Australia politics live update: Morrison says Liberal candidate has ‘withdrawn’ transgender comments; nation records 39 Covid deaths | Australia news

It is very windy at this Victorian fuel refinery where Scott Morrison is holding this press conference, so he is having to yell.

Angus Taylor is there too for the fuel security announcement.

“The finalisation of the arrangements” is how Taylor describes this announcement.

Oh look at that – here is Scott Morrison now.

You will be getting the “view from Murph” today (a quick snapshot of the day which follows the leaders’ press conferences) but because we are still waiting on Scott Morrison’s press conference it will be a little bit later today.

Which reminds me of this other “Google it” moment – in this case, it was then Queensland premier Campbell Newman alleging Labor had accepted donations from outlaw motorcycle gang members during the 2015 Queensland election. When asked for evidence, he answered “Google it”.

(Newman, who is now running for a federal Senate seat with the Liberal Democrats, went on to lose that election.)

For those saying they missed it, here was Adam Bandt’s “Google it” moment at the National Press Club.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 39 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 1,073
• In hospital: 61 (with two people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: eight
• Cases: 18,265
• In hospital: 1,583 (with 71 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 513
• In hospital: 32 (with two people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 10
• Cases: 9,176
• In hospital: 597 (with 16 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: two
• Cases: 4,986
• In hospital: 220 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: three
• Cases: 1,839
• In hospital: 48 (with one person in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 14
• Cases: 10,907
• In hospital: 391 (with 19 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: two
• Cases: 7,426
• In hospital: 215 (with four people in ICU)

Crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie is expected to comfortably hold on to the seat of Mayo.

That is one of the things which scare the major parties about independent/minor party candidates – once in, they usually hold on.

This is a very strange story.

From the Advertiser:

The Liberal candidate for the battleground seat of Mayo has been caught out claiming credit for the environmental work of a stranger with a similar name.

Allison Bluck sent a letter to thousands of households in Mayo claiming she was the manager of the “Kangaroo Island Nature Trail”. However, the manager of the KI Wilderness Trail is actually Alison Buck – who says she has never heard of Bluck.

“As the manager of the Kangaroo Island Nature Trail, I am passionate about the environment,” Bluck says in the letter, which spruiks Liberal spending on “improving bushfire resilience on Kangaroo Island”.

The Liberal campaign says “the letter was an early draft that was incorrectly sent to the printer by central headquarters”.

There is no public record of Bluck having any involvement in KI conservation projects, nor of the existence of a “Kangaroo Island Nature Trail”.

The Liberal campaign and Scott Morrison are in Victoria.