Australia news LIVE: Total COVID-19 cases continue to grow as Australians told to leave Ukraine immediately

• Federal Court Justice Michael Lee has agreed to reschedule the defamation battle in Sydney between WA Premier Mark McGowan and businessman Clive Palmer, but rejected a bid by Mr McGowan to give evidence remotely. The mining billionaire and the state Labor leader are both suing each other for defamation, and the trial was due to start in the Federal Court in Sydney next Monday, January 31.
• Mr McGowan filed an urgent application yesterday to give evidence remotely in the trial to avoid spending 14 days in self-isolation upon his return to the state. Alternatively, he sought an order that the trial be delayed. Justice Lee said the trial would now start on February 14. Mr McGowan will give evidence in person during the second leg of the trial, which is set to start on February 26, and is expected to quarantine upon his return to WA. The revised dates will allow Mr McGowan to attend parliamentary sitting days in Perth on February 15-17 and 22-24, before flying to Sydney. Read more from Heather McNeill here.

• Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has delivered his election pitch to voters in an address to the National Press Club today. The Labor leader said Australia must build “on the lessons of this pandemic” and “a strong, properly funded public health system with Medicare as its backbone is vital to every aspect of our lives”. Mr Albanese said the nation needed to beef up local manufacturing, “be more self-reliant and ... back Australian businesses, big and small, so our fate isn’t held hostage to global supply chains”. He promised his government would deliver an “Australia with rising living standards - lifted by more secure work, better wages, better conditions for small business, stronger Medicare and more affordable childcare”.

• Australia has asked its citizens to leave Ukraine by commercial means as soon as possible after Russia assembled an estimated 127,000 troops at the Ukrainian border. The United States has also put around 8000 troops on alert for possible deployment. The Morrison government has told Australians in Ukraine to “leave now” because of the security situation, while it has also begun withdrawing family members of Australian diplomats based in the capital, Kyiv. Read more from David Crowe here.

• NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has confirmed the state’s existing pandemic restrictions will be extended by a month, as high case numbers and COVID-19 hospitalisations continue in the state. The restrictions, announced last month shortly after most restrictions in the state had been removed, were originally slated to lift after the public holiday this week. The state recorded 18,512 new COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths today. There are 2943 people in hospital with the virus, up from the 2816 recorded on Monday and a record during the pandemic. Of the hospital admissions, 183 are in intensive care units, down from 196.

• NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has continued to urge residents to get their third coronavirus vaccination dose, which is available to adults who received their second dose at least three months ago. Immunocompromised adults who received three doses as part of their primary course are also eligible for a fourth dose as a booster at the same interval after their third shot.
• As Mary Ward and Daniella White report, hospitality venues in NSW will continue to operate at the one person per two-square-metre rule, masks are required in all indoor settings, QR code check-ins will remain and singing and dancing will not be permitted in hospitality venues or at major events (with exemptions for performers, weddings and schools) until at least February 28.

• Victoria has reported 14,836 official cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths. Today’s numbers are up on yesterday’s total of 11,695. There are 1057 people in Victorian hospitals with to the virus. Of those, 119 cases are in intensive care. Today’s hospitalisations are up on yesterday’s 998 patients (when there were also 119 cases in ICU).
• Victorian health authorities say the code brown declared last week for the state’s over-stretched hospital system is “having the desired effect”, with a 23 per cent drop in emergency department presentations. The code brown, which began last Wednesday, allows hospitals to cancel workers’ leave and redeploy staff to priority areas, and triggers a deferral of non-urgent care. But Marta Pascual Juanola and Cassandra Morgan report that general practitioners have said their clinics are turning to “chaos” in the wake of the code brown declaration.

• Queensland has recorded its lowest daily COVID-19 total for several weeks, Stuart Layt reports, with 9,546 new cases recorded on Tuesday. There were also 11 new deaths recorded. Of those who died, one was in their 50s, one in their 60s, two in their 70s, three in their 80s, and four in their 90s.Four of the people were unvaccinated, one had had one dose of vaccine, six had had two doses, and none had received a booster shot. Ms Palaszczuk reminded Queenslanders that vaccination hubs would run on this week’s public holiday, and urged everyone to get their next dose. The interval for adults between their second dose and their booster shot is three months.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. Broede Carmody will be back with you tomorrow morning.

Mr McGowan is expected to give evidence in Sydney during the second leg of the trial.

The revised dates will allow Mr McGowan to attend parliamentary sitting days in Perth on February 15-17 and 22-24, before flying to Sydney.

Read more from Heather McNeill here.

Witnesses subpoenaed to appear have until January 28 to apply to be excused from the trial, which will re-commence on February 2.

At a case management hearing on Tuesday, the newspapers’ barrister Nicholas Owens said four of the first six witnesses he had been planning to call reside in Western Australia. To enable the trial to resume until a solution is found, he proposed to reshuffle his list: 15 witnesses are available to appear in Sydney, he said, and hearing them would take an estimated four weeks.

Those first 15 will include a number of soldiers and Mr Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts. The war veteran last week lost a legal bid to have Ms Roberts cross-examined over “ill-founded” assertions that she accessed his emails and gave them to the newspapers.

Read the full story here.