On the roadmap to somewhere

MAKING A GOOD CASE

Following news that Victoria hit just 14 new cases yesterday — its lowest daily figure in almost three months — the ABC reports that Dan Andrews "is 'confident' Melbourne's restrictions will be eased in a week" (when step two is set to start) and flagged “significant announcements” for Sunday, September 27, ahead of Melbourne’s “second step”.

The Age notes that nine of those new cases emerged from the Casey postcode, although Andrews is adamant not to penalise people at the centre of the outbreak who admitted during contact tracing to having breached restrictions; the logic, supported by legal and infectious disease experts, being that honest information for contact tracing purposes far outweighs the benefit of fining people and risking them not coming forward.

In more worrying news, the paper also reports that supplies of N95 masks for Victorian health workers have fallen to “alarmingly low” levels, forcing protective gear to be rationed and prompting the government to encourage local manufacturers to modify their machinery and produce more.

PS: In other state news, the ABC reports that a NSW man in his early 70s has died of COVID-19, while Queensland has recorded two more cases including a returned traveller and a known contact of a case from the Wacol corrective services cluster.

SOME CUTTING REMARKS

As the Morrison government eyes bringing forward tax cuts for high income earners in the October 6 budget, the ABC reports that former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser and former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Michael Keating have joined an ad campaign from The Australia Institute in denouncing the move as a largely pointless form of stimulus.

Elsewhere, a Grattan Institute report leaked to The Guardian ahead of a November release suggests that Scott Morrison’s “gas led recovery” would benefit fewer than 1% of Australian manufacturing jobs currently in gas-intensive industries; for context, two-thirds of the gas used in manufacturing is consumed by 15 facilities that together employ just over 10,000 people.

Relatedly, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Energy Minister Angus Taylor will use a speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday to unveil an update on the Morrison government’s “technology roadmap”, which reportedly embraces hydrogen as a new export but again leans into (widely discredited) carbon capture and storage systems to develop the fuel from gas and/or coal.

Finally, with the government determined to slash JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments despite the economic and social impact, The Australian ($) reports that Morrison is considering wage incentives for businesses to take on extra workers as part of the October 6 budget.

PS: The government’s public standing is, as far as opinion polls go, holding strong, with the latest Newspoll ($) putting the Coalition back in front of Labor 51-49.

SUPREME INJUSTICE

Finally, following Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death over the weekend, CNN reports that Senate Democrats are canvassing strategies to prevent Donald Trump and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell tipping the court to 6-3 Republican before the November election — either by convincing four Republicans not to support the move (they now have two), grounding the Senate to a halt, or, failing any of that, pledging under a potential Joe Biden administration to expand the court’s numbers.

The news comes after McConnell successfully blocked the Obama administration from filling Antonin Scalia’s seat for the 11 months up until Trump’s win, and USAToday reports that protesters have flocked to the Senate leader’s house with placards of his excuse: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

PS: In just the latest big, red warning sign from the States, CNN also reports the president mocked MSNBC journalist Ali Velshi for being shot with a rubber bullet during the George Floyd protests in May, calling his injury a “beautiful sight” during a political rally in Minnesota on Friday.