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That's about all we have for you tonight but we will have another live blog up and running tomorrow morning and there should be plenty to follow up on considering the ongoing developments in the US, Hong Kong and Europe.
But before I go here is a list of some of the major developments today:
New HomeBuilder package aims to safeguard jobs of a million tradies
No need for homes package to 'keep dream alive', says inundated builder
Berejiklian warns of widespread unemployment once JobKeeper ends
The Kimberley, Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku and parts of the East Pilbara will reopen on Friday after the federal government lifted the Commonwealth biosecurity restrictions.
Access to remote communities will remain restricted to continue to protect them from COVID-19.
It comes after the WA government lifted regional travel restrictions to all other parts of the state.
Shire of Broome president Harold Tracey said he was overjoyed for businesses in the area that had effectively sacrificed their incomes for the safety of the region.
“For us the Kimberley has probably been hit the hardest in terms of restrictions,” he said.
SINGAPORE: A record jump in money flowing into Singapore bank accounts from abroad underlines the city-state's safe haven appeal during the COVID-19 pandemic and political uncertainty in rival financial centre Hong Kong, analysts say.
Singapore fiercely competes with Hong Kong as Asia's premier wealth centre and generally attracts capital flows during regional turmoil due to its political stability and AAA credit rating.
Deposits from non-residents into the city-state's banks jumped 44% to a record S$62.14 billion ($44.37 billion) in April from a year earlier, marking the fourth straight monthly rise, central bank data showed.
Deposits have risen in all but one month over the past year, a period marked by escalating political unrest in Hong Kong, a trade tussle between the United States and China, and most recently a virus outbreak which poses the biggest threat to the world economy in nearly a century.
Many Victorians intend to take to the streets on Saturday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is a just cause, and one that resonates well beyond the borders of America. But in the time of a pandemic, a mass gathering of protesters does present a unique challenge to our customary freedoms of expression.
There was a fundamental principle that drove Australia's response to the pandemic: saving lives should sit above all other concerns. There was little argument to the contrary. Protecting life is a principle that underpins many of our public institutions and civil society. Victorians should support Black Lives Matter – 432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since 1991.
Public protest plays an important part in the workings of a democratic society. It must have its limits, as all public discourse does in relation to the discrimination of certain groups and the use of violence, but otherwise the ability to take to the streets, in whatever form, must normally be fully supported.
But these are not normal times, and those wishing to gather face an unusual moral dilemma. While there is limited community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria, large crowds could facilitate the transmission of the virus, putting their own lives and possibly others they come into contact with at risk. The potential dangers should not be taken lightly.
Canterbury risk being fined after club legend Terry Lamb was captured on camera breaching social distancing rules by shaking hands with several players, including star playmaker Kieran Foran.
Lamb was forced to undergo an urgent COVID-19 test on Thursday night and players ordered not to train again until his results were known, which was expected to be later Friday.
The 58-year-old Lamb emerged near the tunnel at Belmore Sports Ground earlier on Thursday and was seen greeting Foran, who will wear his famous No. 6 jersey in his 200th game on Monday, as well as local junior Brandon Wakeham and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Under strict biosecurity measures put in place by the NRL before the competition re-booted last weekend, there was to be no contact with players or anybody else inside the nominated 50-person "bubble".
Seoul: South Korea plans to push new laws to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang balloons full of leaflets over the border after North Korea threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if Seoul failed to prevent the protests.
The South's desperate attempt to keep alive a faltering diplomacy will almost certainly trigger debates over freedom of speech in one of Asia's most vibrant democracies.
The balloons have been a common activist tactic for years, but North Korea considers it an attack on its government. Defectors and other activists in recent weeks have used the leaflets to criticise the North's authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un over his nuclear ambitions and dismal human rights record.
While Seoul has sometimes sent police officers to block such activities during times of high tension, it had resisted the North's calls to fully ban them, saying the activists were exercising their freedoms.
Sophie Smith has been stranded in an Airbnb holiday rental property in Melbourne's Surrey Hills with her wife and three children for 10 weeks after flying to Australia to visit her dying father just before the border closed in March.
She is one of thousands trying to leave the country at a time when COVID-19 restrictions make this impossible in all but exceptional circumstances, with official data showing more than 10,000 people have lodged requests for permission to leave or enter Australia since the travel ban began.
The family, normally based in Phuket in Thailand where the children go to school, faces uncertainty over whether they will be able to continue their expat life as they await the outcome of a request for an exemption from the Home Affairs department.
"I'm lucky the school doesn't go back until August," said Ms Smith, who works at an international school in Thailand.
"I came in from Phuket in March just as everything was shutting down. My dad had prostate cancer and he passed away ... The silver lining was I got to spend five weeks with him."
Earlier today we put the question to readers about their interest in accessing the HomeBuilder grants and here are a selection of those reactions:
"My wife and I wanted to, but we earn just over the $200k income threshold. We are in the middle of getting quotes for a major extension, where the design phase started prior to COVID, with an expected value around $450k. We are really hesitant to start the job, as we feel it is a gamble in the current climate. A little boost would have helped." - Steve
"According to the application criteria I am illegible to apply as I’m a owner builder. As a owner builder we also need the services of bricklayers, carpenters etc and would put more money back into the economy rather than a licensed builder." - Clive
"Arguably one of this government's worst calls, although there is plenty of competition for that. Giving money to people to do something they were going to anyway just drives up the price." - Anonymous
Tenant clubs at Marvel Stadium expect to receive home game payments in 2020 on terms similar to that struck between the AFL, the MCG and their tenant clubs.
St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Essendon and Carlton have deals to play home games at Marvel Stadium, with their contractual arrangements entitling them to receive revenue for home games played at the venue.
However, with COVID-19 restrictions meaning large crowds are banned from attending matches for the foreseeable future, and given a range of varied contractual obligations across the industry, the AFL have been working through what the deal might look like for the clubs in 2020.
On Wednesday, the AFL informed the tenant clubs they will receive payments for each home game, including the games played at the venue in round one without crowds when Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne were the home teams.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended his government’s $680 million HomeBuilder package after strong criticism today.
Mr Morrison said the program would allow families to renovate their homes and provide a stream of work for tradespeople and connected industries.
But some have said the program was criticised by apartment builders and also by the Builders Collective of Australia lobby group who said it would have little impact on the work schedule of builders.
Mr Morrison told A Current Affair on Thursday night people would help many people.