Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Health Minister Jenny Mikakos gave a press conference to discuss the ongoing surge in community transmissions of coronavirus in Melbourne.
Scroll through the timestamps below to specific parts of the press conference, including answers to reporter questions.
0:00 Premier’s opening remarks
7:11 Health Minister Jenny Mikakos explains the expansion of test sites
10:45 Final remarks from Daniel Andrews
ANSWERS TO REPORTER QUESTIONS
12:21 73 cases today, are they in these postcodes?
14:08 Why was the decision made to judge it on postcodes rather than individual suburbs. We are hearing people – from people in suburbs where they’ve had zero cases but because they are in a particular postcodes they are now in the lockdown?
15:45 We have been asking you questions about problems with hotel quarantine now for weeks, why has it taken the Government so long to address them and I guess even acknowledge that there was a problem?
17:38 You rejected the calls for independent oversight a few weeks ago – do you think that had you accepted the calls for that independent oversight, these problems might have been identified and acted upon earlier than they have been?
18:11 The issues were raised weeks ago so it is not fair to say it came up yesterday, the issues were raised weeks ago. Can’t you just admit this was a problem some time ago?
18:54 Who is responsible for overseeing security in hotel quarantine?
18:12 I put these questions to your office last week and they wouldn’t name the companies. Why won’t they name the companies?
19:25 What was the tender process for appointing those companies?
20:30 There are reports that NSW has rejected requests for direct flights between Sydney and Melbourne over the costs of hotels?
21:20 Hotel staff have been asked to self-isolate for two weeks. Companies say it’s due to changes around guidelines about the definition of ‘close contact’. What are these changes and the implications of them?
22:52 The NSW Health Minister has announced some pretty heavy penalties for people traveling to and from the hotspots. Couple of questions. Will Victoria consider penalties of that magnitude? And with these restrictions limited to those suburbs, will you raise with National Cabinet the QLD and NSW position, and whether this needs to be changed – that people from outside those hotspot areas can travel to and from those states?
22:35 Don’t you need to push back on National Cabinet re: the people not impacted with this latest outbreak?
26:54 School term goes back in the middle of this lockdown period, yesterday we spoke about some families about refusing the test. Can you understand parents are concerned about sending their kids back to school in locked-down areas, without other kids being tested?
28:55 Premier, for weeks you stood here and told us you couldn’t reopen schools, not because of the issue between child-adult transmission but because of the community interaction that schools being opened involved. Why has that changed?
31:44 The logistics of this lockdown – is there any way we can clear up confusion?
33:27 If people live in these zones but have to work elsewhere, are they restricted in their movements if they leave their home zone?
36:12 Will planned Black Lives Matter protests go ahead?
37:08 You said you flagged some possible additions to measures in schools like temperature checks, can you clarify those measures?
37:37 The figure of 42 unidentified cases seems quite concerning, is tracing them your main concern?
38:32 Has the genomic data shown that there’s been different strains of the virus spreading?
39:06 Should Victorians brace for additional work from home orders? And will support be provided for those ministers?
40:28 Where are you in terms of the planned changes for stamp duty?
41:57 QLD Labor put out an ad saying if they hadn’t closed the border Victorians would be ‘flooding’ Queensland. Do you take offence at that language?
43:14 Is it your understanding that some AFL players who live in these hotspot suburbs might not able to play?
43:57 Can you re-iterate what you’re expecting Victorians to do from midnight tonight?
45:19 Did the genomics sequence trace the origin of these outbreaks to one particular place?
Read more of the ABC Coronavirus liveblog here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-01/coronavirus-australia-live-news-covid-19-melbourne-lockdown/12406592
And read all of the ABC coverage on the coronavirus pandemic here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/story-streams/coronavirus/
For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY
You can watch more ABC News content on iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://ab.co/1svxLVE
Go deeper on our ABC News In-depth channel: https://ab.co/2lNeBn2
You can also like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/abcnews.au
Or follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/abcnews_au
Or even on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abcnews
