Megillah Gorilla posted:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/19/cant-pretend-nsw-covid posted:

Australia must come to terms with the Delta variant being here to stay and accept that COVID zero is not possible, the NSW Premier has declared.

quote:

New expert analysis argues Australia must vaccinate 90 per cent of the whole population before removing COVID restrictions, warning of huge outbreaks and thousands of deaths under the current reopening plan.

quote:

A new report has found Australia has the lowest level of manufacturing self-sufficiency of any OECD country, prompting calls for the Morrison government to appoint a minister for Australian sovereign capability.

The report from Flinders University’s Australian Industrial Transformation Institute shows Australia is independently unable to meet its essential needs in times of crisis, following a three-decade-long collapse in Australian manufacturing.

It comes after Australia’s weakened manufacturing sector was forced to pivot towards making essential supplies including surgical masks and hand sanitiser during the pandemic, as the country’s limited production capabilities were left exposed.

The Australian Sovereign Capability Alliance (ASCA) commissioned the research and its director and spokesman, Martin Hamilton-Smith, a former leader of the South Australian Liberal Party, told The New Daily the findings are a warning of what could happen if Australia was “cut off” from foreign manufacturing again.

“We have become dependent on everything that we need to survive in an emergency coming in from overseas,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

“That means we could be cut off – we saw that happen during the pandemic when we had trouble getting masks, sanitiser, respirators and pharmaceuticals because other national governments said we are not letting you have those things that are manufactured in our countries.

“There are things that we need to be able to do as a nation and make here in Australia in order to survive a crisis … what’s clear is that at the moment there are important gaps, and that leaves all Australians exposed and very vulnerable.”

According to the report, Australia has largely regressed to become an importer of goods in the areas of health, energy and infrastructure, defence and space, science, communications and technology, and advanced manufacturing.

It has a self-sufficiency ratio of 71.5 per cent – compared to 83.2 per cent in the UK, 89 per cent in the US, 120.8 per cent in Germany, and 203.2 per cent in Ireland.

The research also reveals Australia is too reliant on non-value-added raw material and food exports and is the lowest producer of manufactured goods it consumes in the OECD.

It supports separate research from Harvard University that ranked Australia 93rd in the world for economic complexity.

The research says the Australian government “is yet to commit to the development of a comprehensive national strategy based on a robust assessment of our strengths and vulnerabilities”.

Mr Hamilton-Smith said the “logical thing to do” – given how many government departments would be required to create a national strategy – was to appoint a dedicated minister in the national cabinet to look after Australian sovereignty capability.

Currently, the Coalition government has put forward a $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy while Labor has proposed a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to address Australia’s manufacturing woes.

Mr Hamilton-Smith said although the strategies were “good work”, there was no current national plan of action.

“It’s piecemeal and there doesn’t seem to be a co-ordinated national approach – that’s what we are seeking,” he said.

While some economists say the industry is too small to warrant such a significant focus, Mr Hamilton-Smith said it was a problem that needs to be addressed by the government.

“The answer won’t always be to manufacture in Australia … We either need to be able to manufacture it here or we need to be able to store it here. The important thing is we need control over those essential things we need to survive a crisis,” he said.

Last year, many companies switched their attention to manufacturing essential supplies as the government scrambled to secure enough personal protective equipment for the nation’s health workers.

The South Australian company Detmold Group, which normally makes packaging for KFC and McDonald’s, manufactured surgical masks, while Western Australian brewing companies Spinifex Brewing Co and Limestone Coast Brewing shifted to producing World Health Organisation-grade hand sanitiser.

The ASCA says it has provided its research to the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, as well as to state premiers, opposition leaders and selected parliamentary committees.

It said it will seek further industry funding to begin sectoral industry supply chain research.

Malcolm Turnbeug posted:

I'm at the "applying for non-combat entry level tech positions in the ADF" stage of depression and unemployment.

Animal Friend posted:

SA parliament passed a law limiting the powers of the state corruption investigator.

The bill passed through both houses in 2 hours and not a single MP voted against it.

Democracy at work.

Anidav posted:

I appreciate the reading up on fringe elements because the upcoming federal election will be decided by how they behave and if they centralise behind a singular party.

Bucky Fullminster posted:

You get that this in itself is significant and can potentially change the future of Australia, right? If they suppress enough of the ALP vote in the right electorates, they can absolutely swing the election. And even just having all that kind of content being thrown around makes a difference too.

Goffer posted:

Hospitalisations / icu / ventilators got up to 1268 / 242 / 123 last outbreak.

We're only up to 832 / 69 / 19 so far, but there's a lag of 5-10 days from detection to hospitalization (depending on who's counting), and probably more of a lag between hospital bed to icu to ventilator.

Might be less intense an illness as well, plus a lot of cases are probably vaxed and not suffering as much as they might otherwise, but a few days of 20k cases will push those hospital limits pretty hard.

ShoeFly posted:

Happy New Year you bastards.

My partner’s about to go into labour without me but that’s fine because we gotta let’r rip!

spaceblancmange posted:

Albanese posted:

We’ve already outlined how our new High Speed Rail Authority will kickstart this nation building project by updating the business case and building on Labor’s work from when we were last in government.

crepeface posted:

how could anyone have foreseen this

starkebn posted:

Feels like Sydney is adamant to stick to the "gently caress around" strategy

quote:

NSW CHO: If you have had COVID you are not considered at risk of reinfection for four weeks

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the state was moving away from the terminology close contacts or casual contacts.

"We are trying to provide the community with an understanding of their risk asking them to calibrate their response depending on that level of risk," Dr Chat said.

She went on to explain the risks for those who have recently had COVID.

"If you have been diagnosed with COVID, so people with recent COVID ... within four weeks of when they have been released from isolation they are not considered at risk of reinfection and therefore don't have to isolate," she said.

"So that may not have been clear. So for instance if you've had COVID you have gone in and done your seven days isolation, for the next four weeks even if you get exposed to COVID or someone else in your household gets COVID, that hadn't had it before, you do not need to isolate.

"You are considered pragmatically not to be considered at risk of reinfection for that period."

Rob Filter posted:

Can anyone recommend any good quality large N95 masks? The masks I got from Bunnings are slightly too small for my face and don't pass a seal check.