AllaboutGoldCoast

The federal government has begun urgent discussions with Ford to help boost ventilator stocks and is investigating whether veterinary equipment and sleep apnoea machines can be converted for use in the Covid-19 pandemic. The coronavirus crisis is placing immense pressure on the global availability of ventilators, which are needed to pump oxygen into the failing lungs of critically ill patients. Italy’s swamped hospitals have found themselves with ventilator shortages, forcing doctors to make heart-wrenching decisions, while in New York, mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the city needed 15,000 ventilators urgently or its death toll would spike. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-ventilators-australian-government-asks-carmaker-ford-for-help-in-boosting-production

Unlike many Australian workers who are now allowed to work from home during the coronavirus shutdown, pharmacist Lachlan Rose’s daily routine hasn’t changed. He manages Manly Vale Pharmacy in Sydney’s north and told SBS News since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia, he has continued to turn up for work and he and his colleagues have been run off their feet. Read more:  https://www.sbs.com.au/news/who-is-deemed-an-essential-worker-under-australia-s-covid-19-rules

Netflix has agreed to reduce the data it uses to stream movies and TV shows across Australia as more and more people are working from home due to the coronavirus shutdown. But what will it mean for your viewing habits while you’re staying at home? What is Netflix doing? In Australia (but also New Zealand, Europe, India, Israel, Argentina and Chile) Netflix has agreed, for the next month, to reduce its traffic by 25% across its entire service, for ultra-high, high, or standard definition. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/26/netflix-is-reducing-streaming-quality-amid-coronavirus-how-will-it-affect-viewing-in-australia

For a fresh perspective on the stories that matter for Australian business and politics, sign up for our new weekly newsletter. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is trying to thread the needle as he battles to save the economy and contain a health crisis as coronavirus cases surge in Australia. As leaders the world over are discovering, something may have to give. “We’re dealing with a health crisis that has caused an economic crisis,” Morrison said after an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet late Tuesday. “Lives are at risk in both cases,” he added, citing the toll that financial ruin would take on Australians. Read more:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/warning-of-economic-crisis-australia-avoids-full-virus-lockdown

After seven consecutive days of losses, the Australian sharemarket has bounced back. The ASX200 index was up 1.64 per cent in the first 30 minutes of trading on Tuesday morning, which is roughly a gain of $38 billion. The All Ordinaries rose 1.75 per cent. The rise follows massive gains in the US overnight, with the Dow Jones index jumping 5.1 per cent, which set a new single-day record. The rebound was triggered by expectations that central banks around the world would come to the rescue with interest rate cuts and other emergency measures to counter the devastating impact of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak. Read more:  https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-shares-shoot-up-16-billion-dollars-234820579.html

Governments may order mass vaccinations of entire suburbs, cities or groups of people; sports stadia may be sequestered as quarantine sites; and police could be ordered to guard critical medical supplies under Australia’s pandemic health plans. Under worst-case scenarios being contemplated by state and federal governments, forecasts say a pandemic outbreak could last up to 10 months, and 40% of the country’s workforce could be sidelined by illness or caring for family members. Australia’s GDP could take a 10% hit. The pandemic plans have not yet been scaled up to their highest levels: Australia remains in containment mode and governments have consistently said that Australia is well-placed to deal with any outbreaks. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/australias-coronavirus-pandemic-plan-mass-vaccinations-and-stadium-quarantine

Backpackers in Australia on working holiday visas may now be able to stay longer if they help out on farms that were affected by the bushfires. Previously, these visas let people work in the same place for six months - but that's just been upped to 12. Australia's acting minister for immigration says the new rules are about getting "as many boots on the ground as they need". And the new rules have been introduced with immediate effect. "These hard-working Australians have been hit by the recent bushfires, but from today they can employ backpackers for six months longer, helping them at a critical time in the recovery effort," said Alan Tudge in a statement. "It means working holiday makers can help rebuild homes, fences and farms, they can get onto properties and help with demolition, land clearing, and repairing dams, roads and railways." Read more:  https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51543231

Australia’s catastrophic bushfire season has done immense damage to Australia’s tourist industry. Then, just as heavy rain began to bring the situation under control, came the coronavirus outbreak in China – now the top source of international visitors to Australia. Tourism from China, already greatly reduced, ended with the ban on non-citizens travelling from China. Read more:  http://theconversation.com/this-time-is-different-australias-tourist-numbers-may-take-years-to-recover-131894

The prime minister’s department broke the law by inexplicably delaying a freedom of information request about allegations the former public service commissioner improperly aided the rightwing Institute of Public Affairs. Findings delivered by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in November found the department had failed to process the FOI in legal timeframes, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/27/prime-ministers-department-broke-the-law-delaying-foi-request-watchdog-finds

AUD/USD is struggling to cheer the upbeat forward-looking Aussie private sector capital expenditure (Capex) data released at 00:30 GMT. The seasonally adjusted estimate for total new capital expenditure fell by -2.8% in the December quarter 2019 compared to market expectations for 0.4% growth. December quarter's slide is preceded by a fall of -0.4% in the September quarter 2019, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Read more:  https://www.fxstreet.com/news/aud-usd-upbeat-australia-capex-estimates-fails-to-put-a-bid-under-the-aud-202002270044

The environmental activist Erin Brockovich has welcomed a class action settlement over potentially hazardous chemicals used in firefighting foam at three Australian defence bases. Shine Lawyers, which represents the actions at Oakey in Queensland and Katherine in the Northern Territory, said those affected were thrilled after a five-year wait for justice. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/27/pfas-class-action-settled-over-toxic-firefighting-foam-at-three-australian-defence-bases

"I want to leave and be with my husband," read the handwritten sign, held up to the camera and posted on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Its author - Nadila Wumaier, a member of China's Uighur Muslim minority - is reportedly under house arrest in China's western Xinjiang region with her two-year-old son. She wanted her message to be known, after a Chinese official went on Australian television and told audiences Ms Wumaier was in China by choice. Read more:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51631584

World Cup winners Alex Blackwell and Michael Clarke have urged fans to rally behind hosts Australia on the eve of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 that begins on Friday. The two former Australian captains gave a team of young girls from the St Ives Junior Cricket Club an experience to remember as they took the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Trophy to the top the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday. Clarke, who captained Australia to a Word Cup win on home soil in 2015 said the pressure of playing at home will be outweighed by the advantage of having home crowd support. Read more:  https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/1614989

Indigenous fire management practices handed down from generation to generation could be the answer to reducing Australia's catastrophic bushfires, a Darwin fire forum has been told. Devastating bushfires in the southern states destroyed millions of hectares of land this season and killed an estimated one billion animals. Read more:  https://www.sbs.com.au/news/northern-australia-s-burning-practices-could-be-the-answer-to-preventing-future-bushfire-disasters

SYDNEY - Australia is preparing to evacuate more than 200 of its citizens from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, in Yokohama, Japan.  They will face two weeks in isolation on their return home.   Also, the first group of Australian coronavirus evacuees from the Chinese city, Wuhan, has been released from quarantine. The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since February 3. Onboard the cruise liner have been about 3,700 passengers and crew, including dozens of Australian tourists. The ship has more than 450 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, including several Australians. It is the largest cluster of infections outside China, where the virus was first reported. Read more:  https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/australia-prepares-rescue-citizens-virus-hit-cruise-ship

At CleanTechnica, we like to feature all of the amazing clean energy projects taking place in Australia, despite hostility from the federal government. But there is trouble on the horizon. A lack of clear renewable energy policies from the Australian government and difficulty getting approval from the Australian Electricity Market Operator to connect new projects to the nation’s grid have many renewable energy developers ready to pull the plug on further investments in Australia. According to PV Magazine, during a webinar put on last week by Australia’s Smart Energy Council, government relations manager Wayne Smith said, “They’re done. The sovereign risk in Australia is too great.” During the presentation, Oliver Yates, the former CEO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, said the combination of curtailments and connection failures, together with arbitrary rules governing access to Australia’s transmission network, are all creating “an environment that is starting to become uninv...

BUCHAN, Australia (Reuters) - Returning from a morning feeding his sheep, Jeff McCole, a 70-year-old farmer, paused to take in the bittersweet scene – a few droplets of rain falling onto the remains of his fire-ravaged home. “Nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof,” he said, as he scanned the residue of a lifetime of memories scattered before him. By the old front door was a charred metal toy truck his grandchildren once raced down the verandah. Under the remains of the tin roof, a collection of books, his wife’s “pride and joy”, had been reduced to layers of feathery ash. And out back, the skeleton of a Valencia orange tree, planted by his mother 65 years ago, was now laden with baubles of charcoaled fruit. Read more:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-australia-rural-insigh/in-fire-hit-rural-australia-climate-debate-burns-deep-idUSKBN2050F5

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has thrown his support behind a climate action bill proposed by the independent Zali Steggall and has urged the major parties to put down the cudgels and support it. And the Australian Energy Council, representing major electricity and gas businesses, said the Steggall bill deserved to be seriously considered as it had the potential to deliver certainty and a path forward for the national economy. Cannon-Brookes said on Tuesday the Steggall proposal, unveiled this week, was “a smart bill, and the exact type of action we need to change Australia’s international reputation on climate”. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/11/mike-cannon-brookes-says-zali-steggalls-bill-could-repair-australias-reputation-on-climate

Former resources minister Matt Canavan repeatedly delayed releasing documents about his interactions with coal lobbyists until he resigned his post, rendering a freedom of information request void. The case again highlights a significant flaw in Australia’s FOI regime, which makes it exceedingly difficult to access documents held by a minister if they shift portfolios or resign. In November, the Australian Conservation Foundation sought access to all records of Canavan’s interactions with New Hope Coal and its lobbyists in the weeks leading up to the announcement of a crackdown on the use of secondary boycotts by environmental activists. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/11/canavan-delayed-releasing-documents-about-coal-lobby-interactions-before-resigning

Ben Woodward has seen some difficult times in the tourism industry, but the Cairns operator says the coronavirus outbreak threatens to beat the lot. “As an industry, we’ve come through crisis situations before, there’s been Sars, there’s been the GFC, there’s been the pilot strike, but it is looking like one of the worst crisis situations we’ve encountered as an industry.” Cairns and Port Trips and Attractions has more than 200 staff across its bus tours, nature parks and sanctuaries in far-north Queensland. Woodward, the company’s sales and marketing director, says cancellations started rolling in as soon as the Australian government imposed its ban on non-Australian citizens arriving from China, following China’s own cancellation of international tour groups leaving the country. Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/11/completely-dropped-off-australias-tourism-industry-braces-for-coronavirus-crisis