Australian state and territory leaders—many of whom pursued a zero-COVID or tough suppression strategy—defended their policy response amid the release of a new report calling the country’s COVID-19 measures “excessive” and “harsh.” The report, ‘Fault lines: An Independent Review into Australia’s Response to COVID-19,’ was also critical of school closures, aged care response and warned…

Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will be free for over six million people in Australia, Prime Minister Morrison announced after a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Morrison confirmed that the tests will not be free for everyone in Australia. But the prime minister said the concession cardholders can take up to 10 free tests over a…

Commentary The message from the elites—the political class and the mainstream media—could have come from the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984. This is the celebrated novel about the future when the world is governed by three evil dictatorships based on the communist and fascist models which emerged in the 20th century. The message…

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has issued a public plea to break the cycle of lockdowns and has called on state leaders to abide by a National Cabinet agreement to ease restrictions once certain vaccination thresholds are met. “That is our goal—to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it,” he told reporters…

A judge has ruled that documents used by the intergovernmental national cabinet to make decisions around Australia’s COVID-19 response, are not subject to confidentiality. Independent Senator Rex Patrick launched the legal battle after a failed Freedom of Information request to obtain documents outlining the minutes from national cabinet meetings. Judge Richard White of the Administrative…

The meeting of the National Cabinet will aim to get the nation’s vaccine program back on track and discuss ways to ease international border restrictions, perhaps later in the year. One route in and out of the country has already eased, after restrictions on two-way travel between Australia and New Zealand were loosened on Sunday…