Australia news LIVE Verry Elleegant wins 2021 Melbourne Cup NSW eases more restrictions Victoria records 989 new local COVID-19 cases nine deaths

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COVID restrictions in NSW schools will ease slightly from next week, with assemblies and presentations allowed outdoors, day excursions permitted, and music ensembles and lessons back for instruments that can be played with a mask.

From Monday, community use of school sites can resume, while fully vaccinated volunteers will be allowed on site to help with the canteen or uniform shop.

Sport will be allowed between different year levels on campus, and inter-school sport will resume out of school hours. Dancing is also back on the cards.

The ban on using instruments that require air (such as brass and woodwind) comes despite the extremely low risk children face from COVID, and the fact that nightclubs can reopen dance floors.

Meanwhile, the NSW Education Department says about 4900 teachers in the public sector are yet to be fully vaccinated ahead of the deadline on Monday, when all school staff are required to have had both shots to be allowed onto school sites.

Read more here.

More than 16,000 Victorians are still without power, as providers work to repair damage caused by catastrophic winds and storms that lashed the state last week.

Retiree Michelle Gallant and her husband David Rose, who live near Montrose in the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne’s east, were among those who lost power on Friday morning.

There were plenty of these scenes in Melbourne last week. Credit:Joe Armao

They are facing another day reliant on a generator, which they're grateful they purchased after the Dandenongs were rocked by horrific storms that caused mass power outages in July. Ms Gallant and her husband lost power for six days then.

“For us, it’s inconvenient,” Ms Gallant said. “It’s costing us about $30 a day in unleaded petrol - I didn’t realise it would run into quite that much.”

Ms Gallant said while the generator keeps the fridge going and the lights on in the evening, there isn’t enough power to run the washing machine.

She is thankful that she and her husband didn’t have their home damaged in the winds, and said they would keep a close eye on the radar over the coming hours as they worried about more trees falling.

It's day five without power and water, too, for Amy Campion, as the water tank on her property relies on an electric pump. A large tree from her front yard took down power lines and, further down her street, another tree took down more wires and crushed a car.

At Healesville in the Yarra Valley, Gerry was looking at his power being restored at 11.59pm. In the last major storm before this one, he lost power for 10 days.

“It is becoming tedious that it takes [so] long to fix problems,” he wrote to The Age. “Clearly there are not sufficient people employed to do maintenance or emergency remediation.”

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said yesterday that some customers were likely to be without power until the end of the week.

Verry Elleegant has won the 2021 Melbourne Cup, with jockey James McDonald aboard for his first Cup victory.

The mare took the win ahead of pre-race favourite Incentivise in second and Spanish Mission in third.

Verry Elleegant wins the Melbourne Cup as jockey James McDonald is in disbelief at the victory.Credit:Getty

“I never thought I’d win one,” an emotional McDonald told Channel 10 after the race.

“I want to swear, I really do.”

Read more here or follow our live coverage here.

The Reserve Bank has started winding back the support it has used to prop up the Australian economy through the coronavirus recession, axing its policy to target the price of a key government bond.

Following its regular monthly meeting this afternoon, the RBA board left the official cash rate at 0.1 per cent and announced it would maintain its policy of buying $4 billion in government bonds a week until mid-February.

But in a sign of the economy’s improvement, bank governor Philip Lowe said the policy of targeting the yield on the three-year Australian government bond to stay at 0.1 per cent would end.

“The decision to discontinue the yield target reflects the improvement in the economy and the earlier than expected progress towards the inflation target,” he said.

Read more here.

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Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has stepped up to accuse Prime Minister Scott Morrison of “gaslighting and backgrounding” against French President Emmanuel Macron over the submarines deal.

One day after Mr Macron accused Mr Morrison on camera of lying about the deal, Mr Morrison cited secret text messages as proof that he gave the French leader fair warning the deal would be dumped.

Mr Albanese says the Prime Minister’s line that he won’t accept sledging against Australia was taking a personal criticism then “using this nation as a human shield”.

“The attempt at damage control by selectively leaking private text messages is quite an extraordinary step for an Australian prime minister to take,” Mr Albanese said.

“The leaking of this text message is a considerable escalation of the conflict.

“Diplomacy requires trust and it requires sombre engagement between leaders.”

He said Labor wants to see the relationship with France repaired, not an escalation of diplomatic hostilities.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has told embattled senior Liberal MP Tim Smith not to contest the 2022 election, after Mr Smith crashed his car into a family home while driving more than two times over the legal alcohol limit.

Mr Smith is considering his position but is yet to decide, Mr Guy told journalists this afternoon.

Mr Smith’s car being towed from the crash site.Credit:Olivia and Charlotte Neish

“I made it very clear to Tim that he wouldn’t find his way onto the front bench of any parliamentary Liberal Party that I lead. And I made it clear that I didn't want him to nominate at the next election and that I didn't believe he should nominate for the seat of Kew.

"Tim has and will reflect on my advice to him, he will then make a statement in his own time. I hope sooner rather than later."

The Opposition Leader said he expected Mr Smith to remain in the Victorian Parliament for the next 12 months, avoiding a by-election. Mr Smith has already resigned as shadow attorney-general in the fallout from the crash.

"I think enough damage has been done," Mr Guy said.

Mr Smith has faced internal pressure to resign from Parliament after crashing his car into a parked vehicle before ploughing into the wall of a Hawthorn home on Saturday night following a dinner with friends. He recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.131 â€" more than two and a half times the legal limit.

The plaster on the inside wall of the home â€" the bedroom of an 8-year-old child â€" cracked where the car hit. Mr Smith had his licence automatically suspended for 12 months. Victoria Police confirmed on Monday night the investigation was ongoing.

Victorian Opposition Leader Mathew Guy is due to hold a press conference around 12.30pm AEDT.

He is expected to touch on the political future of Liberal MP Tim Smith, who drove while over the legal blood-alcohol limit over the weekend (crashing his car into a house).

Watch below.

Queensland’s Acting Chief Health Officer says the state “can almost touch” its 80 per cent first-dose milestone as the state reports a seventh day without a person infectious in the community.

But Dr Peter Aitken told reporters this did not mean people could relax as the state pushes to vaccinate as many residents as it can ahead of the state border reopening to coronavirus hotspots within weeks.

“We’re inching closer to 80 per cent, we can almost touch it,” Dr Aitken said.

The state delivered 10,644 vaccinations in its own hubs yesterday, with 7183 tests statewide.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the vaccination figures gave some confidence about when the 70 and 80 per cent double-dose targets might be reached, which would trigger an earlier easing of border restrictions than the set November and December dates.

A total of 64.1 per cent of the over-16 population has received both doses.

But some shires are also still of concern to authorities. The Yarrabah council area near Cairns reported a 15 percentage point jump in its first-dose rate across the month â€" the highest statewide â€" but only 46.8 per cent have had at least one jab.

Only Cherbourg has a lower first-dose rate, which jumped only 7.5 percentage points in the same period.

Goondiwindi, on the NSW border, has become the first to pass 90 per cent.

A charge of “forcible touching” against troubled Collingwood star Jordan De Goey has been dropped, but New York prosecutors are still pursuing a charge of assault against him.

Prosecutors revealed on Tuesday that they would not pursue a charge of “forcible touching” “outside of clothing without permission or authority” of a 35-year-old woman at a Chelsea nightclub.

However, De Goey has still been charged with assault and harassment, having allegedly attacked a 37-year-man who came to the woman’s aid. The NYPD said De Goey had allegedly “punched with a closed fist and kicked a 37-year-old male causing pain and swelling. Continued to punch and kick victim while victim was on floor with a co-defendant”.

De Goey is still due to appear in court on December 8. If found guilty, he could do jail time. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Read the full story here.

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