Hello all.

1. Federal and state leaders will hold an emergency meeting next Monday in an effort to fix the failures in the vaccine rollout, media reports this morning. “This is a complex task and there are problems with the program that we need to solve to ensure more Australians can be vaccinated safely and more quickly,” Scott Morrison said in a statement. National Cabinet will now meet twice a week. About 4.8% of Australians have received their first jab, far below the United States at 56.5% and the European Union at 21.3%.

2. Australia’s Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan is headed to Europe in an effort to negotiate an opening in the EU’s vaccine supply. “I’ll be seeking to see whether there are alternatives to using export restrictions to try and speed up production of the vaccine globally and to ensure that contracts can be honoured,” he said. “Because when they’re not honoured, as we have seen here in Australia, it does disrupt the planning of the vaccine rollout.”

3. Meanwhile, the US is pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout over reports of rare blood clots after vaccination. In a joint statement, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they were investigating clots in six women that occurred in the days after vaccination. Just this week, the Australian government said it would not buy the J&J shot.

4. The former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate testified in front of a Senate inquiry into her dismissal, detailing how she was “bullied” and “humiliated” out of her job. She accused Scott Morrison of having double standards for pressuring her out of her role while federal MPs are “accused of the most terrible atrocities”. Holgate also suggested that the dismissal came at the time she was fighting a ‘secret’ review that recommended job cuts and office closures. An easy political win for Morrison back when she was sacked is looking less so now.

5. A new report has found that Australia’s increasingly poor media diversity is having a corrosive impact on the nation’s democracy. According to the report, one media company accounts for 59% of all print readership, and three companies own 90% of Australia’s metropolitan radio licenses. The report’s authors recommend empowering the Australian Communications and Media Authority, increasing public funding for journalism and re-instituting caps on media ownership in the same markets.

6. Unions have congratulated food delivery platform Menulog after it announced it will consider its contracted riders as full employees in a Sydney trial. The Transport Workers’ Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions have both celebrated the announcement. The statements mark a rare sign of union support for a gig economy player, which often favour contractor-only business models.

7. Australia’s live entertainment industry has almost fully returned to pre-pandemic attendance allowances, with 100% capacity at venues now allowed in almost every state. The live entertainment sector received $135 million from the Federal Government to bolster the industry in March. It coincides with the final gasps of lockout laws in Sydney and Newcastle, with the last remaining restrictions lifted this week.

8. An extensive list of Australian brands cancelled, delayed and undercut pricing on orders made to manufacturers in garment factories in Bangladesh, according to an SBS investigation. Garment manufacturing accounts for 80% of all exports in the country. The investigation reveals how cut-throat pricing in the Australian market had implications for those making the clothes thousands of kilometres away, Oxfam Australia chief executive Lyn Morgain said.

9. Officials in Egypt have seized the Ever Given as authorities in the country demand the ship’s owners pay nearly $1 billion for blocking the Suez Canal for several days last month. The owner of the Ever Given made a general average claim, so insurance could pay some of the damages along with the owners of cargo aboard the ship. The 25 crew members aboard the Ever Given are still being paid and are “relaxed,” according to the National Union of Seafarers of India.

10. Apple’s next virtual event on April 20. The company is expected to introduce two new iPad Pro models. The new iPads will also come with an improved processor much like the M1 chip it brought to the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Bloomberg reported. They may also come with a faster USB-C port that would enable the iPads to connect with more accessories.

BONUS ITEM

Facebook is testing a new app that lets users speed date over video. The app, called Sparked, matches users for 4-minute “dates.” A second date would last 10 minutes. Sounds like a nightmare, but whatever.

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