Morrison dismisses ‘cheap shot’
CANBERRA: Scott Morrison has brushed off criticism of his controversial travel between Canberra and Sydney for Father’s Day.
The Prime Minister accused former Labor leader Bill Shorten of a ‘‘cheap shot’’ after he described Morrison’s judgement as appalling.
Morrison took an air force jet from the national capital to his hometown on Friday and spent the weekend in Sydney before returning to the ACT on Monday.
Health authorities granted him an exemption to return to Canberra with his movement restricted to The Lodge and Parliament House. Shorten believes Morrison made a mistake with so many Australians unable to see family on Father’s Day because of border closures.
A 17yearold Covid19 victim was yesterday on a ventilator, among the 110 Victorians in hospital with coronavirus, as the state opened another 40,000 vaccination bookings a week.
The state has recorded 246 new Covid19 cases, including 156 not linked to known sources. Victoria has 1786 active cases. ‘‘There’s 110 people in hospital, 30 of those are in ICU, 14 on a ventilator,’’ Premier Daniel Andrews said yesterday.
‘‘To give people a clear sense and hopefully remove any doubt this is everybody’s business, the age range of those ventilated patients is 17 years of age through to 76 years of age.’’
Western Australia’s premier yesterday blamed an uneven distribution of coronavirus vaccines by the federal Government for his state’s slow rollout.
NSW remains in the grip of a significant outbreak which has resulted in the state receiving additional vaccine supplies beyond its per capita share.
The ABC has reported WA may have missed out on more than 100,000 Pfizer doses during the winter months.
‘‘The states that provided that additional support to NSW now need to be given our catchup supplies, in particular of Pfizer. We can’t have a situation where some states are punished for doing the right thing for NSW,’’ Premier Mark McGowan said.
All of the people who participated in the search for missing 3yearold boy Anthony ‘‘AJ’’ Elfalak in NSW’s Hunter region, who was found on Monday after a threeday search, are now being urged to get tested for Covid19 after a local community case at the St Shenouda Monastery. — AAP