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Mask mandate back as authorities warn Perth Omicron outbreak might be difficult to contain
WA Premier Mark McGowan said COVID-19 is likely circulating in the community undetected as a cluster linked to a massage spa in Applecross grows, and WA’s active Omicron cases rises to 81.
Perth hospitals ‘not prepared’ for expected COVID peak six weeks after border reopens
While state government modelling has not been shared publicly, emergency clinicians say they are expecting a peak six weeks after February 5 – and that they aren’t ready.
Victoria begins distributing 3 million rapid antigen tests
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton advised people to use the kits before going to crowded indoor spaces, meeting elderly or vulnerable relatives as well as after being in contact with a confirmed case.
‘Critical shortage’: Miners face talent crunch as metals demand fires up
Australia’s biggest miners are struggling to find specialist workers as border restrictions and a collapse in skilled migration exacerbate a labour squeeze.
The smart companies that avoided RAT trap by bulk ordering kits last year
Many Australian companies are at least six months ahead of everyone in preparing for the rush on rapid antigen tests which have played a key role in keeping their businesses operating.
Wesfarmers says Kmart, Target hit by Omicron surge
Wesfarmers has warned its discount chains, Kmart and Target, are taking a hit as the Omicron variant scares away shoppers and disrupts deliveries to stores due to COVID-related staffing shortages.
Live
Australian Open
Djokovic could return under the right circumstances: PM
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has left the door open for Novak Djokovic to return to the Australian Open next year, with the tennis star facing an automatic three-year ban from the country.
Latest live posts
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Novak Djokovic
Djokovic has lost his fight to stay in Australia. What happens now?
A visa battle between the world number one and the Australian government has reached its climax. How did it play out in court? And what does it mean for the Open?
Serbian leaders accuse Australia of ‘torturing and tormenting’ Djokovic in ‘scandalous’ decision
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said his nation could not understand Australia’s treatment of the unvaccinated world tennis number one.
Opinion
Tsunami
‘The equivalent of 1000 Hiroshima bombs’: World watched tremendous explosion in Tonga
The people of Tonga witnessed a catastrophic event. We must hope there are no further eruptions.
Opinion
Political leadership
Prime Minister resurrects old fantasies as he focuses on world where pandemic hardly exists
Some are still experiencing the pandemic in consequential ways, but the government does its best to pretend COVID is all but behind us.
Sean Kelly
Columnist
Prince Harry ‘unable to return home’, launches legal action over UK security
Prince Harry has filed a claim for a judicial review against the British government’s decision not to let him personally pay for police protection while in the UK.
South Australia breaks record by running for a week on renewable energy
Analysts believe South Australia’s more than six-day run on green energy may be a global first for a power grid supporting an advanced economy.
Victoria Beckham: It’s time to bring back sexy
The designer is embracing body-con for the first time in a decade.
‘COVID knocked me around’: Kyrgios determined to rebound
Nick Kyrgios’s preparations have been hindered, but he’s determined to bolster the Australian Open as it emerges from the shadows of the Novak Djokovic visa saga.
Analysis
The Ashes
Heroes and zeroes: How every player rated in the Ashes series
No player received a 10 but two Australians went within a whisker in the dominant series win, while there was a dismal set of numbers for England.
Andrew Wu
WA’S BORDER REOPENING
WA nurses warn EDs to be ‘super-spreaders’ with no clear plan to separate COVID cases
The nursing union has made desperate pleas to extend WA’s hard borders, claiming there is no plan to screen and treat COVID patients without risking the infection spreading in hospitals.
Updated
WA Premier announces toughest proof-of-vaccination rules in Australia
Mark McGowan said life would become very difficult for people who were unvaccinated from January 31, when the new rules took effect.
Western Australia
Man charged with giving false ID and vaccination proof at Crown Perth
It will be alleged that the man presented another person’s driver’s licence and vaccination certificate to the security staff at Crown, who called the police.
‘Richard was wandering the bush, lost and alone’: WA’s dementia rescue service
Terrified the person you love, who has dementia, might wander off and put themselves in danger? Read this – it might save their life one day.
Exclusive
Prisons
Refusal to put airconditioning in Pilbara prison where temperature hit 50.5C is racist: ALS
As Roebourne hit 50.5 degrees on Thursday, inmates at the town’s prison were sweltering in an aged facility recommended for closure by the WA government in 2003.
Bikie gang members charged under WA’s tough new prohibited insignia laws after pool party
The group were detained and five outlaw gang members were charged with displaying prohibited insignia.
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic
WA records five new cases as mask mandate reinstated
The mask mandate will return from Sunday night after WA recorded five new COVID-19 cases. Most were infectious while in the community, sparking the state’s exposure site list to grow.
Politics
Exclusive
Australia votes
Albanese’s election pitch to aspirational Australians
The Opposition Leader says he will offer voters an election platform to help create personal wealth for millions of aspirational citizens, while ruling out any new taxes.
Business
Biden’s new Wall Street watchdog could shake up industry
Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination as the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision puts a final – and decidedly progressive –stamp on the Biden administration’s Wall Street oversight team.
World
Prince Harry ‘unable to return home’, launches legal action over UK security
Prince Harry has filed a claim for a judicial review against the British government’s decision not to let him personally pay for police protection while in the UK.
Opinion
COVID a wild card in efforts to help Tonga
Dr Tess Newton Cain
Pacific analyst, commentator, consultant, journalist
Self-imposed shadow lockdown is crimping consumer spending
Jennifer Duke
Economics correspondent
Novak Djokovic didn’t have to be the biggest news story in the nation this week
Margaret Simons
Journalist, author and academic.
Explore
Property
The double whammy trapping first home buyers
A tenant paying $50 a week more on rent has $50 a week less to save for a home deposit, a double blow to anyone trying to keep up with the extraordinary growth in pandemic-era property prices.
The top 10 places where rents increased the most last year
Record rent rises across Australia are being driven by two factors: shore and ore.
Lifestyle
Jurassic Prada hits the right note on the runway
Actors Jeff Goldblum, 69, and Kyle MacLachlan, 62, brought old school glamour to Milan’s menswear shows.
Culture
What to read next: A dazzling look at genius and defending Britney Spears
Book reviewers Lucy Sussex and Fiona Capp consider a mix of fiction and non-fiction releases. Here are their picks from the bunch.
Sport
The Barty effect: World No.1 turns footy-mad Indigenous kids on to tennis
Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty’s emergence as a world beater has proven a tonic for Australian tennis, from the Tiwi Islands to Phillip Island.
‘Extremely disappointed’ Novak Djokovic deported after losing visa battle
Novak Djokovic has lost his attempt to bid to overturn his deportation and flew out of Melbourne on Sunday night en route to Dubai.
Updated
Australian Open
‘Lucky loser’ Caruso becomes de facto top seed
Serena Williams’ coach says the Australian Open is the “biggest loser” from the Novak Djokovic saga, as 29-year-old Italian Salvatore Caruso takes the world No.1’s place in the draw.
‘She’s done everything right’: Rafter confident in Barty’s Australian Open preparation
The World No.1 has shut out all distractions this year, opting to stay in a house in Melbourne with her team instead of at the tournament hotel, Crown Towers.
Green fires as Australia crush England after another stunning collapse
Just one wicket in Sydney was the difference between Pat Cummins’ men completing a third Ashes whitewash in 15 years and taking maximum points in the World Test Championship.
Analysis
The Ashes
Heroes and zeroes: How every player rated in the Ashes series
No player received a 10 but two Australians went within a whisker in the dominant series win, while there was a dismal set of numbers for England.
Andrew Wu
England batters would get found out in a fish and chip shop
The time is up for Hameed, Burns and Buttler, but Bairstow showed guts and Crawley was a nice surprise, writes England cricket icon Sir Geoffrey Boycott.
Have Your Say
On the face of the ‘happy slam’, a forced smile
The Australian Open is known for being relaxed and hospitable, but in the wake of the Djokovic saga, no one is at their ease as this year’s tournament begins.
