Hundreds of thousands of Vic casual workers are locked down at home today and don't know when they'll get their next pay cheque. The other three times we were locked down, most were eligible for JobKeeper. This time, there's crickets from Canberra so far. This was @GregHuntMP on ABC AM earlier:
"Well, at this stage, Vic is the responsible body. They have said that they will be providing additional support."

"So nothing from you?"

"...And we take them at their word. I think we’ve all up provided extraordinary support so far."

.@VictorianCHO said today of workers moving between hotel quarantine, aged care & public housing between July 27 and late August: "It was never one where you could just step in and say, ‘You cannot work in more than one setting'." #springst Except @DanielAndrewsMP *did* tell hundreds of thousands of people, including entire industries, that they couldn't go to work when we went into Stage Four lockdown from August 2 because the risk of transmitting coronavirus was too high.

Nine staff members working at two quarantine hotels in Melbourne have been infected with coronavirus since the Andrews government’s program was overhauled and largely shut down in late July theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronav… #springst This includes a DHHS staff member, a Vic Police staff member, two Alfred Health staff members and five employees of cleaning & catering company Spotless.

“She said that in all the union’s dealings with the health minister, ‘not once has she displayed even a basic understanding of her portfolio’.” Health Services Union boss Diana Asmar is not holding back! #springst heraldsun.com.au/coronavirus/le… “Saying she ‘was accustomed to dealing with individuals who display pomposity and arrogance, even when their ability does not warrant it’, Ms Asmar denied the call was the result of a personality clash between the pair.”

#springst #QT kicks off with a question for @DanielAndrewsMP from @michaelobrienmp. He asks about the Premier's August 11 PAEC statement about ADF troops. How can Victorians have confidence in Andrews when that statement has been contradicted by the evidence of numerous others? Premier says "cheap politics is no vaccine against this virus". #springst #QT

A late Friday night thread on Twitter abuse and Victoria’s COVID-19 crisis, for those who are interested #springst 👇🏼 I temporarily deleted the Twitter app off my phone yesterday afternoon, because I simply didn't have the time or the mental energy to do my job and absorb all the mentions, direct messages, emails, texts, calls, WhatsApps and Facebook messages coming in: good, bad or otherwise.

There is a photoshopped tweet circulating which purports to be an apology from The @australian about this story. theaustralian.com.au/news/coronavir… The apology is fake. The story was meticulously researched and carefully written and the facts within it have not been disputed by DHHS. DHHS put out a statement today after another media organisation asked questions prompted by my story. I’ve published that statement here in full, along with further questions I’ve put to DHHS. theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronav…

Vic CHO Brett Sutton says health authorities are treating all 2000 students and 300 teachers at the state’s largest Islamic school Al-Taqwa College as close ­contacts, after it emerged as the site of Victoria’s second-biggest coronavirus cluster. theaustralian.com.au/nation/politic… #springst The Al-Taqwa cluster went from the first case being notified on July 29, to 90 cases yesterday - just eight days later.

Remains unclear to me why Wyndham, in Melb's southwest, with 86 active cases, has no locked down postcodes. As was the case yesterday, it has the second-highest number of active cases of an Vic LGA. #springst When I asked @VictorianCHO about this at this morning's press conference, he made reference to the department's criteria. But even following the criteria, it's baffling why none of Wyndham's postcodes is locked down.

And like clockwork, the Daily Mail has stolen a story @fergusonjw & I spent yesterday researching & writing, on a day when 5/8 of our Melb bureau colleagues were on forced leave due to cost-cutting measures forced by reduced ad revenue - and we wonder why journos are losing jobs. Please read our version. We actually spent the day calling people to confirm facts & communicate nuance - which includes the considerable efforts the health dept & Islamic community appear to have gone to to try to avoid something like this. theaustralian.com.au/nation/eid-fam…

Which just goes to show why it was questionable for DHHS to take "at face value" a Cedar Meats worker's claim on April 2 that he hadn't attended work for 4 weeks. And to continue that approach after 110 more people caught COVID-19 from Cedar Meats workers #springst

https://twitter.com/KosSamaras/status/1274220360351637505

Almost as questionable as the decision not to name Cedar Meats as the facility then linked to 15 cases, while naming school linked to 1 inactive case. A decision that definitely had nothing to do w Robin Scott, Marlene Kairouz & Nazih Elasmar praising company founder in Hansard.

OL @michaelobrienmp lists all the colleagues @DanielAndrewsMP has had to sack: Speaker & Deputy, Deputy President, Chief Whip, & 5 ministers (Somyurek twice) "Will you accept responsibility for creating this culture of corruption that is consuming your government?" #springst #QT Premier @danielandrews thanks @michaelobrienmp for asking about "all my government's achievements" 🙄 Coalition objects: "The questions was about a culture of corruption that's consuming his government". Speaker says the Premier's answer is relevant #springst #QT

"I got a flying kick in the leg, another bloke was hit in the head with a stick with a Chinese flag attached to it." This is how pro-Tibet activists were treated at the 2008 Canberra rally @DanielAndrewsMP's staffer Nancy Yang helped to organise. smh.com.au/sport/olympic-… 1/5 In a blog which was still online on Monday but has since been taken down (we have screenshots), Yang proudly speaks of her role organising this protest as a Chinese Consulate staffer and founding chair of United Front group, the Chinese Melbourne United Youth Association 2/5