States and territories tighten border restrictions over new variant fears – as it happened

And with that, we will wrap up the blog for today. Here is what went down:

• Two international arrivals in Sydney have tested positive to the new Omicron variant of Covid-19, having flown into Sydney from Doha on a Qatar Airways flight on Saturday night.
• NSW will stick with its reopening plan, with premier Dominic Perrottet saying new variants entering the country were “inevitable”.
• Prime minister Scott Morrison announced that the government will introduce legislation to hold social media companies accountable for defamatory and harmful posts by online trolls.
• NSW recorded 185 new cases and zero deaths. Victoria recorded 1,061 new local Covid-19 cases and four deaths. The ACT recorded seven new cases, and Queensland three new cases.
  
• An evacuation order has been issued to residents of towns along the Hunter River in NSW as rising flood waters threaten power and water services.
• NSW police took a man into custody after reports of a masked armed shooter on Windang Road near Wollongong. Police reported no casualties or injuries.
  
• Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has walked back some of her speeches and comments from earlier in her career, saying an “adviser” had her say things that were “way too rightwing”.
• The Morrison government will give $10m for an Australia Day ad campaign on the theme of “Reflect, Respect, Celebrate: We’re all part of the story”.
  

NSW Health has confirmed that the two overseas travellers that tested positive overnight have been infected with the new Omicron variant.

Both passengers arrived from southern Africa on Saturday evening, and underwent testing last night.

Both cases are asymptomatic and in isolation at Special Health Accommodation, and both are fully vaccinated.

The federal government is pushing ahead with their much maligned model for a federal anti-corruption commission, but have signalled they won’t put it to parliament unless Labor backs it.

Katharine Murphy with the latest from Canberra:

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said earlier today he “won’t hesitate” keeping the borders shut if the new Omicron variant threatens WA.

McGowan reaffirmed that borders are still due to be reopened next year, but warned that he would keep the borders closed if the variant spread in other states.

There is a lot we do not know about the Omicron variant but it is believed to be more transmissible than the highly infectious Delta variant and could have more severe impacts on people.

Details are evolving but the World Health Organisation has declared it a variant of concern based on what appears to be rampant and substantial growth seen in southern Africa.

There is a great deal of uncertainty about the recently emerged Omicron variant so it is important Western Australia has strong protections in place for states which have relaxed their international borders.

NSW no longer has a hotel quarantine system. It is a big risk and that is why we have had a very cautious approach about other states.

Borders are effective, if you stop the flow of people coming in you virtually eliminate the prospect of the virus getting here.

So earlier today federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese was asked about the government’s approach to the new variant and urged the commonwealth to be “cautious”.

Yesterday Albanese called for the border to be closed to southern African nations, and today said the variant showed why Australia needed purpose-built quarantine facilities:

This strain could cause a real problem and we need to make sure that the precautionary principle applies here.

The government needs to get the best health advice and act cautiously on all of these measures, because what we know from this virus and its variants is that it is a lot harder to put back in the bottle once it’s out.

We need to make sure as well that people coming into Australia from who potentially have had contact with that variant are quarantined properly.

We know that with Delta it’s spread very quickly and we need to take whatever measures are necessary.

Australian shares look set for a further hefty markdown at tomorrow’s opening with global markets sent into a tailspin on the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, AAP reports:

Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day drop in months on Friday, dragging Australian share futures down 104 points or 1.4 per cent to 7166.

“Shares remain vulnerable to further short-term weakness with possible triggers being the rebound in coronavirus cases globally and the new Omicron variant,” AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 905.04 points, or 2.53 per cent, to 34,899.34, the S&P 500 lost 106.84 points, or 2.27 per cent, to 4,594.62; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 353.57 points, or 2.23 per cent, to 15,491.66.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index tumbled 128 points, or 1.73 per cent, to 7279.3 points on Friday.

Potential market volatility could overshadow a busy week for domestic economic data, including the September quarter national accounts to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

Labor’s housing spokesman Jason Clare says rent prices have skyrocketed this past year while wages have flatlined.

In a statement released today, Clare accused the government of allowing housing affordability to get worse.

Rent in regional Australia had “gone through the roof”, he said.

For example, in Byron Bay, Clare said, the median price of rent had increased by 26.7%, up to $10,400 annually. In Darwin, the median rent had increased by 25.3%, or $6,500 over the year.

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Labor has promised that, if elected, it will establish the Housing Australia Future Fund to build 30,000 social and affordable homes across the country over five years.

Clare said Scott Morrison “needs to get out of The Lodge and into the real world”.

Outspoken Coalition MP George Christensen has undermined the government’s concern about the emerging Covid-19 variant Omicron in a post to the messaging app Telegram.

Christensen shared a meme suggesting that Dr Angelique Coetzee, who first alerted authorities to the presence of Omicron, isn’t concerned about the new variant. He quoted a part of the article where Coetzee said that the symptoms have so far been “unusual but mild”.

Christensen left out the part of the article when the same doctor said:

What we have to worry about now is that when older, unvaccinated people are infected with the new variant, and if they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe [form of the] disease.

This week, the government revealed that deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce had counselled Christensen on his online behaviour, which have included posts spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

South Australia has once again recorded zero new cases:

Epidimiologist Dr Mary-Louise McLaws on the new Omicron variant:

Good afternoon, a quick thanks to Justine Landis-Hanley for expertly manning the blog today, its been quite a busy day for a Sunday, with lots going around, so let’s get stuck in.