National news LIVE: Barnaby Joyce fallout continues; Neighbours loses UK channel; total COVID-19 cases continue to grow

Network 10 wants to try and keep long-running soap Neighbours alive despite its major backer deciding it won’t renew its deal with the show.

Channel 5 has released a statement to media in the UK announcing it will turn its support towards more “original UK drama” instead of the Melbourne made soap, which started in 1985 and drew millions of viewers in the United Kingdom and Australia for many years before losing steam in recent years.

Network 10 has told cast and crew it wants to keep the show alive and hopes new backers can be found.

Click here to read the story.

As you might be aware, Queensland MP George Christensen attended yesterday’s anti-vaccine mandate rally in Canberra where he livestreamed the event.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews criticised the behaviour on Sunday.

“I don’t agree with many of the views that George has been espousing of late,” Ms Andrews told ABC TV.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to be attending those sorts of rallies. But, he is a member of Parliament. He can make his own decisions in relation to that.

“I’m talking about [$60 million in extra funding to counter] quite a different cohort, if you want to call it that, and that is violent extremists. I don’t think anyone would put George Christensen into that category.”

ACT police say one woman was arrested at yesterday’s rally in Canberra. Two men were also charged after allegedly interfering with her arrest.

Meanwhile, two people were treated for minor injuries.

G’day everyone. It’s Roy Ward here and I’ll jumping onto the blog to close out the day.

Thanks to Broede Carmody for all his great work today and let’s keep the news coming as we close out this weekend.

As always, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment on the blog. Enjoy the news to come.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has questioned how his state could achieve some of the highest two-dose vaccination levels in the world but now be lagging in booster uptake.

Only about 47 per cent of the eligible population over 16 have received a booster shot, prompting the state government to launch a new advertising campaign urging people to receive a third jab.

“If we have almost 95 per cent of people double-dosed … what’s happened to the other 50 per cent?” Mr Hazzard asked on Sunday at Sydney’s mass vaccination hub.

“We have a lot of people working on that at the moment to trying to establish why people haven’t actually had it.”

Mr Hazzard said he believed people were “tired and exhausted” of the pandemic, but needed to be boosted.

“One of the biggest factors is simply that people are not actually aware that they can have one, people are still locked in the old messages that occurred many months ago that is you’ve got to wait six months,” he said.

People are eligible to receive a COVID booster three months after receiving their second dose.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet implored those who are eligible but yet to receive a COVID-19 booster to visit the state’s mass vaccination hubs, and said there were almost no lines to get in.

As previously reported, Victoria has recorded 7169 new cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths.

The Victorian government says the six people who died were aged in their 70s through to their 90s.

Today’s deaths bring the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic to 2171.

In terms of vaccines, 43.8 per cent of Victorian residents aged 18 and up have now had three doses of a COVID vaccine. When it comes to two doses for people aged 12 and up, that figure is 93.6 per cent.

And 48.1 per cent of residents aged five to 11 have had one dose of Pfizer.

Australia needs a COVID-19 variant plan that includes warehouses full of masks and tests in readiness for the variant that will inevitably follow Omicron, a strain that could be more deadly or infectious than ever.

That is the view of a number of public health experts who say that the national cabinet reopening plan – which flagged no ongoing restrictions or lockdowns once the two-dose vaccination program was near completion – was too optimistic.

Epidemiologist Tony Blakely said the government plans in place for the second half of 2021 were good for Delta, but failed to consider life after the variant. He said the federal government not securing enough rapid tests was “the most amazing policy failure”.

Professor Blakely said it was more sensible to have a plan for three main scenarios: a variant like Delta that caused severe disease, a variant like Omicron that was extremely infectious or a variant that was the worst of both.

Read the full story here.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged that a further easing of international borders will be on next week’s agenda.

The PM says he wants international visitors – not just international students and visa holders – to come to Australia as soon as it is safe to do so.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet was asked about this during today’s health update.

He had this to say:

We led the country here in NSW … in abolishing hotel quarantine for the vaccinated.

We want international travellers to come back. That’s not just good for small business … it’s also important for labour shortages.

I feel for the Prime Minister. He didn’t get much of a run the other day [when he spoke about] an unemployment rate with a three in front of it.

Many businesses across the state are crying out for staff. The best thing we can do in relation to that is to open up our borders.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has provided some additional detail about today’s coronavirus-related deaths.

As mentioned earlier today, NSW has recorded 7893 new cases of COVID-19 and 28 additional deaths.

Of the 28 people who died, 17 were men and 11 were women.

Dr Chant said two people were aged in their 40s, three were aged in their 60s, six were in their 70s, 10 were in their 80s and seven were in their 90s.

Three of the people who died were under the age of 65 (two women and a man). One person had three doses of a coronavirus vaccine, one had received two doses and one person was not vaccinated.

All three had serious underlying health conditions, according to Dr Chant.

“Can I just express my condolences to people who’ve lost their loved ones,” the CHO said.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet provided a coronavirus update around 12.30pm AEDT.

He was joined by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello to discuss boosters and an initiative to help families.

Returning to the Prime Minister’s press conference from earlier today, and Scott Morrison suggested an announcement on Australia’s international borders is imminent.

Here’s what the PM told reporters:

As we go into this parliamentary week, there are many important matters that we’ll be addressing.

One of those will addressing very early on is the issue of opening up our international borders to international visitors again.

As people will know, we will have already opened up our borders to skilled migrants and backpackers and students, and that has been happening now for some months. And we are considering the further opening of the borders to international visitors.

As many of our states now move through and past their peaks, the key issue that we have been examining … is how that decision could impact on our hospitals.

The previous opening up of the borders has gone very well. And we are looking forward to be able to make that decision to open up our borders and welcome visitors back to Australia again as soon as we safely and possibly can.

I really do believe that isn’t far away.