Urgent genomic testing is underway to determine if COVID-positive passengers who have arrived in Sydney from southern Africa are carrying the Omicron variant. Australian states and territories yesterday reinstated border rules in response to the new Omicron strain, which was first identified in southern Africa and has since been detected in several countries around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) …

Six people including an infant have been rescued from floodwaters in southern Queensland, with a major flood warning current for the Logan and Albert rivers. The people were all rescued late on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday after entering floodwaters despite official warnings. The alerts were issued after the body of a man was found in a …

The Northern Territory has two new COVID-19 cases, one an arrival on a repatriation flight from South Africa where the new and heavily mutated Omicron variant has been detected. Authorities as yet have no genomic sequencing in relation to the passenger’s infection strain, Health Minister Natasha Fyles says. However the person has been in supervised quarantine at the national Howard Springs …

Federal Labor says it would welcome an election fight on the cost of living, saying the cost of petrol alone to the average family was gobbling up any real wages growth. Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been “lying” about the economy and that this has had “real consequences” for families. “If [Mr Morrison] wants to have …

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has been awarded $35,000 in a defamation action against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi over a tweet that accused him of being “a rape apologist”. The now-deleted tweet was accompanied by a link to a story published in The Guardian in 2019, containing comments Mr Dutton made about women on Nauru when he was Home Affairs Minister. Mr Bazzi had denied defaming Mr Dutton, …

After Najm Eldin Turgem and his wife Khadija Ibrahim arrived in Australia as refugees, the Sudanese community formed the bedrock of the life they were building. Now the couple is trying to come to terms with the tragic deaths of four of their five children in a house fire that tore through their Werribee home at the weekend and the …

Victoria has recorded 1173 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and nine more people have died a day after protesters celebrated being “superspreaders”. The health department confirmed on Sunday the state is now managing 16,413 active cases. There are 568 Victorians in hospital, of whom 96 are in intensive care including 63 on ventilators. The numbers are slightly down from Saturday. …

As children in the United States begin to get their first COVID-19 vaccinations, Australia’s leaders will be discussing vaccinating Australian kids. The premiers, chief ministers and Prime Minister will be coming together today for their regular National Cabinet meeting to discuss issues related to the pandemic. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged that he wants to talk about plans for …

4.11.2021 NSW: There are 308 new local cases of COVID-19 in NSW and four deaths, ending a week of daily infection numbers below 300. The new cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday from 94,661 tests. The figures mark a jump of 118 infections — a day after Premier Dominic Perrottet warned to expect daily cases …

On the day Australians gamble more than any other, the Prime Minister is having a punt, too. Australians have just dropped around $200 million in bets on which horse would take out the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse. In the wee hours on the other side of the world, Scott Morrison set out his wager, an each-way bet that $20 billion …