On the case

FLIGHT PATH

NSW Health yesterday confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, both of whom are close contacts with no identified link to known cases, after a van driver who shuttles flight crews to and from Sydney Airport tested positive earlier in the day.

The latest health update specifies that anyone who was at the following places should get tested and isolate for 14 days even if they receive a negative test result:

Additionally, anyone who has visited the following venues should get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result:

Health authorities suspect the van driver, who resides in south-western Sydney, may have become infected after contact with international flight crew members; subsequently, The Age reports both the NSW and Victorian governments have called for more oversight of quarantine arrangements for international airline staff landing in the state.

PS: Further south, The Age reports that not only has a third international traveller found to have not been directed to hotel quarantine in Melbourne — a US man who arrived via Sydney on September 24 — but a senior hotel quarantine official then directed subordinates not to file an incident report.

GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN

The grain industry’s peak body GrainGrowers is preparing to settle into the Morrison government’s case against China’s 80% barley tariff at the World Trade Organisation, a process that could take years and, as the ABC explains, rests in part on a global “umpire” with no official trade powers.

According to The Australian ($), GrainGrowers supports the WTO case but is nonetheless preparing for the hit of $2.5 billion over the five-year lifespan of the Chinese tariff, and a pivot to selling barley at a discount as feed for lambs in Saudi Arabia, for example, rather than going into beers such as Tsingtao.

PS: The ABC reports that new analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute — a think-tank funded by the Defence Department, the US State Department, and weapons manufacturers such as Raytheon — suggests local media has faced “persistent efforts” by the Chinese Communist Party to influence content, through either direct control, financial support or decisions about content posted on WeChat.

EXTRADITION ORDER FOR MALKA LEIFER

Finally, The Guardian reports that Israel’s justice minister has signed an extradition order for Malka Leifer, in a show of government support to end “a decade-long effort by accusers of the alleged child abuser to have her brought back to Melbourne”.

The news comes after The Australian ($) reported that five more students yesterday alleged they were abused by Leifer as a principal of the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel school.