Australia news LIVE NSW records 283 new local COVID-19 cases one death Tamworth to enter one-week lockdown regional Victoria to exit lockdown as state records 11 new cases

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Commander Deb Robertson is providing an update about how police will handle the different restrictions between metropolitan and regional Victoria.

If you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of today so far:

NSW recorded 283 new local COVID-19 cases, including at least 106 infectious in the community. Tamworth region is going into a seven-day lockdown. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would rather prioritise giving residents freedoms through high vaccination rates and some eased restrictions than pursuing a zero COVID strategy to encourage other state to reopen their borders. Year 12 students have begun receiving Pfizer vaccinations at a new mass hub.

Victoria recorded 11 new local cases and the state’s regional areas will be released from lockdown. But Premier Daniel Andrews warned Melburnians not to leave the metropolitan area without a lawful reason.

Queensland recorded four local cases and found a link to the Cairns case which sparked a three-day lockdown.

Job vacancies plummeted by more than 10 per cent in NSW over July as the lockdown started to hit employers and derail the nation’s economic recovery.

The National Skills Commission’s Internet Vacancy Index recorded the second consecutive monthly decline in online job advertisements last month, with a 3 per cent fall to 232,600. This is down from a 12-year high in May after a faster than expected recovery in the labour market.

NSW was the hardest hit with 8100 fewer job advertisements in July, or a 10.3 per cent fall. This was twice the rate of the Northern Territory, which was the second worst performer.

Victorian job advertisements increased by 3.9 per cent over the month, following a 4.2 per cent fall in June. South Australia had a 4.5 per cent decline in July, followed by the ACT with a 2.6 per cent drop. Queensland and Western Australia recorded 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent falls in job advertisements respectively. There was no change in Tasmania.

Recruitment is still above pre-pandemic levels, with Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia outperforming the most.

Economists are expecting the latest lockdowns in Sydney to cost NSW tens of thousands of jobs a week, with the most significant effects showing up as reduced hours and lower workforce participation.

On the first day the AstraZeneca vaccine has been made available to under-40s at Victoria’s mass vaccination hubs, the number of people lining up to receive their jabs in Carlton, on the northern edge of Melbourne’s CBD, wasn’t unusually large.

With the site fully booked, health staff aren’t offering any walk-up vaccines for Victorians eager to take advantage of the Andrews government’s policy change.

Retail worker Dara Knowles receiving his first AstraZeneca jab earlier this morning. Credit:Penny Stephens

For 39-year-old retail worker Dara Knowles, it was the prospect of being able to safely visit his parents his Sydney that made him come forward to get the jab on Monday morning.

“My parents are really, really old and live in Sydney â€" I haven’t seen them since 2019,” he said.

He said he also wanted to be vaccinated to protect colleagues at work, given outbreaks have often struck retail outlets and workplaces that interface directly with the public.

Not surprisingly, the line for Pfizer still dwarfed AstraZeneca. The number of available appointments for AstraZeneca, only about 400, was much less than the number of people booked in to get Pfizer at the same facility, at about 2000, according to staff on site.

Simon Maher, 31, who is immunocompromised, was getting his second dose of AstraZeneca. He said that, when he was waiting the 15 minutes after the jab, it felt like his ticket out of the pandemic.

“It felt really good. It’s great to know that this is my ticket forward.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been forced to defend the government’s tough stance on people coming into the state from NSW.

Journalists told the Premier about the case of an unnamed woman who was attempting to enter Victoria to assist with a family member who is going through chemotherapy, and whose application for a permit on compassionate grounds was rejected.

Mr Andrews said it was not him that made decisions about “who is in or out”, but that in considering these applications, public servants do not take a “tick and flick” approach to either granting or denying an application for a travel permit from a red zone.

“I won’t interfere in that process,” he said.

“We send our best wishes to that family and there may be other ways that we can provide support to that family, but it is one of many difficult decisions that have had to be made because we can’t have this virus.

“We can’t have any more of these incursions, because we know what it means. Even a small number of cases will mean the state’s locked down.”

Mr Andrews said it was a delicate balancing act.

“Without … trying to minimise the difficult journey that that family’s going through, but [being] locked down for the whole state is really tough as well, for everybody.”

After being asked if some areas with low case numbers and higher vaccination rates â€" such as Sydney’s lower north shore â€" would be able to exit lockdown before other parts of the city (a policy that would favour wealthier areas), NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was not that simple.

“The biggest threat, as the health experts say to us, is what we call seeding or transferring the virus through workplaces,” the Premier said, noting thousands of residents in the suburbs of concern in south-west and western Sydney were authorised workers who travel across the city for employment.

“While you have authorised workers that have high rates of non-vaccination, that is a risk to all of us,” she said.

The Premier said this was why higher vaccination rates across Sydney would be crucial to reopening.

“You can’t just look at rates of vaccination in one suburb and the number of cases in isolation because we’re all connected.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she would rather prioritise giving her state’s residents freedoms through high vaccination rates than pursue a zero-COVID strategy to encourage other states to reopen their borders.

“I think it’s pretty predictable what the other states will do,” the Premier said. “I don’t know about you guys but I don’t think any state premier will change their position on that.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has clarified her position on vaccines and state borders. Royal Prince Alfred Hospital ICU doctor Richard Totaro watches on.Credit:Edwina Pickles

The Premier said she wanted NSW to be the first to hit national cabinet’s vaccination targets of 70 per cent and 80 per cent and said easing of restrictions at these rates were supported by the Doherty modelling used by national cabinet.

“We’re not intending to overstep our mark beyond what that report allows all the states to do; that report obviously allows certain freedoms at 70 per cent vaccination, at 80 per cent vaccination,” she said.

She added that her plan for “lockdown plus easing” at 50 per cent vaccination was “very different” from the level of freedom recommended by the Doherty Institute at those higher rates.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has reiterated his plea for NSW health officials to establish a “ring of steel” measure around Sydney to contain the city’s outbreak.

“There should be a ring of steel around Sydney,” he said. “Then we wouldn’t have to be defending our border as much as we are, but that’s the decision of the New South Wales government.”

“Ring of steel” roadblocks became a fixture on Melbourne’s perimeter for four months in 2020.Credit:Jason South

By ring of steel, the Premier is referring to the roadblocks and police checks that encircled Greater Melbourne’s exit points during last year’s long lockdown in a bid to protect regional Victoria and, by extension, other states and territories.

Mr Andrews also urged people living in Melbourne to do the right thing for the remainder of the city’s lockdown.

“The main thing that we can do is make the best choices, choices that contain this thing, not potentially spread it,” he said.

“We need to get down to a very low number of cases, if any, that have been out in the community during their infectious period.

“That’s when we’ll have the best chance of opening up and staying open.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has clarified exactly what she means when she says she wants 6 million shots to be administered in her state by the end of Greater Sydney’s lockdown extension on August 28.

The Premier said this was not necessarily 6 million first doses, but 6 million doses administered overall. The state government estimates 12 million doses will be needed to fully vaccinate residents aged 16 and over.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian preparing to address the media at today’s COVID-19 press conference.Credit:Edwina Pickles

“That could very well be that we have, maybe, 60 per cent of first doses and 40-something per cent of second doses,” she said.

Ms Berejiklian stressed any easing of restrictions would also depend on case numbers in the state.

Asked if she would consider easing more restrictions in areas with higher vaccination rates, the Premier said her government was considering a number of options but “obviously what we’re keen to see is vaccination rates go up across the state”.

“But in particular, we will have greater confidence in opening up things if the vaccination rate in those areas of concern increases, because we know that if we get the vaccination rate up in those areas of concern it reduces the likelihood of having the spread continue the way it is,” she said.

“At the moment we’re seeing if you’re not vaccinated, and you have a large family, you’re likely to go home and give it to every single member of your family.”

Premier Daniel Andrews is strongly urging Melburnians not to violate restrictions and go to regional Victoria now that those areas are coming out of lockdown from midnight tonight.

“Don’t try and head to regional Victoria unless you are entitled to and eligible to do that,” he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Paul Jeffers

“Don’t be putting yourself in a situation where a shopkeeper is going to have to ask you [where you’ve come from] or Victoria Police member is going to pull you over to have to ask you and your answer … will not be a valid answer.”

Mr Andrews reminded people contemplating a change of scene that fines are heavy for those who head to regional Victoria without a valid reason.

Victoria Police can issue on-the-spot fines of up to $1817 to adults who refuse or fail to comply with public health orders.

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