Australia news LIVE Fears Melbourne protests may continue lockdowns begin for northern NSW LGAs

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In case you missed it, locations in three hospital emergency departments, including at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne’s inner south, have been named as tier-1 exposure sites.

The Alfred hospital emergency department has been designated tier 1 for an exposure on Friday, September 17 from 8.18pm to 9.16pm.

The waiting room of Casey Hospital emergency department in Berwick, in Melbourne’s south east, was named as tier 1 with contact made on September 20 from 5.05pm to 10.43pm.

And Dandenong Hospital’s main emergency waiting room was listed as tier 1 on September 20, from 1.40pm to 3.10pm, and again from 1pm to 2.15pm on the same day.

Anyone who has visited tier-1 site locations at the times given must immediately get tested and quarantine for 14 days from the date of exposure.

Other tier-1 sites include the Mill Park Superclinic Pharmacy in Melbourne’s north. Meanwhile, the Coles supermarket in Wangaratta, in north-east Victoria, has been designated tier 2.

The full list of exposure sites can be found here.

NSW Liberal MP Catherine Cusack has demanded Health Minister Brad Hazzard resign amid revelations a reality TV show crew member linked to I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! triggered the Byron Bay Delta lockdown.

Ms Cusack, a long-standing upper house MLC based on the North Coast, said her colleague Mr Hazzard had failed the regions by allowing exemptions for workers to travel to areas that had low vaccination rates.

Liberal MLC Catherine Cusack said Brad Hazzard had failed the regions in allowing Delta to spread to Byron Bay. Credit: 

The NSW government announced on Tuesday that Byron and Tweed LGAs would enter a snap seven-day lockdown after a woman, an authorised worker, tested positive for COVID-19. Kempsey, further south on the NSW mid-north coast, is also in lockdown.

Ms Cusack said she was “devastated” by the revelations, given MPs in the regions were already extremely worried about Sydney’s lockdown ending while there are low rates of vaccination outside city areas.

Read the full story here.

Fury and frustration spilled onto Melbourne’s streets for a second day on Tuesday, as 2000 protesters engaged in a day-long and at times violent march through the city â€" scenes organisers have vowed to replicate again today.

Construction workers angered at mandated vaccines on building sites, libertarian activists and anti-mandatory vaccine activists roamed the city shouting anti-state government slogans, hijacking some of Melbourne’s busiest thoroughfares, including the West Gate Bridge, and hurling glass bottles at police and chasing and kicking riot squad cars.

Protesters walking towards Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge yesterday.Credit:Jason South

Channel Seven reporter Paul Dowsley was physically attacked twice by protesters, including having a can of drink thrown at the back of his head while he was presenting live on camera.

The marchers were condemned by unions representing nurses, paramedics, firefighters and building workers. Tim Martin, who was among the motorists trapped by protesters on the West Gate Freeway, told Nine News the crowd “looked dangerous”.

More on the Victorian protests here.

US President Joe Biden has declared that Australia is America’s closest and most reliable ally during his first one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Biden and Morrison sat down in New York for their much-anticipated meeting as European leaders intensified their criticisms of Australia and the US for breaking a $90 billion contract with France to build a fleet of submarines. The United States will instead help Australia develop a fleet of nuclear-powered subs as part of the new AUKUS partnership with the United Kingdom.

President Joe Biden at his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in New YorkCredit:AP

Biden referred to the Prime Minister as “Scott” during a brief exchange before the meeting. At a virtual press conference last week he appeared to forget Morrison’s name and described him as “that fella Down Under”.

“The United States has no closer or more reliable ally than Australia â€" our nations have been together for a long time,” Biden said as Morrison sat beside him at the Intercontinental New York Barclay hotel in Manhattan shortly after the President’s address to the United Nations.

Read more about the meeting here.

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Wednesday, September 22. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s everything you need to know before we get started.

Victorian authorities are preparing for further protests after an estimated 2000 demonstrators hit the streets yesterday, disrupting traffic, assaulting members of the media and calling for Premier Dan Andrews to resign. Among the crowd were tradies furious at Victoria’s mandatory jab decision for the construction industry, anti-vaxxers and members of the alt-right. The Premier says there is “no excuse” for the protesters’ behaviour. Yesterday, Victoria recorded 603 new cases of COVID-19 and one death.

In NSW, the political backlash has begun after parts of the North Coast were put into a seven-day lockdown. It’s been revealed an authorised reality TV worker travelled from Sydney to the regions to work on the UK version of I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! before testing positive to coronavirus. One Liberal MP has demanded Health Minister Brad Hazzard resign. Yesterday, NSW recorded 1022 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths. Social bubbles for children have been announced and authorities are looking at whether end-of-year school formals can go ahead.

Elsewhere in Australia, and the ACT yesterday recorded 16 new cases of coronavirus. Along the NSW-Queensland border, residents of the NSW town of Tweed Heads have been locked out of the Sunshine State. This is because the NSW local government areas of Tweed Heads, Byron Bay and Kempsey went into lockdown from 5pm yesterday.

And in overseas news, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has held his first official face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel has had a “frank, direct and lively exchange” with the PM after Australia terminated a $90 billion French submarine contract in favour of a US deal for nuclear-powered vessels.

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