MOMENT OF TRUTH: WHAT COMES NEXT?

America is set for a wild two and a half months after Joe Biden yesterday secured the necessary 270 electoral collage votes and accepted he will become the country’s 46th president, while Donald Trump absolutely did not.

With the US breaking its own COVID-19 record for three days straight — topping 100,000 cases a day since Wednesday — Axios reports that one of Biden’s first acts as president-elect will be to announce a 12-member COVID-19 taskforce on Monday (US time). His campaign has also launched a new website, BuildBackBetter.com, which lists the pandemic and recession as core priorities along with tackling both climate change and systemic racism.

According to Politico, Biden then plans to press Congress on a COVID-19 bill guaranteeing paid sick leave, free testing and treatment, and resources for state governments and public health workers to suppress the virus and distribute any potential vaccine. The publication has also compiled a guide to potential cabinet nominees that includes a number of conservative figures in the likely event Democrats do not win two Georgia run-off elections, and therefore lose the Senate, on January 5.

Finally, The Washington Post ($) reports that Biden is preparing a slew of executive orders to reverse Trump’s policies such as the “Muslim ban”, crackdown on DREAMers (undocumented immigrants who entered the US as minors), and withdrawals from the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization.

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JUST PRETEND YOU DID

For his part, Trump has refused to concede and, surprising no one, continues to spread unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.

As SBS reports, this comes despite calls from allies to concede gracefully — including a truly sycophantic plea from Fox News host Laura Ingraham — even if, as CNN explains, the Murdoch media empire is still pushing certain anti-democracy conspiracies (and apparently refusing to call Biden “president-elect”).

Instead of taking this advice, however, The Sydney Morning Herald explains how Trump has launched a series of (apparently futile) legal challenges. Conversely, USAToday lists a number of potential lawsuits the president may face after leaving office on January 20, i.e. potential tax fraud.

NO TALK, NO ACTION

While Biden’s victory and promise to at least do something on climate change — i.e. net zero emissions from energy by 2035 — means the Morrison government has lost one of its last denialist allies, the AFR ($) reports that Scott Morrison has no plans to lift his relatively weak 2030 target (which we are not on track to meet without cheating via carryover credits), or commit to net zero 2050.

This again leaves genuine domestic action to the states, and, according to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian ($), the NSW government will today launch a landmark energy policy to incentivise the replacement of all coal-fired power plants with renewables by 2042. According to government forecasts, the budget measure will push household power prices down by $130 a year.

And in another reminder that conservative governments don’t actually have to be neutered by climate deniers, South Australian Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan last Friday announced a $60 million, two year energy efficiency scheme for government buildings.

STEP THREE IT

Melbourne today joins the rest of Victoria in loosening a series of restrictions under the government’s "Third Step", which will see the “ring of steel” between the two regions end, cinemas and gyms reopen with capacity limits, and a mandate on wearing masks in public remain.

The measure comes after Victoria recorded its ninth straight day of no new cases or deaths, although Melbourne still has two mystery cases from the last 14 days (October 23-November 5).

NSW yesterday announced its first day of no new cases since Thursday, November 5, as the ABC reports that five mystery cases emerged in the Southern Highlands and a health alert is issued for the Rouse Hill area, north-west Sydney, after COVID-19 traces were found in the local sewage system.

PS: As Melbourne steps out of lockdown today, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that global biotech company CSL will begin manufacturing millions of vials of one of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in Melbourne, in the hope trials will shortly demonstrate its effectiveness.

NAIDOC WEEK

Finally, with yesterday marking the start of NAIDOC week, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the NSW government will today announce an Australian-first, Country-specific reconciliation action plan to deliver jobs and recognition to the traditional owners of The Rocks, called Tallawoladah by the Cadigal people, and Darling Harbour, known as Tumbalong.

STATE WRAP: NT LAUNCHES JOBMAKER BOOSTER (TM)

• According to The NT News ($), Chief Minister Michael Gunner will announce a $7.8m “JobMaker Booster” in Tuesday’s Northern Territory budget that will complement the Morrison government’s JobMaker hiring credit by subsidising an extra $100 per week for employees aged 30 to 35 and, where the federal scheme’s age limit ends, providing a $200 per week subsidy for staff over 35. The subsidy will run for 12 months and employers will need to demonstrate the new hire increases their business’ full-time-equivalent count
• The NSW government has announced a $120 million preschool package to extend the existing free program for another year
• On Saturday, November 7, the Victorian government announced a $9.8 million healthcare worker wellbeing package
• Further south, the Tasmanian government has announced a “Summer Social” scheme that, from this Friday, November 13, means contact tracing in hospitality venues will be mandatory, “vertical drinking” — or drinking standing up — will be allowed in outdoor hospitality areas, and the number of visitors permitted at household gatherings will double to 40.