Domestic Politics
Last week, New Zealand moved from alert level 4 to alert level 3, allowing some of its economy to come back online while still enforcing social distancing measures. This week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the government will give two days notice prior to May 11 to indicate whether the country will move to alert level 2, wherein all businesses and public facilities will be allowed to open “with a 1-metre social distance maintained”. [Stuff]
International Relations
The Chinese government issued a stern rebuke of recent criticism by Australian politicians and media of China’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece, The Global Times, warned that this is “hurting the profound friendship” between the two countries.
The Saturday Telegraph published a 15-page dossier compiled by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service that posits that China covered up news of the virus. It further claims that China “disappeared” doctors who spoke out”, destroyed virus samples, bleached wildlife market stalls, censored academic articles, withheld data on asymptomatic silent carriers, refused to cooperate with international scientists working on a vaccine, denied human-to-human transmission, and delayed communicating the risk of the virus to the WHO. [The Daily Telegraph]
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will remotely attend an Australian National Cabinet meeting tomorrow between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the state and territory leaders. It is expected that they will discuss a “trans-Tasman travel bubble”, wherein border restrictions between the two countries could be relaxed. [ABC News]
Health
Australia now has 6823 COVID-19 cases, with 96 deaths. [Sydney Morning Herald]
New Zealand reported no new coronavirus cases on Monday, the first time since mid-March. New Zealand now has 1487 COVID-19 cases, with 1276 recoveries, and 20 deaths. [Newsroom]
Australian Science Minister Karen Andrews said that a coronavirus vaccine is necessary for life to “return to normal”, saying that restrictions should be eased in “baby steps”. She added that a vaccine could be released in 10-15 months. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is currently testing vaccines developed by US company Inovio Pharmaceuticals and the University of Oxford. [Sky News Australia]
Economy
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) reported that job advertisements plunged by 53.1% in April, after falling by 10% in March. The previous biggest dip in job ads was an 11.3% decrease in January 2009. The unemployment rate stands at 5.2%, but this figure was compiled prior to the lockdown. Economists fear that unemployment could rise to 10%. [7 News]
Image Source: The Australian
Australia and New Zealand in Review: May 04, 2020
Read more about the latest events from Australia and New Zealand.
May 4, 2020
