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NationalCoronavirus pandemic

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As it happened: Sydney court blocks Black Lives Matter rally, as Daniel Andrews urges Victorians not to attend Melbourne event

Craig Butt and Clay Lucas
Updated ,first published

Summary

  • Authorities are urging people to avoid attending planned Black Lives Matter protests nationwide this weekend because of the risk it will lead to the spread of coronavirus.
  • The NSW Supreme Court has ruled that a Sydney protest scheduled for Saturday must not proceed. The rally's expected numbers had grown to 5000.
  • Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has urged Victorians not to attend tomorrow’s anti-racism protest in Melbourne, and warned anyone intent on being violent they will be penalised by police.
  • Organisers of Black Lives Matter rallies asked those attending to bring face masks, hand sanitiser and to practice social distancing.
  • Seven new coronavirus cases have been confirmed nationwide today - four in New South Wales and three in Victoria. No new cases have been recorded in Queensland.

Thank you for reading and good night

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That's all for the coronavirus updates blog for today. Thanks for tuning in. As always, the blog will start up again tomorrow at 6am.

If you're just clicking on the blog now though, rather than having to scroll all the way down to the end, here is a summary of today's top updates:

  • New South Wales' Supreme Court ruled that Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney should not go ahead – although large crowds may ignore the order and go anyway.
  • Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews urged Victorians not to attend a rally planned in Melbourne on Saturday, but organisers of the event urged protesters to take face masks and hand sanitiser, and said community safety was “paramount”.
  • Prime Minister Scott Morrison and federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also urged Australians not to attend Black Lives Matter protests this weekend.
  • Mr Hunt warned the rallies could endanger Indigenous people if some took coronavirus infections back to remote communities. Indigenous health leader Pat Turner rejected this, saying protesters should take precautions but that the pandemic wasn’t a reason to stop people exercising their political rights.
  • Indigenous academic Marcia Langton said as an Aboriginal woman aged over 50, her elevated risk of becoming sick with COVID-19 was "a risk I'm willing to take" to make a stand against the treatment of First Nations people at this weekend's protests.
  • From Friday, Queensland restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs were allowed to open up even further, to more than 20 customers if they have an approved COVID-safe plan. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “absolutely delighted” with the change.
  • A primary school in Melbourne's north closed after a prep student contracted COVID-19, one of three new cases recorded in the state overnight. NSW recorded four new cases.
  • French troops will not march on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue on Bastille Day, after the country’s president said the coronavirus pandemic meant the traditional military parade would be replaced with a ceremony where health precautions could be observed.
  • India posted a record jump in coronavirus cases, with its health ministry on Friday saying there had been more than 9800 new cases in the past 24 hours.
  • The University of Melbourne said it expected to lose $1 billion in revenue from international students over the next three years, with staff being asked to hand back an agreed pay rise to help make up the shortfall.

We'll be back with the blog tomorrow morning.

NSW Supreme Court refuses permission for Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney

By Laura Chung and Michaela Whitbourn

New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Desmond Fagan has ruled that Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney should not go ahead.

In a hearing that stretched for more than four hours, Justice Fagan said the social distancing measures imposed to date have been "the key element" in stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Allowing the protest to go ahead at this time was for this reason "an unreasonable proposition", he found.

Justice Fagan added that many forms of public gatherings had been restricted, including funeral services which loved ones had not been able to attend.

Justice Fagan added the right to gather for such a cause was not being "taken away", but that it was being "deferred".

Fiji free of coronavirus, Prime Minister says

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Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says the Pacific Island country has no more active cases of COVID-19.

"And even with our testing numbers climbing by the day, it's now been 45 days since we recorded our last case. With no deaths, our recovery rate is 100 per cent," Bainimarama wrote on Friday on Twitter. "Answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science!"

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama last year.AAP

Fiji had 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since it was first reported on March 19. The country, which has a population of more than 900,000, last recorded a coronavirus case on April 21.

Earlier, health minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said the last three patients, including a 12-year-old girl, were cleared on Friday morning as being free of the disease. They were all residents of the capital Suva.

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India records almost 10,000 new coronavirus cases in a day

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India's health ministry on Friday reported another record spike in new coronavirus cases – more than 9800 in the past 24 hours.

India's total number of confirmed cases now stands at 226,770 with 6348 deaths, 273 of them in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. The ministry says the overall rate of recovery for coronavirus patients is around 48 per cent.

Migrant workers in India board a train in Gujarat.AP

There has been a surge in infections in rural areas following the return of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who left cities and towns after they lost their jobs following a nationwide lockdown.

The lockdown is now largely being enforced only in high-risk areas known as containment zones.

'Everybody has given up a lot in order to defeat the disease': Judge

By Laura Chung and Michaela Whitbourn

New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Desmond Fagan is considering whether to prohibit tomorrow's Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney, and appears likely to block it.

NSW Police is seeking a court order that the protest be prohibited under the Summary Offences Act. Organisers of the event, who are expecting around 5000 to turn up, are fighting the attempt to gain the court order.

Justice Fagan said Australia was in the midst of a "health crisis" and social distancing has been used as one of the most effective means of stopping the spread of COVID-19.

He said people had given up their livelihoods, their ability to worship and more in order to combat the disease.

"I don't see how I can diminish the [police] commissioner's concerns in that way," Justice Fagan said. He said this would not deny but merely defer the protest. Making an order prohibiting the protest would not stop protesters gathering but would leave them open to criminal sanction.

Masks and sanitiser available 'for everyone': Sydney protest organiser

By Laura Chung and Michaela Whitbourn

One of the organisers behind Sydney's planned Black Lives Matter protest on Saturday has told the New South Wales Supreme Court that masks and sanitiser would be provided for "everyone" at the planned rally.

Raul Bassi, secretary of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, gave evidence that the organisers would have 50 marshals "walking around trying to keep people separated".

"They have to walk and keep the people separated. Simple. I think we can do it," he said.

NSW Police is seeking a court order prohibiting the protest under the Summary Offences Act.

Under cross examination by the barrister for NSW Police, Michael Spartalis, Mr Bassi agreed he had no experience organising a protest during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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'A risk I'm willing to take': Marcia Langton

By Dana McCauley

Prominent Indigenous academic Marcia Langton says as an Aboriginal woman aged over 50, her elevated risk of becoming sick with COVID-19 is "a risk I'm willing to take" to make a stand against the treatment of First Nations people at this weekend's protests.

Professor Langton told the ABC on Friday afternoon she had been "shocked and dismayed" by the video footage of African American man George Floyd dying after being held down by a police officer's knee, describing the death as "state-sponsored murder".

Marcia Langton.Arsineh Houspian

But she rejected Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement on Friday that Australia "is not like other places", saying the nation's high rate of incarceration of Indigenous people was "a shocking indictment".

Professor Langton said that while the police officers involved in George Floyd's death had been charged, "there have never been any charges in Australia laid against police officers who have been responsible for Aboriginal deaths in custody".

NSW Supreme Court hears application to stop Sydney protest on Saturday

By Laura Chung and Michaela Whitbourn

New South Wales' Supreme Court is hearing an application by NSW Police for an urgent order prohibiting Saturday’s Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.

An affidavit by NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has been tendered in court in support of the police application.

Sydney barrister Emmanuel Kerkyasharian, acting for the protest organizers, is seeking either a court declaration from judge Desmond Fagan that the Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has notified protest organizer Raul Bassi that he does not oppose the protest, or an order allowing it to go ahead.

The law in dispute is the NSW Summary Offences Act, which gives the court the power both to prohibit and allow public assemblies.

Mr Bassi, secretary of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, is currently giving evidence in the witness box.

'I opt out': Indonesia's ambassador to India promotes anti-vax views

By James Massola

Indonesia's top diplomat in India is promoting anti-vaccination views on his personal Facebook page, arguing that building physical fitness and immunity is preferable to ward off the coronavirus.

In the post on Tuesday June 2, Sidharto "Arto" Suryodipuro uploaded a photo of himself exercising and wrote "I'll take my chances, I'll rely on building my own immunity rather than be vaccinated for Covid-19 or any kind of other viral infections".

A Facebook post from Indonesia's ambassador to India Sudharto 'Arto' Suryopiduro.Facebook

The position of ambassador to India is a very senior position within Indonesia's Department of Foreign Affairs, and Arto has held a number of other senior positions including deputy ambassador in Canberra.

Read the full story here.

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Lancet retraction angers Clive Palmer

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Former federal politician Clive Palmer, an advocate for the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, blasted The Lancet for publishing "false information".

The medical journal has retracted an article that reported the drug was associated with a 35 per cent increased risk of serious cardiac side effects.

Clive Palmer.Jono Searle/AAP

Mr Palmer, who has donated 33 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to Australia's national medical stockpile, accused the publication of allowing itself to be tainted by US political divisions, saying Democrat scientists were "trying to attack Trump" over the President's support for the use of the drug.

The businessman said he had donated the hydroxychloroquine, which he argued was "a cheap, safe treatment" for COVID-19, to ensure Australia would have a reliable supply if the drug proved effective in local trials.

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