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That is all for this evening's live blog, thank you for joining me.
Here's a recap of the day's major stories:-
- Australian Defence Force officials were sent to Victoria to help plan the emergency response to the COVID pandemic - including the quarantine of returned travellers - a week before the hotel regime was approved by the national cabinet.
It isn't an international flight (because it doesn't land) but this could still be one of the first opportunities to leave Australia by air.
Those eager to travel can combine the joys of air travel and Antarctica in a day trip over the White Continent, scheduled for later this year, Traveller reports.
The Qantas Boeing 747s that have been used for the past 26 years will be replaced by a 787 Dreamliner. Passengers on the 12.5 hour journey will take in icebergs and ice floes before passing over the mountains of the Antarctic mainland.
Since the flights take off and land at the same airport, they're considered domestic travel and so will be permitted under current travel restrictions.
Australian Defence Force officials were sent to Victoria to help plan the emergency response to the COVID pandemic - including the quarantining of returned travellers - a week before the hotel regime was approved by the national cabinet.
A timeline of ADF communications reveals that top brass repeatedly made it clear that help was available to all states, but the Andrews Government and Victoria’s emergency agencies chose not to call on defence personnel to strengthen its quarantine arrangements.
On March 27, the day Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that all returned travellers would spend two weeks in mandatory quarantine, Chief of Defence Angus Campbell instructed his Victorian-based liaison team to make up to 100 personnel available to respond to any requests from the state.
The following day, an ADF liaison officer reported back to Canberra that Victoria Police was “well advanced" in its planning and preparation for quarantine and “this plan does not presently include or require ADF involvement".
Read the full story by Chip Le Grand and Sumeyya Ilanbey here.
New outbreak data shows that abattoirs and warehouses are the workplace settings with the most COVID-19 cases.
But aged care, healthcare providers and schools remain the major places in the community for transmission of the virus in Victoria, between June 1 and August 11.
Abattoirs have had 551 total cases, while warehouses have been connected to 439 cases.
According to the data, there have been 137 different outbreaks in aged and residential care, with a total of 2453 cases stemming from these settings. There have been 540 COVID-19 cases stemming from hospital and healthcare sectors.
Data released by Health Department on Wednesday shows schools account for 630 COVID-19 cases in Victoria.
The AFL will take no action against Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley over a fist bump with a supporter at Adelaide Oval after the Magpies' victory over the Crows.
The AFL confirmed on Wednesday that Buckley was in the clear over the contact with the fan, whom Buckley said on Twitter was someone he knew.
"It was a fist bump and here is the story behind it," Buckley said in a series of tweets.
"I can’t remember his name but I know his face ... over 20 years ago he said he was watching football in a bar, defended me to a group of patrons, was subsequently set on and bashed losing his sense of taste and smell."
A newspaper in Victoria's west says it is closing as a result of strict border travel restrictions.
Late on Wednesday, Edenhope local paper the West Wimmera Advocate said its next edition would be its last as a result of the hard border with South Australia.
"After months of 'soldiering on' for the community with constantly changing restrictions, and more and more rules in order to do business, the announcement by the SA government to impose a hard border is the final straw," the newspaper announced on its Facebook page.
"I don't have the energy for negotiating a new print arrangement on top of everything else."
The paper covers communities between Goroke, Edenhope, Apsley, Harrow and the South Australian border.
Since July 29, only essential travellers have been able to enter SA from Victoria.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn has signalled the lender is still assuming a drop in house prices of up to 12 per cent, as it braces for rising unemployment and a slower recovery owing in part to Victoria’s second lockdown.
However, the head of the country’s biggest bank says the property market has so far been more resilient than it expected a few months ago, with prices only drifting slightly lower.
As CBA delivered a full-year cash profit of $7.3 billion on Wednesday, the bank reaffirmed its modelling that found house prices could fall by 12 per cent under one set of economic assumptions, or 29 per cent in a much more severe crisis.
Mr Comyn said the prospect of a 29 per cent fall was "just a scenario that we need to be prepared for," but the bank did not expect this to occur.
The current COVID-enforced break from travel has given all of us time to sit back and assess the damage mass tourism can inflict, says Ben Groundwater.
You might have had this nagging feeling that our travel habits have become detrimental, with our favourite destinations getting more crowded and more littered with rubbish every year.
But this travel pause could mean we move around the world differently. Less flying and fewer destinations could be on the cards, while more thought is put into where our money goes and the ecological impact of our travel.
You can read Ben's full article about how travel is going to change after COVID-19 here.
ACT residents returning home from Victoria will have a five-day window to do so, according to new changes to permit rules.
The amending order on border travel will come into effect from Thursday August 13, and will allow residents to travel to the ACT from Victoria via NSW between 9am and 3pm each day, until next Monday.
Would-be returnees must have sufficient fuel for the complete journey through NSW to ACT to avoid refuelling, must take the route designated by police, and carry their ACT entry certificate.
Rest stops will only be allowed at places designated by the NSW Government, which will be staffed with additional cleaners.
After transiting through NSW, re-entry to NSW will not be permitted for at least 14 days after initial entry into the ACT.
Two teenage girls who allegedly breached Queensland's quarantine orders and were arrested in Noosa after the border closed have been issued with notices to appear in court.
One of the girls has returned to New South Wales after the arrests sparked concerns in Noosa. Both girls tested negative for COVID-19.
The teens, aged 15 and 16 from NSW and Queensland, were found by police at the Noosa Civic Centre on Monday after investigations into their whereabouts after they travelled through the Brisbane Transit Centre on Friday.
Police alleged they had uncovered information that the girls had been through Sydney and were not "completely honest" on their border declarations.