Morning, gang.

1. There are now ZERO active cases of coronavirus in Victoria, meaning the ‘second wave’ has officially ended. Of course, things can change, but not a bad result. A man in his 90s was discharged from hospital Monday evening, making him the last case in the state. Solid effort from that bloke.

2. Qantas and Jetstar have resumed flights between Sydney and Melbourne. The news comes as the border between New South Wales and Victoria reopens. The airlines will operate 17 return flights between the states. “After a very tough year for a lot of people, this is a big milestone in Australia opening back up,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement. “It’s going to be a really emotional day for a lot of our passengers. We’re going to see the kind of reunions normally reserved for long haul international flights rather than two cities that are only an hour apart.”

3. Australian media companies and publishers issued a joint statement calling on the government to legislate a media bargaining code before the end of the year. The statement outlines a number of provisions it believes must be in any final code. Both Google and Facebook have opposed the media bargaining code in its current draft form.

4. Carsales Australia boss Ajay Bhatia says higher prices for second-hand cars will be the norm for a while yet, thanks in part to the pandemic. The recent surge in prices, Bhatia says, came as people spend the money they’d otherwise splurge on international travel on vehicles instead. “This situation won’t be solved within the next month, this is here for many months for sure and whether it stays for a year, or two years, is the question,” he said.

5. The Transport Workers’ Union has launched a last-minute effort to stop Qantas outsourcing around 2000 domestic ground handling jobs. “We urge Qantas to award the work to their loyal, dedicated workers whom they have invested time and money in training up to the high standards that Qantas passengers expect,” said TWU national secretary Michael Kaine.

6. The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca released positive results for their COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. In a statement, they said the vaccine, delivered via two shots a month apart, was 70% effective on average in a late-stage trial. It follows results being released for two other vaccines – developed by Pfizer and Moderna – which showed 95% efficacy. Frankly, I won’t roll out of bed for anything under 90%, at this point. Do better! (In fairness, the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot is cheaper to produce and easier to transport.)

7. Seems the market isn’t too fussed on 70% efficacy, either. Shares in AstraZeneca slid 2% on Monday after the company released the results. The pharma firm’s stock was the worst-performing healthcare stock in Europe in early trading.

8. Boris Johnson announced that the UK’s national coronavirus lockdown will end on December 3. He told the House of Commons that it will be replaced with a new three-tier system across England, which will last until Spring. Non-essential retail will be allowed to re-open while spectator sports and religious services will also be able to resume. However, household mixing indoors will remain banned across most of England.

9. Over 100 American business leaders have signed a joint letter urging President Trump to concede the 2020 presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden. “Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” the letter reportedly says. Executives who signed the letter include the president of private equity firm Blackstone and the head of real estate firm Tishman Speyer, according to a report from the New York Times.

10. Biden is planning to nominate Janet Yellen to head the Treasury Department, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. If the Senate confirms Yellen, she would be the first woman to hold the job. Yellen would become the first person to hold the three most influential economic positions in government: Federal Reserve chair, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, and now treasury secretary.

BONUS ITEM

A cadre of Australian podcasters are using platforms like Patreon to support their work – to the tune of thousands of bucks a month – rather than an ad-supported model. We spoke to a few of them.

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