THE NUMERO UNO STORY

Gladys Berejiklian has pledged to stay on as NSW premier following ICAC revelations over her secret, five-year relationship with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire. She has received vocal support from senior Liberals, but, according to The Australian ($), there were some backbenchers that initially mobilised against her.

The ABC explains that Maquire, who is currently under investigation over allegations he used his position to help property developers including the Waterhouse racing family, shared information with Berejiklian relating to debt, lobbying, and commissions on lands deals. The premier maintained she would not have financially benefited from the relationship and expected him to make appropriate disclosures, while Maguire himself is set to appear on Wednesday.

QUEENSLAND CORNER: For a much less subtle political affair, The Australian ($) reports that Clive Palmer’s private company Mineralogy has paid the election sign-up fees for United Australia Party candidates, one third of whom are either employees or relatives.

A TOUGH CALL

Berejiklian wasn’t the only premier to withstand leadership rumblings yesterday, with The Guardian reporting that Dan Andrews rebuffed questions from journalists citing anonymous complaints from Labor MPs following the resignation of his top public servant Chris Eccles.

The now-former head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet noted in his announcement yesterday that, following a request for phone records from the hotel quarantine inquiry, he called former Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton on March 27; while Eccles had earlier told the inquiry he could not recall if he had spoken to Ashton on the day the scheme was set up, The Mandarin explains he maintains he did not make the crucial decision to use private security as front-line quarantine guards.

Elsewhere, The Age reports that, at a 14-day average of 9.9 daily cases, it is now mathematically impossible for Victoria to meet an initial threshold of an average of less than five daily cases this Sunday, while Andrews has announced that modified restrictions could focus on the “social space rather than economic easing”. Epidemiologists suggest that the 5km rule could be first to go, but plans to allow household gatherings of up to five people may have to be ruled out due to the risk of household transmission.

SCIENCE CORNER: According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Medical Association Victoria, Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association and other healthcare experts have hit out at the federal Health Department’s refusal to acknowledge COVID-19 can spread through the air and claimed that this refusal potentially risks the lives of medical workers. Governments such as in the UK and, now, the US currently warn of airborne transmission via tiny particles (as opposed to droplets via coughs, sneezes etc).

THE COAL ISSUE WITH CHINA

According to The Age, the Morrison government is preparing to expand foreign aid programs in south-east Asia to both help support their economies and challenge China’s growing influence in the region.

The news comes as detained Australian writer and alleged spy Yang Hengjun begins his trial in Beijing, AAP reports.

Elsewhere, The Guardian reports that China’s customs authorities have told several state-owned steelmakers and power plants to halt imports on Australian coal, although Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has played down the news and noted that Australia has “previously faced occasional disruptions to trade flows with China”. Which, going by our track record, Australia is likely to be told right up until these bans become permanent.

PS: In other regional news, The NT News ($) reports that 160 more seasonal workers will arrive from Vanuatu in Darwin today.

MOMENT OF TRUTH: BEGGINING OF THE END FOR 'ROE V WADE'?

Finally, CNN reports that US senate hearings have begun for Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, who the Republican-controlled body is set to rush through ahead of the November 3 election — rather than, in one glaring example, touching the multiple COVID-19 stimulus bills passed by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.

CNN also notes that Trump has claimed, without any evidence, that he has tested “totally negative” to COVID-19. He also earned himself another Twitter warning — but no response, notably, from Facebook — after falsely alleging he is “immune” to the disease.

Finally, ABC reports that head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci has claimed the Trump campaign has taken his comments praising elements of the national response as “out of context”, and maintained he does not endorse political candidates.