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The Federal Government must provide income support for temporary visa holders impacted by the coronavirus shutdown, Greens Immigration spokesperson Nick McKim says.
“There are about 1.5 million people in Australia on temporary visas, and the Government has an urgent responsibility to provide income support for those who need it,” Senator McKim said.
“Many of them have no income and no capacity to leave the country due to restrictions imposed in response to the pandemic, and face losing their homes and jobs.”
“Failure to provide income support would not only be inhumane and unfair, but would compromise their capacity to self isolate and comply with the government’s requirements for physical distancing.”
“You can’t self isolate if you are living on the street, and failure to urgently respond could cause a public health nightmare.”
“People who urgently need income support include people seeking asylum, people who hold temporary work or skilled visas, international students, people who hold working holiday visas and New Zealand citizens on non-protected Special Category Visas, who do not all have access to income support and in many cases cannot leave the country.”
“Legislation passed yesterday gives the government the levers it needs to respond. It is now just a matter of political will.”
“Many people will also need an extension to their temporary visas so they are not caught in legal limbo.”

Defence will formally cease Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020 on 26 March 2020, having completed the emergency and recovery tasks requested by state and local authorities.
Defence has been assisting with the bushfire efforts since early September 2019 by providing wide-ranging support as part of the national response.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked all personnel who provided direct support in the field, at sea, in the air, and from Defence bases as part of Operation Bushfire Assist.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the way Defence has been assisting emergency services across the country in these challenging circumstances,” the Prime Minister said.
“The permanent and part-time Australian Defence Force members provided essential support to our emergency services across Australia. This remarkable hard work has made a significant difference to the immediate emergency response and the longer-term recovery which Defence will continue to support.”
Operation Bushfire Assist commenced on 31 December 2019 to support state fire and emergency services across NSW, Victoria and Queensland and later provided support to the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.
At its peak, more than 6,500 ADF members provided support as part of emergency relief, response and recovery operations. This included around 3,000 Reserve forces.
Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds CSC said it marked the largest mobilisation of the ADF for domestic disaster relief in Australia’s history.
“I am so proud of the service our permanent and part-time ADF members provided as part of this response,” Minister Reynolds said.
“I am also very grateful for the support provided by the many additional international defence force partners from Canada, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, and the United States. Their support demonstrates the strength of our relationships.
“Finally, I acknowledge and thank the families and employers of our Reservists for their understanding and support that has made this response possible.”
During Operation Bushfire Assist, Defence contributed to the response and recovery efforts through the delivery of the following support:

• Clearance of over 4,850 kilometres of roads;
• Clearance and repair of over 1285 kilometres of fences;
• Clearance of over 240 kilometres of fire breaks;
• Production of nearly 10 million litres of drinking water for Kangaroo Island and Bega; and
• Provision of over 77,000 meals on Defence bases to emergency services personnel and evacuees.

Defence will continue to provide support to non-emergency recovery operations.
The Government has committed $2 billion that the National Bushfire Recovery Agency is helping to deliver to ensure Australian families, businesses and communities can build back better.

Following the receipt of feedback on the practical implementation of measures announced regarding barbers and hairdressers it was agreed by Premiers and Chief Ministers at National Cabinet last night that the instruction regarding 30 minutes per patron will be lifted (effective immediately), but that the 4sqm rule per person must be strictly observed within the premises and that personal contact during the patron’s visit should be minimised wherever possible.
Also it was noted that in hardship cases, States and Territories can provide exemptions in relation to attendance at funerals, but only at the margin.
National Cabinet will meet again on Friday, March 27.

Australian governments continue to work together to slow the spread of coronavirus to save lives.
Every extra bit of time allows us to better prepare our health system and put measures in place to protect Australian lives.
The Prime Minister, state and territory Premiers and Chief Ministers continued their meeting on 25 March as the National Cabinet to discuss enhanced health measures to support our efforts to quickly test and contact trace coronavirus in our community.
Expansion of coronavirus testing criteria
Australian has one of the most rigorous coronavirus testing systems in the world. To further protect Australia, National Cabinet agreed to an Australian Health Principal Protection Committee (AHPPC) recommendation to expand the current coronavirus testing criteria to include testing people with fever or acute respiratory infection in:

• all health workers
• all aged/residential care workers
• geographically localised areas where there is elevated risk of community transmission as defined by the local public health unit
• where no community transmission is occurring, high risk settings where there are two or more plausibly-linked cases, for example:
  • aged and residential care
  • rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  • detention centres/correctional facilities
  • boarding schools
  • military bases (including Navy ships) that have live-in accommodation.

National Cabinet also agreed that testing will be expanded to include hospitalised patients with fever and acute respiratory symptoms of unknown cause, at the discretion of the treating clinician.
This is the minimum testing criteria. States and territories have the discretion to expand their own criteria for testing if they have capacity.
Temporary suspension of all semi-urgent elective surgery
National Cabinet endorsed the recommendation for states and territories to suspend all non-urgent elective surgery.
National Cabinet agreed to extend the deadline for the suspension of semi urgent Category 2 and 3 elective surgeries at private hospitals to 11.59pm on 1 April 2020.
National Cabinet agreed that states and territories will continue to work with private hospital groups to ensure they can support efforts to protect Australians against coronavirus.
The changes will allow greater transition for the community to the new arrangements and ensure the national supply of essential PPE – such as masks, gowns, gloves and goggles for the healthcare workforce.
Nationally consistent public directions on self-isolation for individuals
National Cabinet agreed to implement nationally consistent public health directions, at the state and territory level, on self-quarantine for individuals diagnosed with coronavirus.
Further measures
National Cabinet will consider the need for any further measures at their next meeting on Friday 27 March 2020.

The National Cabinet is acting on the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee that from 11.59pm (local time) on 25 March 2020, all non urgent elective surgery will be temporarily suspended. Only Category 1 and some exceptional Category 2 surgery will continue until further notice.
This will apply in both the public and private health systems.
The Commonwealth’s Department of Health has ordered over 300 million additional masks with 30 million expected in the next two weeks, and one million surgical gowns are on order to build on Australia’s stockpile of medical protective equipment. Australian manufacturers have also been engaged to ramp up local equipment production.
By cancelling certain elective surgeries, the National Cabinet is acting to preserve resources including protective equipment to help prepare public and private health services to prepare for their role in the COVID-19 outbreak.
Every patient waiting for elective surgery is assessed by their treating medical professional as Category 1, 2 or 3 per the following definitions:

• Category 1 – Needing treatment within 30 days. Has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point where the patient’s situation may become an emergency
• Category 2 – Needing treatment within 90 days. Their condition causes pain, dysfunction or disability. Unlikely to deteriorate quickly and unlikely to become an emergency
• Category 3 – Needing treatment at some point in the next year. Their condition causes pain, dysfunction or disability. Unlikely to deteriorate quickly.

Decisions on the category of patients are at the discretion of their treating medical professional.
Australia’s health system will continue to ensure that any patient in need of urgent attention will receive treatment.
By taking these actions as well as the work to date to stop the spread of coronavirus, we can protect lives and we can save lives.