Good morning. Hope you all had good weekends. We’re nearly at that end-of-year break, I can smell it.

1. Bit of a hubbub over the weekend after a German woman and her teenage son arriving in Sydney on Saturday were allowed to avoid hotel quarantine and board a flight to Melbourne. They ended up testing negative for COVID-19, and NSW Police have now accepted the blame for letting it happen, blaming miscommunication and the language barrier.

2. Casual workers who have been with the same employer for a year and in regular shifts for six months must be offered permanent employment, under the federal government’s new workplace reforms. This new definition of statutory employment, which is intended to tackle insecure work amid the economic recovery from the coronavirus, will be formally announced today.

3. A study of 15,000 Australian renters has revealed just how hard the pandemic hit them. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) found 40% of tenants struggling to pay rent dipped into their superannuation to keep their home. “The key question for Australian policy makers is why policies actually designed to help people in such circumstances, notably Commonwealth Rent Assistance, appear to be inadequate,” University of Glasgow professor Mark Stephens wrote.

4. The federal government program aimed at attracting Australian workers to pick fruit in regional Australia is floundering, as it is revealed just 148 Australians signed up in its first month, despite up to $6,000 being up for grabs. It comes as farmers face the prospect of fruit being left to rot on the vine this season thanks to a dearth of workers. The unions have called for a royal commission into the industry, releasing a report alleging widespread exploitation of workers and wage theft.

5. Google engineers have been working on a secret project to exclude Australians from regular improvements to its search function and other services, sources told the AFR. This is, of course, contingent on whether the proposed media bargaining code, which would force platforms like Google and Facebok to pay news publishers, moves ahead.

6. Bad news, party animals. Airbnb has introduced a new rule in a bid to crack down on house parties on New Year’s Eve. The company will only allow guests with a track record of positive reviews to book one night stays in entire houses on December 31. “These measures are about helping to ensure everyone can safely and responsibly celebrate New Year’s Eve,” Airbnb’s Head of Public Policy for Australia said.

7. England will start administering COVID-19 vaccinations beginning on December 8. The National Health Service (NHS) said in an official statement the first people to get the vaccine will be people over 80, care home workers, and NHS workers who are at “higher risk.” The first batch of vaccinations will be done at hospitals around the country, with GP surgeries starting to administer injections starting the week beginning December 14.

8. Health officials in China have begun giving at-risk citizens emergency access to vaccine doses, according to a report from The Associated Press. Doses have reportedly already been administered to 1 million citizens. “We must be prepared for large-scale production,” said Sinopharm vice premier, Sun Chunlan, per AP. State media said developing countries may seek vaccines from China, if they’re approved before those made by Western companies.

9. Donald Trump announced Sunday that his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has tested positive for COVID-19. Giuliani has made a string of public appearances in recent days as the face of Trump’s legal effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He participated in several Republican events in Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona that featured few masks and little social distancing.

10. Hollywood insiders are reportedly furious about Warner’s decision to release next year’s movie slate to streaming at the same time as they debut in theatres in the US. One told Business Insider that they’ve made billions for Warner, but that their partnership is done in “one dark hour,” and described the Warner move as a “Hail Mary” pass to juice subscription numbers for HBO Max, the platform on which these films will appear.

BONUS ITEM

Been keeping track of these mysterious monoliths, which are almost certainly a marketing campaign of Pepsi Max or something like that? A new one has cropped up in the middle of a Dutch nature reserve. Just hurry up and reveal what this is all about, in my opinion.

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