Australia news LIVE COVID cases continue to grow in NSW and Queensland as lockdowns continue Victoria records two new local cases

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The chairman of Venues NSW, which has a portfolio of venues including the Sydney Cricket Ground, Bankwest Stadium and McDonald Jones Stadium, says people who don’t want to get a COVID-19 vaccine can watch sporting events on TV.

“My preference would be get vaccinated and come to the game, so you’d have everybody on the field vaccinated and everybody off the field vaccinated. I think the risk level then is very low and quite acceptable,” Tony Shepherd told radio station 2GB this morning.

Venues NSW chairman Tony Shepherd at the Sydney Cricket Ground.Credit:Gregg Porteous

Host Ben Fordham asked the chairman whether in practical terms that meant people who arrived at the stadium for an event without proof of vaccination would be turned away.

“That would be it,” Mr Shepherd replied. “Simple, very simple.”

He wants the government to make a call on the policy for 2022 but recognised it was about “freedom of choice”.

“My strong personal view - and I’ve workshopped this with a lot of people, family and what have you - is that why should people who have been vaccinated be compromised by having to sit next to people who are unvaccinated?

“I think it’s just a sensible precaution. I’m not forcing people to get vaccinated, it’s entirely up to them. If they want to watch the cricket, they can watch it on TV if they don’t want to have a vaccination.”

Mr Shepherd said it was the type of decision that needed to be made to return to a sense of normality and would not only help to bring people back to the games they love but encourage people to get vaccinated.

Lockdowns will become “a thing of the past” once Australia reaches 70 to 80 per cent vaccination, according to the Prime Minister.

Scott Morrison said while there may be unique circumstances where lockdowns are still needed â€" such as for outbreaks in remote Aboriginal communities â€" lockdowns would be broadly unnecessary.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the 70 per cent vaccination target can be reached before Christmas.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“We start saying goodbye to (lockdowns) at 70 per cent, and they become basically pretty much a thing of the past when we hit 80 per cent,” he told Brisbane radio station 4BC earlier this morning.

“There are new variants, so we will be careful, but that is it: they will become much less likely, and much more targeted too.

“We’ve seen our vaccination on double dose now more than doubled in the last month ... we’ve got our gold medal run through the end of the year to get this done.”

Mr Morrison noted the federal government could not legislate to incentivise more freedoms for those who are fully vaccinated, with orders needing to come from public health departments in each state. Tasmania, Victoria and Northern Territory are now working on recommendations for national cabinet around what advantages Australians with two doses of vaccine should receive, he said.

Mr Morrison also thanked those in lockdown in south-east Queensland, saying the only way to ensure longer lockdowns didn’t happen was to move quickly.

“It’s a difficult thing to go through these lockdowns, but people now know the drill, and sadly this is the drill we have to follow with the Delta variant. It’s changed everything,” he said.

A primary school in Sydney’s Hills District will be closed today after a confirmed COVID-19 exposure on site.

St Bernadette’s Primary School at Castle Hill will not be open for in-person learning after a person who recently attended the out-of-school hours care service tested positive to COVID-19, the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta said on social media.

“Families at the school have been contacted with further information,” the diocese said. “As always, the health and safety of the school community are our priority.”

The school is the second to be closed today, after Strathfield South Public School advised parents and carers it would be “non-operational effective immediately” after a member of the school community tested positive.

Year 12 students will return to schools in Greater Sydney on August 16 after a mass vaccination program for students in western and south-west Sydney. All other children will continue to learn from home for the remainder of the region’s lockdown, which has been extended to August 28.

A vaccination hub with a goal of administering 1000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses each day has opened in the grand ballroom of Bankstown Sports club in Sydney’s south-west.

The clinic is in operation every day from 8am to 5pm.

Bankstown Sports Club has offered its 1200sqm Ballroom to be converted into a vaccination clinic servicing the local community.Credit:Steven Siewert

“The local community has always been the backbone of Bankstown Sports and we have a strong sense of responsibility to do everything we can to ensure your safety and wellbeing,” the club said on Facebook.

Club chief executive Mark Condi told 2GB there is an online registration process but if you qualify for the AstraZeneca vaccine, “you can also just turn up”.

“We figured that the only way we can get our 600 staff back to work and our doors open is to meet the target that the government rightly said they want to reach,” he said.

“We thought the best way to get our staff back to work was to open our doors as a vaccination hub.”

Mr Condi said they had sent various communications in different languages to their 120,000 members regarding the vaccine availability.

The club, near the Bankstown train station and with on-site parking, is located at 8 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown.

Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.

The state has recorded two new, locally acquired cases of COVID-19. The Department of Health says both are linked to existing outbreaks and were in isolation for their entire infectious period.

Zero cases were detected in hotel quarantine. There are currently 134 active cases of coronavirus across Victoria.

Read more here.

In news just in, payments platform Square is set to acquire Afterpay in a $39 billion deal with Afterpay’s founders to stay on at the company.

Square will acquire all the shares in the Australian buy now, pay later company under a scheme of arrangement with an implied value of $US29 billion ($39 billion).

Afterpay’s Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen in Sydney. Credit:Eamon Gallagher

We’ll have more on this story shortly.

Chris Pang was really looking forward to MIFF’s opening night.

“Since COVID started I’ve been in a cinema exactly once,” says the Melbourne-based Crazy Rich Asians actor and MIFF ambassador.

“I was so looking forward to a good proper after-party with real people for the premiere of Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife. I had a new Hugo Boss suit ready and everything.”

Coming to screens near you: Ling Ang, Chris Pang and Al Cossar demonstrate some of the many ways MIFF will reach audiences this year.Credit:Jason South

Whether Pang gets to wheel out the sharp threads or not will very much depend on what happens with Victorian COVID restrictions between now and August 12, which is the new date for the Australian premiere of Purcell’s movie, and for the start of the in-cinema portion of the 69th Melbourne International Film Festival.

Read how one of Australia’s major film festivals is adapting to lingering COVID restrictions here.

Strathfield South Public School in Sydney’s inner west has advised parents and carers it will be “non-operational effective immediately” after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.

“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further advice,” an alert, emailed to school families this morning, states.

The closure is for the on-site attendance of staff and visitors to allow time for contact tracing and cleaning.

“NSW Health has requested anyone who has been unwell or if you develop any symptoms such as a fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of smell ... or extreme tiredness to be tested at one of the COVID-19 testing clinics.”

Belinda Hamilton, among the school’s principal staff, said the safety and wellbeing of staff and students “is of paramount importance to us at all times”.

“While we recognise this will be disruptive and inconvenient for families, it is important that we follow NSW Health advice and take all necessary precautions to minimise the risk of further transmission to support our community,” she said in the email.

Students in Sydney are learning from home during lockdown unless they need to attend on-site due to reasons including being children of essential workers.

A number of venues of concern in Strathfield were listed on a Sunday night alert from NSW Health.

Shane Warne is now isolating and will miss out coaching his cricket team London Spirit after testing positive for COVID-19.

The team was expected to face off against the Southern Brave at the famed Lord’s cricket ground today.

Former cricketer Shane Warne.Credit:AAP

“After feeling unwell this morning, Shane returned a positive lateral flow test and will isolate from the squad and support staff whilst he awaits PCR results,” a statement from the club said.

“No players have been impacted.”

A second member of the team’s management is isolating after also returning a positive COVID-19 test.

London Spirit is part of the newly-created The Hundred short-form cricket competition, which has eight teams across England and Wales. Each match spans just 100 balls.

The Queensland President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Chris Perry, was speaking to Nine’s Today show earlier this morning.

He was asked how long Brisbane’s lockdown will go for. In case you missed it, the city went into lockdown on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s what Dr Perry had to say:

“I don’t think it will stop tomorrow, but we hope it will. [The lockdown is causing] destruction to the community and the economy. But that is what we have to do to stop [the spread of Delta] from being even worse, we don’t want a lockdown that goes like a Victorian lockdown, we prefer one that goes a few days.

“We will take it one day at a time and see what happens this morning and tomorrow and hope it has been nipped in the bud.”

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