Australia news live update: Melbourne to set Covid lockdown world record, Dominic Perrottet set to become NSW premier | Australia news

Gosh, it really is a public holiday in NSW isn’t it! You know it’s a quiet morning when Jim Chalmers is the biggest name we hear from! (No offence Jim, you get it.)

If you like to watch men kick balls then people enjoy this amazing gallery of men kicking balls, but this time for the NRL grand final.

Maybe this is just my “Melbourne” showing, but I swear these colours keep making me think the Rabbitohs were up against the Zimbabwean national side.

When it comes to Melbourne now, by some counts, becoming the most locked-down city in the world, premier Daniel Andrews says he is proud of the sacrifices Melburnians have made over the pandemic.

Yesterday he called on Melburnians to make a final push before lockdown ends in coming weeks, reports Callum Godde from AAP.

We are going to get past this. We are going to end this lockdown and open up, and all that we will enjoy then will be a result of all that we have given.

Epidemiologist Tony Blakely, a long-time supporter of the elimination strategy, told ABC TV on Monday the lockdowns saved lives but Victoria had been unfortunate to have so many.

If we let it rip last year, we would have had severe mortality and morbidity. It’s just that we haven’t had the same luck as other place.

Victoria is forecast to hit 70% vaccination coverage of its 16-plus population on 26 October, triggering the end of lockdown under the state’s roadmap before restrictions ease further at 80%.

Andrews is hopeful the reduction of the second dose Pfizer interval in state-run clinics from six to three weeks from Monday will speed up meeting those targets.

Federal Labor’s Jim Chalmers has told the Today show that Dominic Perrottet has been a “cheerleader for the let-it-rip brigade” and isn’t all too complimentary about the idea of him leading NSW.

He doesn’t have a good record as treasurer. Some things people liked about Gladys Berejiklian, he doesn’t have that.

Worryingly, he’s been the key cheerleader for the let-it-rip brigade, which is dangerous for the people of NSW.

While they spend this time sorting out who gets to sit in the big chair and who gets to sit in the slightly smaller chair, the people of NSW aren’t getting a look in. We want to make sure that they are well supported.

And that the new government, whoever leads it after tomorrow, does the right thing by people.

Federal shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers has been asked about the celebrations overnight after the Penrith Panther’s win in the NRL grand final (a side that seems to have way too many team colours):

I hope we put on a good show for people who are doing it tough around Australia, but particularly in Sydney. Ideally there would have been a few more masks in the crowd! I think that’s true.

But it was a really great event. A really great night. At the best rugby league ground in the world. And congratulations to the Penrith Panthers who deserved it. Not just getting over Souths in the GF, but Melbourne the week before. They deserve it. Well done to them.

(OK, this is my best attempt at covering the NRL through the lens of pandering politicians.)

Philip Ruddock, the president of the NSW Liberal party, has been asked on ABC radio just now if he thinks Gladys Berejiklian should have simply stepped down as premier but remained in state parliament:

It’s a matter of judgment. I think she looked at it in the context of how long it was likely to impact, and the approach that Icac takes in relation to its inquiries. I mean that could be very many months before her reputation would have been cleared.

It’s one of the reasons that I’ve commented on the way in which Icac undertakes inquiries … I believe passionately that we need to deal with corruption. I don’t see any place for corruption in public life, but having said that, I don’t believe people’s reputations should be jeopardised because matters are put into the public arena before issues relating to culpability have been clearly established.

Just in case anyone was wondering what happened to transport minister Andrew Constance’s run to be NSW premier, he is actually quitting the state game altogether and having a crack at winning a federal seat:

A reminder to get in early and vote for the pelican in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia Bird of the year competition!

This blog is not unbiased on this front. This blog is EXTREMELY pro-pelican.

Good morning and welcome to the new week, it’s Matilda Boseley here and let’s dig right in.

First, a moment of commiseration for those in Melbourne, which by some counts is now the world’s most locked-down city, an accolade that truly no one was aiming for.

The city has now chalked up 246 days living under stay-at-home orders across six lockdowns, surpassing the record set by Buenos Aires sometime today or tomorrow … yikes.

But the state’s leaders are hopeful that the reduction of the second-dose Pfizer interval in state-run clinics from six to three weeks from Monday will speed up the race to get to 70% of the over-16 population vaccinated.

Up north in NSW, there is unrest. It’s more of your traditional political dogfight variety.

After the shock resignation of premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday after the state’s corruption watchdog disclosed she was under investigation for potential breaches of public trust, treasurer Dominic Perrottet now looks set to become her successor, after gathering the support of his own right faction and key moderate power brokers.

It will go to a vote tomorrow and moderate candidate Rob Stoke might still put up a fight, but it’s seeming more and more likely that the 39-year-old socially conservative Perrottet will scoop the top job.

Stuart Ayres, the NSW jobs, investment and tourism minister and a leading moderate, will run as deputy Liberal leader.

So far, Perrottet has avoided publicly committing to stick with Berejiklian’s reopening plan for Sydney.

That’s already way too much happening for a Monday morning, so why don’t we jump right in?