HAVING A BIT OF AN AVERAGE TIME

With Melbourne’s 14-day rolling COVID average sitting at 9.3 ahead of the required October 19 threshold of five, the ABC reports that Dan Andrews has suggested the state could undertake reduced steps to reopening on select measures — i.e. outdoor group sizes and regional business restrictions — while, separately, introducing new rules. These include requiring fitted face masks, for close contacts to get tested on day 11 of quarantine or face a further 10 days on top of the existing 14 day quarantine, and for regional businesses to ensure customers are not from metropolitan Melbourne or else face increased fines of up to $9913.

As the state battles five non-aged care clusters — including Box Hill Hospital, Chadstone Shopping Centre, and a related outbreak at a Kilmore cafe, which inspired those increased fines for regional businesses — Andrews has also pledged to co-operate with a request from the hotel quarantine inquiry for phone records from the day of the scheme’s announcement.

Additionally, The Age reports that hospitality figure Julian Gerner has engaged top lawyers Bret Walker and Michael Wyles for a High Court legal challenge to the city’s lockdown, with a writ today set to challenge whether restrictions such as the 5km rule and essential worker permits are a disproportionate response and contrary to the implied constitutional rights of freedom of movement within states.

PS: While less headline-grabbing, Victoria’s health department quietly announced yesterday that all Box Hill staff that spent time on the COVID ward could undertake asymptomatic testing, after a curious initial requirement only for those who had spent 30 minutes or more.

WORKING ON JOBS

Following criticism that elements of the budget, including the youth wage subsidy, will not be enough to drive employment following the end of JobKeeper, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Scott Morrison has promised to “respond fast” if jobs do not eventuate.

Today, we have two illustrations of how and when these changes could play out:

• As business and welfare groups call for a permanent increase to JobSeeker — which got nothing in the budget despite the coronavirus supplement’s knock-on benefits and is currently set to return to its $40-a-day equivalent come January 2021 —  Josh Frydenberg has hinted to Insiders that the poor labour market may require a longer-term increase
• Conversely, the AFR ($) reports that Frydenberg has already asked Treasury and the Business Council of Australia to discuss ways to include larger companies that do not now qualify for new tax write-offs for the full value of their investments between now and June 2022.

However the government ends up tinkering with the budget, it looks set to be one of the most popular in a decade, with Newspoll ($) reporting that 42% of respondents believe it will be good for the economy compared to 20% who expect it to be bad.

PS: In not-unrelated news, The Guardian reports that a new Foodbank survey puts demand for food relief spiking 47% throughout COVID-19, driven largely by international students and casual workers i.e. groups excluded from JobKeeper and, at least for the former, JobSeeker.

MOMENT OF TRUTH: WHAT DID TRUMP SAY ABOUT KILLING SOMEONE ON FIFTH AVENUE?

Finally, the ABC reports that Donald Trump yesterday had his first public appearance since being released from hospital, addressing a few hundred supporters from a White House balcony, without a mask, just hours before his doctor Sean Conley claimed the president was “no longer considered a transmission risk to others”.

But as Trump heads back to the campaign trail, The New York Times reports that experts have questioned Conley’s statement, which does not claim the president has tested negative and only suggests his viral load was dropping but was still, apparently, detectable.

Additionally, the latest from the Times’ investigation into Trump’s financial record has unearthed over 200 companies, special-interest groups and foreign governments who — once Trump made it into the White House — patronised his properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration. Just 60 of these groups brought his family business nearly $12 million within the first two years of his presidency, almost all of whom saw their interests advanced in some fashion.