Prime Minister Scott Morrison has challenged the Liberal premiers in Tasmania and South Australia to justify keeping their borders closed, as Pauline Hanson threatened to take the Queensland government to court. This is despite a death in Queensland, new cases in Melbourne and a blame game over the new cases in WA.
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A 30-year-old man from Queensland is Australia's youngest person to die from coronavirus. He had a "complicated" medical history and wasn't tested before his death. The case is the first recorded in Blackwater, near Emerald in central Queensland. As well as not working for six months, the man had not left Blackwater since February, raising the question of how he became infected.
In Victoria a hotel worker and two aged care workers are among those who tested postive. The hotel worker was based in a Melbourne hotel which was being used to quarantine overseas travellers. The two aged care workers are from Lynden Aged Care home in Camberwell, bringing the total cases at the facility to three.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has moved to allay concerns for up to six people who went on to a live export ship between its arrival at Fremantle on Friday and Monday, when WA health officials boarded and tested crew. "No-one went onto the boat unless they were wearing protective equipment," Mr Littleproud said on Wednesday.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has defended the decision to allow a woman into the state for compassionate reasons, saying "we've got to have a heart". The woman tested postive after her arrival from Victoria where she had been in quarantine as an overseas traveller.
THE University of Newcastle (UON) will put its hand up to pilot a program that will bring international students back from overseas and into quarantine, so they can resume their studies this year. She said Australia had already shown it was possible to safely repatriate citizens to spend 14 days in self-isolation and she'd like to see the same approach used for international students, particularly those who need to complete their studies.
The Australian and New Zealand governments will receive a blueprint on safely re-opening their shared international border as soon as next week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to "consider" the travel in July as part of the third and final step of his COVID-19 roadmap.
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