In fine form

AT LEAST ONE THING IS FINE IN VICTORIA

Victorian police issued hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines relating to breaches of coronavirus restrictions over the weekend.

On Saturday alone, police issued over $209,800 worth of fines in the course of checking 16,262 vehicles and conducting 4661 spot checks on people at homes, businesses and public places across the state. Altogether, 127 people were fined, for reasons ranging from a house party attended by 30 people in Kyabram, to five people gathering in a public place in Dandenong, to a fishing trip, to a butter chicken run.

The fines accompany the news that from midnight on Wednesday, police in Victoria will be issuing $200 fines to people caught not wearing face masks or coverings “where practicable”.

On Sunday, there were 363 new cases of COVID-19 and three further deaths reported in Victoria.

EAST OF EDEN

Meanwhile, New South Wales recorded 18 new cases on Sunday, leading experts to warn residents against non-essential travel and social gatherings

Acting national Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly warned the potential for virus transmission is higher in NSW than Melbourne.

Kelly said the reproduction rate, currently at 1 in Victoria as a result of ongoing lockdowns, was about 1.4 in NSW.

He was backed by James McCaw, the epidemiologist tracking the pandemic’s spread for federal and state governments, who argued more extreme restrictions could soon be necessary in NSW, given residents had been allowed more freedom of movement and were ignoring social distancing.

A total of eight people have now tested positive for COVID-19 on the NSW south coast, a cluster that is believed to be linked to the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club.

After two infected people dined at the club last week, the Southern NSW Local Health District confirmed on Sunday that six further people had tested positive in the town.

In this atmosphere, border restrictions continue to get tougher — from today, Western Australia’s exemption list for NSW arrivals will only include senior government officials, certain active military personnel, federal MPs and their staff.

Meanwhile, from midnight on Tuesday, NSW will enforce even tighter permit conditions for Victorian travellers wishing to enter the state.

A LOAN AGAIN, NATURALLY

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will today announce changes to the $40 billion loan scheme aimed at keeping small and medium businesses afloat through the recession.

The expanded scheme will offer companies four times the amounts previously available, up to $1 million, and the repayment period will be extended from three to five years. Employers initially applied for just $1.5 billion of the $40 billion on offer from the original scheme.

Around 3.5 million businesses will be covered by the scheme.

SEEKER KEEPER SOLDIER SPY

The government is being slightly more tight-lipped about what the “overhauled” JobKeeper program will look like. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann confirmed on Sky News on Sunday that the government would continue income support — with “some adjustments to the scheme to make sure it is appropriate for the next phase” — beyond the program’s original expiry date at the end of September, for businesses that “genuinely need it”.

Labor, the Greens, social services groups and the union movement are all arguing the scheme should stay in place. If only there were, I don’t know, some kind of process by which the government could debate the appropriate content and application of the scheme during the months to come?

Incidentally, Cormann didn’t clarify whether businesses that “genuinely need” JobKeeper will continue to include elite private schools, which, according to The Sunday Herald Sun, have received millions of dollars in JobKeeper subsidies.