New SA case linked to restaurant outbreak as premier calls for ADF assistance; NSW records 110 local cases; Victoria records 22 local cases overnight

• Coalition pressured to expand disaster payments as 1 million locked down Australians excluded
• Parts of regional NSW enter seven-day Covid lockdown as premier vows to restart Sydney construction
• Restrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; WA, NT and SA
• Hotspots: NSW map; Vic list; Qld; WA
• Vaccine rollout tracker

4.01am BST

The union representing Centrelink workers is pleading with the federal government to change eligibility for its Covid disaster payments to address long queues that have formed at Centrelink offices that workers are concerned pose a Covid risk.

The Community and Public Sector Union wants the government to loosen criteria for its Covid disaster payments and jobseeker rules that require some applicants to attend service centres for an in person identification check.

The time for action is now. The Government cannot ignore the lines outside Centrelink while the health advice is to stay home and socially distance. At the peak of the pandemic last year the Government upgraded online access and CPSU members are calling for this to occur again.

Our members are trying their best to help the tens of thousands of Australians at one of the hardest times of their lives, but they are concerned about community safety with long queues and long waits outside Centrelink offices.

Related: Coalition pressured to expand Covid disaster payments as 1 million locked down Australians excluded

3.51am BST

Controversy has hit Australia’s Olympic team on the first day of Tokyo 2020 action, with show jumper Jamie Kermond provisionally suspended by Equestrian Australia after returning a positive A-sample for cocaine.

In a press release issued on Wednesday morning, Equestrian Australia advised that a test undertaken by Sport Integrity Australia on 26 June 2021 had returned the adverse result.

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Source: The Guardian