POSITIVE RESULTS ARE A NEGATIVE THING

The partner of a Brisbane hotel cleaner infected with the UK variant of COVID-19 has tested positive after going into quarantine on January 7, the ABC reports, with restrictions nonetheless easing across Greater Brisbane last night and Queensland Health reporting three new exposure sites:

• Nextra Sunnybank Hills Newsagent, Tuesday January 5, 8-8:15am
• Bunnings Warehouse in Acacia Ridge, Tuesday January 5, 2-2:40pm
• Sunnybank Cellars on Hellawell Road, Sunnybank Hills, Wednesday January 6, 2:05-2:15pm.

Elsewhere, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has again ramped up pressure on the New South Wales government to pursue elimination after Sydney recorded three new cases, while The Guardian explains NSW Health yesterday added 17 new exposure sites across January 2-8 in Arndell Park (notably the Blacktown Workers Sports Club), Ashfield, Brookvale, Campsie, Hurlstone Park, Lakemba, Warriewood, and a return train journey between Hurlstone Park and Bankstown.

The cases come as WA maintains hard borders with Queensland, NSW, and Victoria, while the latter announced a new colour-coded permit system where greater Brisbane and Sydney remain banned “red zones” while regional NSW was moved to an “orange zone” where travel is allowed with testing and isolation (and, according to ABC, hotel quarantine for some unlucky early travellers).

In other domestic COVID-19 news:

• Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said a child who attended a Melbourne early learning centre then later tested positive in Israel may be a false positive, but the close contacts are still isolating and the centre has closed (ABC)
• While Queensland, NSW, and WA have announced plans to reduce caps on international arrivals, the Northern Territory has agreed to increase its intake from 500 to 850 people per fortnight (ABC)
• Restaurant and Catering chief executive Wes Lambert has called on premiers to introduce vouchers for the hospitality sector after state borders flattened a normally-lucrative holiday season (The Australian $).

PS: In a story you’d be forgiven for having completely blanked on, the ABC reports that Clive Palmer is still suing McGowan for alleged defamation despite his office issuing a statement on Sunday that the action had been withdrawn.

DON THROUGH THE MOTIONS

Following threats by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring an impeachment resolution to the floor this week unless Mike Pence invokes the 25th Amendment against Donald Trump, CNN reports that Democrats have formally unveiled the document charging the president with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s riots.

The impeachment article, which marks the party’s first step to bringing a potential impeachment vote, cites Trump’s repeated, made-up claims that he won the election, his speech to the crowd on January 6 ahead of their takeover of Capitol Hill, and his call urging the Georgia Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win.

The news comes as The New York Times reports that Republicans have objected to a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, meaning that the House would have to call a full vote on the measure on Tuesday. If Pence, who is believed to be opposed to the move, does not intervene “within 24 hours” and the president does not resign, the House will move as early as Wednesday to vote on the impeachment resolution.

Elsewhere, the New York State Bar Association announced it is investigating Rudy Giuliani over his  role in the “violent uprising”, while, amid a slew of new Capitol Hill arrests, The Guardian reports the US army is investigating a psychological operations officer for leading a group of people from North Carolina to the instigating Washington rally.

KOALATY CONTROL

Finally, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that koala advocates have slammed the Berejiklian government for backing without qualification just 11 of an upper house inquiry into the animal’s habitat and population’s 42 recommendations, with the government offering “support in principle” to 17 others and simply “noting” the remaining 14.

Months after the state government almost imploded over habitat land use laws it ultimately ditched, NSW Greens MP and chair of the committee Cate Faehrmann has said many key recommendations to prevent a 2050 state extinction crisis appear to have been rejected outright, for example urgently investigating the “utilisation of core koala habitat on private land and in state forests to replenish koala habitat lost in the bushfires”.