By: Tom McIlroy Melbourne’s spike in new COVID-19 cases is already driving bigger uptake of vaccines, with a record 15,816 doses delivered across Victoria in the 24 hours to Wednesday afternoon. A record for doses administered around the country – 104,658 jabs in 24 hours – was also achieved, as data collected by The Australian Financial Review showed about 2 per cent of ...

Australia will close its embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul in three days, ahead of the withdrawal of Australia’s final contingent of defence personnel from the country. The embassy has been open since 2006. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne said they hoped the closure would be temporary, and that Australia could reopen an embassy in the future. “In ...

By: Jade McMillan Doctors are calling for a more effective communications strategy to convince people to get COVID-19 vaccines, warning Australians are “sitting ducks” until a much larger portion of the population is protected. Vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, Chris Moy, said he was worried too many Australians felt safe from the virus to the point where they were ...

Tasmania has maintained its stronghold as the nation’s best performing state economy as the Apple Isle’s population and property market booms. CommSec’s quarterly State of the States report found Tasmania led all other states and territories on dwelling starts- which means new properties being built – and population growth. It was closely followed by the Australian Capital Territory, which was ...

By: Paul Karp Scott Morrison has confirmed that Australia has bought 25m doses of Moderna’s vaccine, set to be the fourth Covid-19 vaccine in the Australian rollout and its second mRNA vaccine. In a statement, Moderna announced it could supply 10m doses to Australia by the end of the year and a further 15m would arrive in 2022. The vaccine is ...

By: Rosie Lewis   Scott Morrison is staring down demands to set a date for reopening the international border as Josh Frydenberg declares “we cannot afford to take the risk” and all that matters is keeping Australians safe.   With a federal election due by May next year, when the international border is expected to remain closed, the Prime Minister ...

Daniel Andrews says he’s making steady progress in his recovery from a serious back injury and is now walking about 18 minutes a day. Victoria’s premier suffered broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebra after slipping on wet stairs at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula on 9 March. The 48-year-old, who is recovering at home, said the past few weeks ...

By: Mostafa Rachwani Australians are being urged to secure their social media accounts after the details of more than 500 million global Facebook users were found online in a massive data breach. The details published freely online included names, phone numbers, email addresses, account IDs and bios. In a statement, Facebook said the leaked information was old, and came from a ...

Australians will have to wait until next month to find out when they can fly to New Zealand again without quarantining, after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more time was needed to set up a new trans-Tasman travel bubble. Ms Ardern told a press conference in New Zealand today that she would reveal a date for the start of quarantine-free ...

By: Rachel Clun Australia is working to give one million doses of the internationally-produced AstraZeneca vaccines originally destined for Australia to Papua New Guinea, as the country battles a widespread outbreak of COVID-19. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also announced Australia will send 8000 locally-produced AstraZeneca vaccines to PNG to help immunise health workers, as the local health system struggles to contain the ...