Australia Covid live news update: Victoria records 507 new cases and one death ahead of reopening roadmap release; pools to open across Sydney | Australia news

This is an interesting piece on the people for whom the end of Covid restrictions sparks fear rather than joy.

Racquel Sherry, 49 and based in Sydney, is immunocompromised and afraid.

In the roadmap to freedom, I hear nothing about people like me, other than as a qualifying postscript to the Covid deaths: ‘But they had an underlying health condition’.

Freedom day doesn’t include me.

The federal government is prepared to lease nuclear submarines from the US while its own fleet is being built, defence minister Peter Dutton has said.

Asked on Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program whether the government would consider leasing nuclear submarines in the interim, Dutton said: “The short answer is yes”.

There is all of that discussion to take place in the next 12 to 18 months.

The talk that you can just buy a nuclear-powered submarine off the shelf, of course, is just not accurate or correct.

AAP reports Dutton said the Chinese are pumping out submarines, frigates and aircraft carriers at a record rate and so the rest of the world has stepped up its own production.

That unfortunately is the dynamic we are operating in at the moment.

However, Australia’s decision has caused a stir in the region, and backlash from the French.

The scrapping of the $90bn diesel submarine deal between Australia and France has prompted the European nation to recall its Australian ambassador. Dutton said he understands why the French are upset, but said the government had to act in Australia’s national interest.

Given the changing circumstances in the Indo-Pacific, not just now but over the coming years, we had to make a decision that was in our national interest, and that’s exactly what we have done.

But he said suggestions that concerns over the French model had not been flagged by the Australian government, “just defy frankly what is on the public record and certainly what was said publicly over a long period of time”.

The Australian Workers Union wants the NSW government to consider scrapping the five client per premises rule for hair and beauty services ahead of next month’s reopening.

Along with the Australian Hair Council, the AWU says the rule will result in thousands of workers left unemployed. Daniel Walton, the AWU National Secretary, says:

Our members were among the first forced to close and have been without work for almost 12 weeks. This cap will make it even harder for them to recover from the financial devastation they have already experienced.

We are deeply concerned that as an unintended consequence of this rule, many small and medium sized businesses will fail, resulting in thousands of workers left unemployed and ineligible for government financial assistance.

If you’re still catching up on the latest twist in Christian Porter’s ongoing travails, my colleague Paul Karp has written this helpful explainer on the blind trust and why it matters.

Birmingham is asked about Christian Porter’s disclosure that a blind trust paid part of his personal legal fees.

Birmingham says he won’t offer a personal opinions, but concedes the disclosure is “unusual” and “raises some serious questions”.

The prime minister has done the right thing by acknowledging that this instance raises some serious questions. That’s why he has asked for precise and proper advice from his department, and I look forward to that being received and the prime minister will, no doubt, then act on that advice accordingly.

Birmingham also concedes the government doesn’t know how much the nuclear submarines they have now committed to buy actually cost.

Speers asks whether that means the government has signed a blank cheque, to which the minister replies that the government will be looking to buy the submarines “within the most efficient cost, and also the most efficient time frame”.

There’s an obvious question here, and Speers asks it. By committing to buying the submarines without knowing the cost, hasn’t the government rather weakened its bargaining position? Birmingham says no:

No, David. As I said, they [the US and UK] have strategic interests themselves in ensuring that Australia has this capability. And capability not only to operate them, but to be able to build and sustain them. That’s an important part of the nuclear stewardship arrangement but it is also a crucial part as allies and partners, increasing our overall shared capabilities [to] have increased presence in the region to provide the balance, to provide regional peace and security and support for international norms and laws into the future.

On Insiders, the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is being asked about the new submarine deal.

Host David Speers is asking him about the $2.4bn the government has already spent on the submarines deal with the French that has now been scrapped.

Birmingham says that money has “enhanced Australia’s skills and capabilities in a number of ways”, but Speers points out quite a bit of it has been spent building things we no longer need in France.

“Some of it ensures that we start the new program with better skills, better capabilities. But indeed, some of it is a sunk cost,” Birmingham concedes.

The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has obviously decided she needs to be accountable today, and will hold a press conference at 11am.

We understand it’s to announce the opening of outdoor pools from Monday week, as well as potentially some other loosening in those hotspot LGAs.

As we know, today’s the day Victoria will find out what life will look like beyond the 70% double vaccination mark.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, has tried to manage expectations in the lead up, but we expect some changes around travel restrictions and rules about hospitality venues.

The talk out of Victoria is that the state will not announce the same level of easing as NSW has for its 70% mark, and I’m sure we’ll hear more about that from Andrews.

We don’t have a time for the announcement yet, but I’ll let you know when I know.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) wants governments to stop using vaccination as the only marker for easing public health restrictions.

The organisation’s federal body put out a statement this morning calling on national cabinet to approach the easing of measures “progressively and with caution” and to include “pause and assess periods” in its recovery plans “to ensure strong control of new infection numbers are maintained”.

Dr Omar Khorshid, the AMA president, said the updated Doherty modelling released late Friday underlines the need to be cautious when easing restrictions.

When implementing the national plan we must be realistic, careful and test each change and the impact of measures before moving to the next phase, given that there are thousands of Covid-19 cases in the community.

It must also take account of vulnerable communities, such as Indigenous and those in regional and rural areas, because the plan is only as good as the vaccination rates in those vulnerable communities.

Among its recommendations, the AMA says it wants communities dealing with large Covid outbreaks “to bring these under control by either keeping high impact public health measures in place for longer, and/or easing these measures at a slower pace than other parts of the country”.