GUARDED RESPONSE

More than 65 close contacts of the Perth security guard infected with a UK COVID-19 variant have been quarantined, the ABC reports. As the state awaits news of secondary infections, WA Police and the state government have announced reviews into the quarantine outbreak, and the list of hotspots has been updated to include an ARENA supermarket in the CBD from 2-3pm Wednesday, January 27.

Elsewhere, The Australian ($) reveals that WA officials took more than 11 hours to inform federal and state counterparts about the case, a ­possible breach of pandemic ­protocols, while WAToday notes that WA Police have arrested and charged a man for refusing to wear a mask.

A senior industry insider has also told The West Australian ($) that international students, denied JobKeeper and JobSeeker, are getting paid cash in hand as security guards to not breach visa conditions and are sharing IDs to work second jobs to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, both the latest Newspoll ($) and Guardian Essential poll have shown promising support for the forthcoming vaccine rollout, with the former showing 75% of respondents would either definitely or probably get vaccinated while the latter suggests 68% believe Australia’s program will be done efficiently while 72% are confident it will be done safely.

PS: In less encouraging vaccine news, The Age reports that AstraZeneca is awaiting fresh data on its vaccine’s ability to combat the emerging South African strain, after Johnson & Johnson and Novavax reported early-stage clinical trial data showed their vaccines provided between 49 and 57% protection against the variant.

NET-ZERO FIDDLES WHILE HOME BURNS

Scott Morrison yesterday told the National Press Club he would like Australia to hit net-zero emissions by 2050, a soft pledge currently supported by every state and territory — and one that Crikey has explained before is tempting for do-nothing governments and businesses with little in the way of plans this decade — but also one The Australian ($) notes could inflame divisions within the Coalition.

He also emphasised his government would not “tax our way” to the target, despite carbon pricing being the most efficient means of decarbonisation, but rely on “new” technologies (see: the Technology Roadmap furphy); low-cost hydrogen; and, as AFR ($) notes in a win for the Nationals, a national soils strategy for carbon sequestration.

In other NPC moments, Morrison also laughed off questions about Craig Kelly repeatedly spreading COVID-19 misinformation, telling journalists to get their information from doctors not Facebook. For a neat comparison, check out how Kelly has enjoyed roughly seven times the Facebook reach of the federal health department since August (via Gizmodo’s Cam Wilson).

PS: Yahoo News reports that China yesterday launched a carbon trading system as part of its work towards a 2060 net-zero target, as if we needed a reminder of just how far behind Australia is right now.

COUP IN MYANMAR

Finally, leader of Myanmar’s democratically elected ruling party Aung San Suu Kyi has called on compatriots to protest against military control following yesterday’s coup, while the ABC reports the military declared it intends to hold control for one year after crushing what would have been the country’s new parliament’s first meeting session since the November election.

Scott Morrison and Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne expressed concern over the events, with Payne calling on the military to release all civilian leaders and to “resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms”,  although Morrison failed to directly criticise the military.

CONTEXT CORNER: Note that the Coalition government has never been particularly critical of Myanmar’s military, splashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2017 and 2018 in training programs despite reports of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya people.