Council elections for more than five million residents to be delayed




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Local council elections for five million NSW residents will be delayed until December is an ominous sign Sydney’s Covid outbreak could drag on for months.

Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock the delay was a direct response to the worrying rise in Covid-19 cases across the city, jumping another 141 on Sunday.

Mrs Hancock said after discussions with NSW Health and NSW Electoral Commission, the decision was made to postpone the poll to December 4. 




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‘Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and current public health orders impacting Sydney, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the local government elections until later this year,’ she said. 

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‘We have taken this step to postpone the election to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our communities, voters, polling staff and candidates.’ 

The second year in a row local elections have been delayed was also influenced by increasing pressure from Labor and mayors across Sydney. 

The minister said voters will be able to cast their ballots safely in person, by post, or online in December with electronic voting, dubbed iVote, available for the first time this year. 

Voters will have 13 days pre-election day to vote, in an effort to reduce the number of people congregating on polling day. 

The delay means nominations that were due to begin on Monday will open on October 25, with the term for nominated councillors to still end in 2024. 

About 5.1 million Sydneysiders are enrolled to vote this year, with more than 500 candidates expected to contend for a place on 125 of the state’s 128 counsels.   




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The government’s previous plan to push ahead with the polls on September 4 was called into question as the fast-spreading Delta variant continues to wreak havoc across Sydney.   

Meanwhile a decorated Australian immunologist has warned the thousands of anti-vaxxer protestors that took to the city’s streets on Saturday could cause case numbers to explode and subsequently extend the lockdown.  

Frenzied crowds were heard shouting ‘freedom’ and anti-vaccine slogans as they swarmed Sydney’s city centre, just moments after NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty declared the area a virus hotspot. 

Fifty-seven rioters were taken away in handcuffs as protesters hurled pot plants at mounted officers and crowds shouted repeatedly at police: ‘you serve us!’ 

Professor Peter Doherty warned those who are the most likely to die from the virus are the unvaccinated. 

Mr Doherty said that even if most of the population has received the jab, the virus can still be passed on to those who haven’t. 




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There are currently 139 people in Sydney hospitals with Covid as a result of the latest outbreak, which includes 37 in intensive care, 17 of whom require ventilators. 

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Of the 37 people in intensive care, 36 are unvaccinated, with the other one having received only their first dose of AstraZeneca. 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also unleashed on the protesters and said punishments would be handed down to those who broke the law.

‘I am utterly disgusted by the illegal protesters in the City today whose selfish actions have compromised the safety of all of us’ said Ms Berejiklian.

‘The protestors have shown utter contempt for their fellow citizens who are currently doing it tough.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton took to Twitter to point out the irony in protestors claiming their cause was ‘freedom’.




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‘I love freedom. Who doesn’t love freedom? I want freedom from being amongst the over 4 million official (and likely 10 million actual) Covid deaths globally,’ he wrote.

‘Let’s not pretend that ‘marching for freedom’ will actually deliver the precious freedom that we all need and desire.’ 

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews labelled the idea of protesting lockdown ‘ridiculous’.

‘Protest against this virus by staying at home, following the rules and getting out of lockdown,’ he said.

The demonstrations, which were also seen in Brisbane, were a response to Covid lockdowns imposed in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, with more than half the country’s 25million people ordered to stay at home over an outbreak which began in Sydney’s east. 

The protest came as Covid-19 case numbers in NSW reached another record high since the first wave in 2020, with 163 new local cases reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, up from 136 the day before.




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Greater Sydney has been locked down for the past four weeks, with residents only able to leave home with a reasonable excuse.

The demonstrations come less than a week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions could last for months. 

In a press conference in Canberra on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the highly infectious Delta strain was ‘throwing another big challenge at our country’.

‘It’s tough and it’s going to continue to be tough in the weeks ahead – and potentially months ahead – as we continue to wrestle with this new strain of this virus and we adapt our responses to fight it,’ he told the nation.

‘But we’re up to it and we’ll deal with it.’

Lockdowns in South Australia and Victoria are due to end next Wednesday and Sydney’s shut down is supposed to finish on July 30 – but premiers have not ruled out extensions.  




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The Delta variant of Covid – which originated in India in April – has been described as ‘Covid-19 on steroids’ and is twice as infectious as the original Wuhan strain.

It makes up more than 80 per cent of cases in the US and 90 per cent of cases in the UK – but can be effectively stopped with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

However, Australia has fully vaccinated only 14.52 per cent of over 16s – the lowest rate in OECD group of 38 rich nations – meaning lockdowns could be required for months while the rate rises. 

There are currently 139 people in Sydney hospitals with Covid as a result of the latest outbreak, which includes 37 in intensive care, 17 of whom require ventilators.

Of the 37 people in intensive care, 36 are unvaccinated, with the other one having received only their first dose of AstraZeneca. 

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Source: Thanks msn.com