NSW public servant pay freeze blocked while final two bidders for Virgin airline revealed – as it happened

And that’s where we will leave it for tonight. You can keep up to date with everything happening around the world with our global live blog. Here’s a quick rundown on everything that happened today:

• The Reserve Bank has left rates at 0.25%, with RBA governor Philip Lowe saying the Covid-19-induced economic downturn may not be as bad as expected.
• Scott Morrison spoke with Donald Trump about “the distressing situation” in the United States during a phone call this morning. The call was about an invitation to attend the G7, but the PM later contacted the Australian embassy in Washington to ask how the country should lodge concern about a Channel 7 reporter and a cameraman who were attacked by police during protests in the US capital.
• The NSW government will further ease lockdown restrictions to allow gyms to reopen from 13 June. Fitness centres, dance studios, indoor swimming and barre will also be allowed.
• Hundreds of people have marched through Sydney in a Black Lives Matter protest against Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia and against the killing of George Floyd in the US. The event happened hours after a NSW police officer was placed on “restricted duties” and an investigation launched into footage that showed him slamming a 16-year-old Indigenous boy face-first onto pavement in Sydney on Monday.
• The NSW upper house has reversed the state government’s controversial 12-month pay freeze for public servants. MPs voted to disallow the pay pause for 400,000 workers in the state, which was introduced last week in response to the economic damage wrought by Covid-19.
• The final two bidders for stricken airline Virgin Australia are Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners, administrators Deloitte say. The two remaining contenders now face a race against time to secure a binding deal – and potentially a government bailout – before the end of the month.

From me, Elias Visontay, have a great evening.

For more on today’s developments surrounding Virgin Australia, my colleague Ben Butler has written this report:

The NSW upper house has reversed the state government’s controversial 12-month pay freeze for public servants, AAP reports.

MPs voted on Tuesday to disallow the pay pause, which was introduced last week in response to the economic damage wrought by Covid-19.

The Berejiklian government had argued the freeze would guarantee jobs for public servants and free up funds for job-creating projects to support others who have lost work.

But the wages policy has been opposed by unions and frontline workers including paramedics, nurses, police officers and teachers.

Labor MP Adam Searle, who successfully introduced the motion to disallow the pay freeze regulation, said it was an “act of economic vandalism” that would cut the purchasing power of 400,000 workers in the state.

From my colleague Justine Landis-Hanley:

Some more footage from my colleague Naaman Zhou, who is at the Black Lives Matter solidarity protest in Sydney this evening:

2 Jun 202003.39 EDT

Naaman Zhou

The speeches have begun at the protest march in Sydney.

Organisers are saying:

There have been too many black deaths in this country. And none of them have led to prosecution.

The significance of the street we are on today, governor Macquarie ... this is where the genocide started, in Sydney.

A young boy in Surry Hills got slammed by police yesterday. It happens so often. It is an Australian problem. We are sick of it.

I’m not going to get started on the Channel 9 report, or how little white Australians know about Aboriginal culture.

2 Jun 202003.32 EDT

Hundreds march through Sydney in Black Lives Matter protest

Naaman Zhou

Hundreds of people have marched through Sydney in a Black Lives Matter protest against Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia and against the killing of George Floyd in the US.

Protesters are on Macquarie Street outside the New South Wales parliament chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land”.

Organisers obtained permission from police and the Gadigal Land Council for the protest.

With that, I will pass you over to my colleague Elias Visontay. Have a great night.

Our reporter Naaman Zhou is in Hyde Park tonight.

Earlier today growing calls emerged for an inquiry into robodebt.

On the same topic, NSW police are holding a press conference into the incident.

NSW police professional standards command are investigating and the officer is on “restricted duties”.

Asked if the force used was necessary, NSW assistant commissioner Mick Willing declines to say, arguing “that is what the investigation is about”.

Willing says people are going to “use this video” for their own agenda.

I am concerned people will use this video, footage, to create it into something that it’s not. We’re all well aware of what’s happening overseas.

This is not the United States of America. We have very, very good relations with our local community.

Asked about the circumstances that led to the incident, he says:

I’m advised the officers were attending an unrelated job in the vicinity.

They came across the 17-year-old boy and the four others and engaged them in conversation.

As your reference, you can listen to the footage yourself and see the footage yourself.

There was words exchanged between them, which caused the constable to react, and whether or not that reaction is appropriate is subject to that investigation.

Alan Tudge, the population minister, has been asked on the ABC about the video of an Indigenous boy who was slammed into the ground by a police man.

He says:

From what I can gather from watching the video, the young man did make a threat to the police officer and so the police officer therefore was taking him under arrest, then he kicked his legs from under the ground to facilitate that.

Now, from what I understand, there will be an investigation into that, as to what happened.

We certainly don’t want to see this incident become bigger than what it is, and that is an individual incident which will be investigated and there will be proper consequences as a result of that investigation.

Tudge is reluctant to criticise officer but says the video “did not look great” and notes it will be investigated.

It’s hard to judge from just watching the video as to the precise circumstances and how much of a threat the individual police officer felt.

2 Jun 202002.20 EDT

Covidsafe app downloaded 6.1m times

Paul Karp

Caroline Edwards, the acting health department secretary, has told the Covid-19 committee there have now been 6,174,008 downloads of the Covidsafe app.

Edwards said the department only knew the app had been used when states made assertions publicly – and she noted Victoria has said it had been used to contact somebody who health authorities otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

But many jurisdictions have not had new infections for some time and have had no need to use the app.

Asked about reports its range is not working, Edwards replied:

The app is operating as expected. It exchanges digital handshakes of people within 1.5m of each other for 15min or more.

Edwards said she had “heard nothing but keenness to be involved in the app project” from the states and territories. But health success meant there was “very little need for this contact tracing aid” at this stage, although if there was a significant further outbreak it would “augment the response”.

The final two bidders for stricken airline Virgin Australia are Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners, administrators Deloitte say.

Lead administrator Vaughan Strawbridge said:

Both Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners are well-funded, have deep aviation experience, and they see real value in the business and its future.

We would like to thank all interested parties for the strong interest they have displayed in the business and their commitment to the process over recent weeks.

We will now spend the coming weeks facilitating in-depth bidder engagement with the stakeholders of the business and work closely with both preferred bidders in the lead-up to binding final offers being received.

Strawbridge said he wanted a binding sale agreement in place by the end of the month.

He’ll need one, because he has previously admitted the airline will run out of cash around then.

Any deal will then go to creditors for approval.

There’s no word on how the gap between the sale agreement and the meeting, which could be as long as six weeks, will be bridged.

This is where a government bailout could come in – but so far transport minister and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack hasn’t indicated there’ll be a cent.

2 Jun 202002.13 EDT

Daniel Hurst

The head of the Department of Social Services became aware at least a day beforehand that the government was set to reveal plans to refund robodebts, a Senate committee has been told, amid criticism the news was held until Friday afternoon.

Labor senator Murray Watt used the Senate select committee on Covid-19 to quiz department secretary Kathryn Campbell over the handling of the announcement, which the opposition argues was timed late on Friday to avoid scrutiny.

Campbell confirmed she had provided advice to ministers in the lead-up to the decision to repay 470,000 debts that were entirely or partially raised using the discredited “income-averaging” calculations.

Asked when she became aware of the decision to make the refund announcement, Campbell replied: “I think I became aware on Thursday.”

But pressed on when the government actually made the decision, she said she would have to take the question on notice.

The next part of the questioning could have been straight out of an episode of Yes, Minister.

When asked to confirm the decision was made before the prime minister held his national cabinet press conference on Friday, Campbell made a statement of the obvious:

The decision was made before minister Robert made the announcement, senator.

Robert fronted the media at 3.45pm on Friday to announce the refunds would be received by 373,000 people, cost a total $721m and include recovery fee charges.

Watt asked Campbell whether in her current or former role she had advised ministers of concerns about the legality of the robodebt scheme prior to this calendar year.

She said that question went to the legal advice around which the currently outstanding case revolves and it would be inappropriate to discuss while before the courts.

2 Jun 202002.09 EDT

Calla Wahlquist

The radio networks used by firefighting agencies in Australian states and territories are “largely incompatible” with each other, making it more difficult for aircraft to be deployed across state lines, the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements has heard.

Firefighting aircraft – most of which are operated by private companies that negotiate three-to-five year contracts with state or territory firefighting agencies – are fitted with at least two different radio systems so they can both communicate with air traffic control and with the fire agency they’re primarily working with.

But if an aircraft stationed in southern NSW is deployed to a fire in Victoria, it would need a third radio system to communicate directly with the Victorian fire authorities.

Richard Alder, the general manager of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre, said it was “currently impractical” to provide standard tactical radios in all firefighting aircraft Australia-wide “because each state and territory adopts a different system that are largely incompatible”.

Ruth Ryan, the corporate fire manager from HPV Plantations, the largest private landholder in Victoria, said that meant that if there were a fire in their plantations in south-west Victoria, they were unable to call aerial support from Mount Gambier, 10km over the border.

I would certainly like to see the state borders dissolved, effectively, especially for aerial support, so that the closest aircraft respond to every fire … And then, you know, it is all about that common training and common systems, and common equipment. So that effectively dissolves those state borders because when we are fighting the one fire, we really need to be able to fight it most effectively.

HPV Plantations has a contract with the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to share its firefighting resources, which includes aerial resources and 280 trained firefighters.

Ryan said different radio systems used in different states meant firefighters on one side of the border could not hear what was happening on the other side, even if they were working on the same fire.

So you know, if I was sitting 20km inside the Victorian border, I cannot, unless I’ve got yet another radio in my vehicle, I cannot hear what’s happening in SA as far as any dispatch.

View image in fullscreen

Palace Cinemas says it will reopen its doors nationally from 2 July.

Its statement today says:

New safety procedures include capped cinema capacities and seating allocation which will allow friends and families to remain seated together while distanced from other bookings.

Additional measures at all Palace Cinemas will include compulsory online booking, staggered screenings to avoid unnecessary congestion in foyers, the provision of hand-sanitiser stations at cinema entrances and points of sale, and contactless payment for food and beverage purchases.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says universities might be asked to pay for international students’ two-week quarantine period when they return to Australia to study.

AAP reports that Andrews has been speaking with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and university vice-chancellors about his hopes of international students being back in the country soon.

We are hopeful that we can get international education back on its feet soon ... It’s going to take a little bit of time.

Students would also need to undergo the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine for all returning overseas travellers.

That service is currently paid for by the state, but when asked who would fit the bill for international students, Andrews suggested universities might play a role.

I would want to continue having conversations with unis about that. I think that ... probably a partnership approach would be the best thing for us to do.

Federal population minister Alan Tudge said about 80 % of international students were still in Australia and studying.

2 Jun 202001.36 EDT

Paul Karp

Labor’s Pat Dodson is asking about increased testing in remote communities and whether the government will engage in “surveillance” of the population.

Caroline Edwards, the health department secretary, says the current advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is that “anybody with respiratory symptoms, however mild, should get tested”, but there is “no proposal to do asymptomatic testing” under consideration.

That said, “if there were an outbreak in a remote community, we’d have a higher level of testing”, just as when there is an outbreak in aged care.

On surveillance, Edwards notes that some countries conduct “serological testing – for people who may have had the disease in the past”. There is “no current proposal” to do that form of testing in Australia because it is “not clear” how accurate it is, and Australia is “very confident” of its low rate of infection.