of reference that are before us and our experience in dealing with other royal commissions. We’ve seen in disabilities and aged care in particular, this will take some time I think to work through the many issues that I know families and veterans will want to raise. So we’re making that time available. I would hope that that would, at the latest, be able to be up and running at the start of the next – in July, and it may well be able to be established before then.

But he says the government will make more announcements in this area before then, including in the budget in a couple of weeks.

Morrison is asked whether he was dragged to this position after members of his own government crossed the floor of parliament to vote for a motion for the royal commission.

He said he was never opposed to one, but wanted to get things right:

I’m just seeking to get things down, Andrew. That’s what’s always driven me on this issue. I’m pragmatic to get the right outcomes for veterans. That’s what we’re doing right here. This is what’s important – getting the commission in place to address the many issues that I know families want to be able to engage with a commission, to tell those stories, to say what happened, to share that experience. And to ensure that the government continues to learn from each and every experience. The national commissioner will do that, the royal commission will do that. They will work together. That’s what we’re achieving here. We’re combining these initiatives together. We’re working together to achieve what I believe families and veterans want achieved. That’s what a government should do. That’s what I am doing.