New South Wales parents have launched a petition to highlight concerns about students being forced to return to face-to-face classes. The Change.org petition already has 9,000 signatures urging the state government to give parents the right to decide whether their children attend school in-person during the coronavirus pandemic. “With so much not known about this virus and it’s side-effects on children, let the parents make an informed decision if they want the kids to be a guinea pig or not,” the petition said. “We expect NSW DET to let parents exercise their right, have a choice to decide, to either send their kids…
Author: Imogen Wilhelmi
After years of drought, a summer of bushfires and now a global pandemic, wineries in the Southern Highland are feeling the strain. Winemaker and manager at Tractorless Vineyard Jeff Aston said his business depended heavily on tours and tastings to keep afloat. “Probably 80 to 90 per cent of our business is tour groups, so even now as things are opening a bit more, we still can’t, there’s still no point,” Mr Aston said. “There’s only so many you can do in a week compared to in a day you can open the cellar door and you can have hundreds…
New guidelines are being created by Australia’s governing football body to allow a safe return to the season once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Football Federation Australia (FFA) has urged soccer fans to do all they can to help prevent the spread of coronavirus and, in doing, limit the time players are off off the pitch. FFA Chief Executive James Johnson publicly announced the federation’s support of the Australian government’s COVIDsafe app, and called it an important measure to help slow the spread of the disease. “The sooner we can stop the spread of COVID-19, the sooner restrictions will be lifted,…
The latest international travel figures show a potentially catastrophic outcome for Australia’s tourism industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, the Australian travel industry contributed $60.8 billion to the national GDP and provided jobs for more than five per cent of the national workforce – around 666,000 people. According to data published by Statista, the Australian travel and tourism industry could face job losses of around 400,000. The Australian Bureau of Statistics research shows a 12.5 per cent decrease in short-term overseas arrivals for February, as Australia’s tourism sector feels the impact of widespread travel bans. In…