Crikey Worm: To breach his own

Good morning, early birds. South Australian health officials are calling for a large number of Adelaide residents to be tested after an infected man admitted to breaching quarantine, and as of yesterday evening, dozens of grass- and bushfires were still burning across NSW. It’s the news you need to know, with Chris Woods.

(Image: AAP/Kelly Barnes)

SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP

According to the ABC, South Australian health officials are calling for a large number of Adelaide residents to be tested — even if they do not have symptoms — after an infected man admitted to leaving quarantine and visiting several shops and businesses last Sunday, November 22.

The latest additions to SA Health’s list of times and locations include Big W Brickworks between 12:15pm and 12:50pm, Foodland at Norwood between 1:20pm and 2:00pm, and Kmart at Kurralta Park between 2:45pm and 3:00pm. People who visited at these times must seek testing immediately.

The man is believed to have caught the virus as a casual contact at the Intensive English Language Institute at Flinders University, and anyone who was at the Sturt campus between November 13 and 28 is also urged to get tested.

PS: As America braces for repercussions from Thanksgiving travel, USAToday reports the country already hit a new daily record of 205,557 cases on Friday. Additionally, CNBC cites new research that found lifting state eviction moratoriums caused as many as 433,700 excess cases and 10,700 additional deaths between March and September.

UNCOMFORTABLE CLIMATE

The ABC reports that, as of yesterday evening, dozens of grass- and bushfires were still burning across NSW as a cool change spread across the state following a record November heatwave.

Sydney’s Olympic Park beat its 2015 record with 41.6 degrees, while stations at Broken Hill airport, Albury airport, Griffith airport, Shellharbour airport, Narrandera airport and Yanco Agricultural Institute all exceeded 40 degrees.

PS: As the world continues to warm, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has warned the Australian Conservation Foundation to “immediately read the guide on political advocacy” and, as The Guardian explains, consider withdrawing its open letter of complaint over Angus Taylor’s lack of climate action.

We at Crikey Worm are confident we will be joined by our colleagues at News Corp in condemning this clear threat to freedom of speech.

POLL WATCH: MORRISON SITS PRETTY AS ALP MAKES SMALL GAINS

The latest Newspoll ($) has net-satisfaction for Scott Morrison at a four month high of 36 points, a figure that continues to eclipse Anthony Albanese who sits at three, and the Coalition holding steady on a two-party preferred basis of 51-49 against Labor.

The ALP however has made a slight gain with its primary vote moving from 35% to 36%, an increase that corresponds with One Nation falling one point to a 28+ month low of just 2%.

In other poll news, Griffith University and Transparency International Australia have released a survey that, as The Guardian explains, found that overall trust in federal governments grew across 2020 due to COVID-19, but that Australians increasingly view corruption as a major problem and decreasingly have faith in the federal government to handle it.

Finally, a survey by The Conversation and the Economic Society of Australia found 41 out of 45 top Australian economists want the Morrison government to permanently lift JobSeeker, with more than half calling for at least a $100 boost to the $287.25 weekly rate. The news comes as the government plans to end the coronavirus supplement in March and return the payment to around half the poverty rate.

VIS-à-VIS PARTNER VISAS

Up to 4000 partners of Australian citizens will no longer be forced fly out of the country and then re-enter in order to receive visas, following a temporary pandemic measure that The Sydney Morning Herald explains comes after a public campaign from couples and Labor.

The Morrison government announced the temporary change, which will be made to the bizarre bureaucratic requirement via regulations, ahead of Labor MP Julian Hill introducing a private member’s bill today that would allow subclass 309 partner visa applications to be temporarily granted while onshore.

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

A policy towards a rising China which offered nothing more than pecuniary ambition was never going to impress British allies.

… it indicated that the UK was no longer a global geopolitical player, just a trading nation. Nor was it a policy that was appropriate for a country that is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and therefore must carry an unusually heavy obligation to uphold the rules-based international system.

Alexander Downer

The then-foreign affairs minister that ordered ASIS to bug Timor-Leste’s cabinet to give Woodside an advantage over undersea gas and oil is really very disappointed that former UK governments prioritised trade over global politics.

Watching the painful decline of a once-respected premier

“Now we know why Gladys Berejiklian turned a blind eye to Daryl Maguire’s sleaze and grifting at the expense of taxpayers. It wasn’t because she was besotted with Maguire. It was because, seemingly, she believes misusing taxpayer funds is entirely legitimate.

“It wasn’t that she allowed her integrity to be besmirched by a romantic mistake — she had no integrity in the first place.”

Historic Noongar ‘treaty’ sparks call for reform of cultural heritage legislation

“A group of six claimant groups across Perth and south-west Western Australia have been granted a historic land rights settlement. Experts say it’s Australia’s first treaty with Indigenous people.

“The settlement covers 200,000 square kilometres and formalises six land-use agreements which recognise Noongar people as traditional owners of the land. It’s worth an estimated $1.3 billion and covers nearly 30,000 Noongar people.”

The unexpected health benefits of a pandemic

“One of the most fascinating aspects of the pandemic is the unexpected side effects. Not all of them are bad.

“The perturbations let us glimpse the possibilities of a new way of living and hint at how we might approach the future. The pertinent example in many people’s lives is the potential to work from home.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Australia prepares to escalate action against China to World Trade Organization over barley tariffs

Michael Sukkar tight-lipped on support for branch-stacking investigation

Ex-SAS leaders face scrutiny by Defence chief Angus Campbell ($)

NT Police find body in search for missing man Yun-Seob Shin in Central Australia

Victorian government bans school banking

State targets migrants, students and grey nomads for farm jobs

The mysterious silver monolith in the Utah desert has disappeared

Cruise industry to introduce tough new COVID-19 measures when ban lifts in December

Singapore woman gives birth to baby with coronavirus antibodies, report says

Pennsylvania high court throws out challenge to mail-in ballots

THE COMMENTARIAT

Appeal to the WTO the only way out of this unwinnable war ($) — Shiro Armstrong (The Australian Financial Review): “Australia should challenge the Chinese measures in the WTO. China may challenge Australia’s anti-dumping duties too. Both countries are part of the 23-member multi-party interim appeal arrangement (MPIA) workaround that enforces dispute settlement rulings in the WTO after the Trump administration neutered the WTO’s appellate body. Both countries have demonstrated their commitment to rules in signing the RCEP and joining the MPIA.”

The reading wars are over — and phonics has won — Sarah Mitchell (The Sydney Morning Herald): “Of all the debates in education, none are quite as absurd as the reading wars. On the one hand there are those who advocate for a phonics-based approach to reading instruction in the early years — making sure children understand sound-letter relationships so they can read words accurately without guessing from the context or pictures.”

Some words on character assassination — Paul McMillan (Paul’s Brain Gymnasium): “A lot has been written about News Corporation’s character assassination campaigns. They can provide a potent disincentive for people to enter public life and express views that differ from the papers’ positions. Names like Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Ros Ward are synonymous with the huge consequences News Corporation exacts on people expressing certain views in public. For over two years I’ve mulled over how I’d talk about the time this happened to me.”