Tag Archives: oceania

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Cruise fans set to sail from overseas before Australia

Cruise fans are likely to be allowed to board a ship overseas before they can set sail again in Australia, authorities say, with no updates on the resumption of the popular holidays.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week indicated a restart of international travel for states which reach 80 per cent double dose vaccination, which could happen as soon as next month for NSW, ACT and Victoria, cruise bosses told 9news.com.au they have still no updates on when ships can return to Australia.

Officially, they're banned until at least December 18 as part of the ongoing travel ban in place since March last year.

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Carnival Australia wants to know what the plan it to resume cruising in Australia.

Cruise Lines International Association called the position "absurd" and said the 18,000 jobs supported by the $5 billion industry remain under threat.

"Australia is one of the only cruise markets in the world with no clear plan for cruising's revival," CLIA Managing Director Joel Katz said.

"Australians love to cruise, but we now face the ridiculous possibility that we will be able to travel overseas to take a cruise but won't be able to sail in our own waters."

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Mr Katz called on the government to engage in "detailed discussions" to "break the cycle of inaction," over the industry.

Multiple cruise lines have cancelled sailings from Australia for the rest of this year and into next.

According to the Port Authority of NSW, 1240 cruise ships visited 47 Australian ports in 2019.

Passengers, crew and cruise firms spent $2.5 billion, with Sydney the main port but regional areas also benefitting.

CLIA said two million people have already been on cruises in the rest of the world as pandemic rules eased, with vaccination and COVID-testing rules in place.

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Under a restart plan, Australia could start domestic cruises before ships call at international destinations.

The Federal Government says on its website: "Since 27 March 2020, no foreign-flagged cruise ships may enter Australian waters (with limited exceptions).

"The Australian Government has extended the cruise ship ban to 17 December 2021, but this does not mean the ban will be lifted at that time.

"The Australian Health Principal Protection Committee reviews the ban regularly."

A Federal Government spokesman told 9news.com.au: "The resumption of cruise operations and other discretionary forms of travel are being considered by Australian Government agencies in the context of the National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID-19 Response.

"The Government understands the interest of many Australians in cruising and work is underway to consider how that can occur.

"Agreeing a process and timeframe for cruise operations to resume in Australia requires discussion with, and the support of, the states and the Northern Territory.

"Cruising involves considering additional factors such as quarantine arrangements for the predominantly international crew, and arrangements for foreign passengers."

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Amber's five kids all tested positive for COVID

Eight days into the school year, all five of Amber Cessac’s daughters, ages four to 10, had tested positive for COVID-19.

Having them all sick at once and worrying about long-term repercussions as other parents at their school, and even her own mother, downplayed the virus, “broke something inside of me,” Cessac said.

“The anxiety and the stress has sort of been bottled up,” she said. “It just felt so, I don’t know, defeating and made me feel so helpless.”

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This photo provided by Amber Cessac shows Amber Cessac taking a selfie as her daughters do their homework at their home in Georgetown, Texas.

Like parents everywhere, Cessac has been dealing with pandemic stress for over 18 months now.

There's the exhaustion of worrying about the disease itself— made worse by the spread of the more infectious delta variant, particularly among people who refuse vaccinations, which has caused a big increase in infections in children.

Online school disrupted kids' educations and parents' work. Then the return of in-person school this year brought rising exposures and community tension as parents fought over proper protocols.

The politicisation of masks, vaccines and shutdowns have worn many parents out. Deciding what’s OK for children to do and what isn’t can feel fraught.

“Parents are exhausted on a level we’ve not seen before,” said Amanda Zelechoski, a Purdue University Northwest psychology professor who co-founded the website and nonprofit Pandemic Parenting.

“We have been in survival mode for a year and a half now and it is relentless.”

Schools are, for many, a constant worry.

There's evidence that masks in schools help reduce virus spread, and a majority of Americans support requiring masks for students and teachers. But that breaks down sharply along partisan lines.

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San Pedro High School students hold vaccination signs at a school-based COVID-19 vaccination event for students 12 and older.

Some Republican governors have tried to ban mask mandates. District policies on masks, testing and quarantines vary widely. Soon after schools reopened in August, the rate of coronavirus infections forced dozens of districts to back off in-person learning.

The charter school Cessac's four older daughters go to in the Austin, Texas, suburbs doesn't require masks.

Her children, who are too young to be vaccinated, told her they were among only a handful of kids in their classes to wear masks. But she's sent them back to school as they recovered.

“It’s not any better anywhere else,” she said. “All the mums, we feel stuck in this situation. There's nothing we can do.”

READ MORE: Melbourne teachers take COVID-19 vaccine mandate fight to court

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses are prepared for members of the community 12 years and up, at a clinic held by Community of Hope, outside the Washington School for Girls in southeast Washington.

More than 5.5 million children in the US have tested positive for COVID-19, with 20 percent of all child cases coming since this school year began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death, but at least 498 have died.

Vaccines have been available for children as young as 12 since May, but vaccination rates lag behind adults. Federal data show about half of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated, while 43 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds are; two-thirds of US adults are vaccinated.

And while a vaccine for younger children is expected before the end of the year, they remain more vulnerable.

Many parents felt lost on how to best protect them. “You still had parents struggling with decisions, and what is safe for my family, and feeling left behind or invisible because other segments of society were able to move on,” Zelechoski said.

Over a million students left US public schools in the 2020 school year, which was marked by widespread remote classes. It's not yet clear what's happened this academic year, but fights over mask mandates have led some parents to alternatives.

Sheila Cocchi, a single mum still dealing with health problems after suffering COVID-19 in February, is paying a teacher to give her 10- and 14-year-olds classes at home for 10 hours a week along with an online program.

She also works from home in Fernandina Beach, Florida, just north of Jacksonville.

“Last year, it was like OK, the whole world’s gone crazy and we’re all having to adjust to this. Now it’s a different kind of stress,” she said.

“We’re trying to get this under control as a nation, or at least as a state, and there’s so many people who are not participating in that. I would like for my children to be in school as much as anyone.”

Other parents say they know being back at school is what's best for their kids, and they just hope it's OK.

In Fort Worth, Texas, Heather Buen, who works for a local utility and is a Democratic politics organiser, keeps at her kids to wear masks and wash their hands, even when other children or even teachers don't.

“It's a lot of effort to maintain that,” she said.

Heather Buen, right, poses for a photo with her children from left, Bayle, Eva, Evan, back and Cody at their home in Texas.

She thinks seeing their dad, an electrician, get COVID-19 helped scare them into sticking to preventive measures.

The five children in school have not gotten sick, and Buen said she feels reassured because it seems more students and staff are wearing masks now than at the beginning of the school year.

Still, parents from three districts, including hers, have sued, saying schools are violating students' constitutional rights because there's no mask mandate.

The lawsuits, school board meeting fights, dissension between family members and friends is also a source of stress.

“The bashing on both sides, that’s been the hardest thing,” said Sarah Brazwell, who has a three-year-old in day care and a nine-year-old in elementary school.

She's not ready to get vaccinated and, despite overwhelming evidence that face coverings protect against the virus, she said wearing masks in her Florida Panhandle town is “a little pointless” because so few people do.

Cody and his sister Bayle look at a laptop instead of doing homework.

Child care — finding it, paying for it, worrying about the spread of sicknesses from it — has been a huge stress during the pandemic.

Labor is in short supply and it can be difficult to find a spot. Infections and exposures, and even minor colds at day cares can mean children get sent home for days or weeks, forcing parents to scramble repeatedly for child care.

Deanna Manbeck, board president of her child's small, non-profit day care in Wilmington, Delaware, carries the weight of responsibility to the roughly 20 families there. Masks are required for teachers but not vaccines out of fear staff will quit.

“How could I tell parents that we can no longer care for their children and they have to find a new centre over an optional mandate? As a mum, I want all teachers to be vaccinated — but we’re not in the position to mandate them,” she said.

Jeff Sheldon and his wife began interviewing nannies for their two sons, a 3-year-old and a baby, after day care closures and routine childhood illnesses kept their children home for weeks at a time this summer. He and his wife took sick days and worked from home. Their mothers also helped.

"We can’t keep living with the uncertainty of class closing at a moment’s notice,” he said of the day care in Lincoln, Nebraska, noting that his older son has thrived there.

While Sheldon was more able than his wife, who works for the public school system, to work from home, the pandemic has underscored the burden for women in particular balancing child care and work, and millions of women have left the work force.

Taking a leave was a brief consideration for Dr. Ankita Modi, a pediatrician in Charlotte, North Carolina.

She was upset the thought even crossed her mind, she said, but she was that desperate. In her school district, masks are optional, there's no remote school option and she says the contact tracing is ineffective. Local health officials agreed and threatened legal action against the district before agreeing on new procedures at the end of September.

Her youngest child, 11, isn’t old enough to be vaccinated; the other two are. “It feels like you’re knowingly putting them at a real concrete risk every day," she said. "That, as a parent, is really unnerving. I don’t think anybody has slept well since school has started.”

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Industry awards highlight Australia's top gaming developers

This week the Australian video games industry will highlight the work of the country's best studios and gaming professionals.

The Australian Game Developer Awards, coinciding with Melbourne International Games Week, is an annual event promoting some of Australia's best to the world.

Interactive Games and Entertainment Associations' CEO Ron Curry says the awards are there to highlight the incredible work within the video games industry.

Webbed, The Artful Escape and Unpacking video game screen shots

"The awards recognise excellence in a craft of creating video games making video games, and just as importantly, excellence in the individuals who are in the industry so whether that's a career focus on contribution or cultural focus." Mr Curry told 9News.

Studios and those individuals nominated are put forward by experts within the games industry.

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"Anyone within the industry can nominate. They can nominate themselves, they can nominate somebody else, and obviously IGEA also has some ideas on who we think should be nominated."

Games highlighted around Australia include Unpacking, developed by Brisbane-based studio Witch Beam. Witch Beam is nominated for four awards including Game of the Year.

Unpacking video game screen shot

Another studio up for an award is Melbourne based developers Hipster Whale, creators of the hugely successful Crossy Road series on mobile.

Hipster Whale's Nerissa Stephens told 9News being nominated is a great honour, but it's also the perfect moment to take a step back and reflect on all their hard work.

"When often working on a project we get very caught up in our own little bubble," she said.

"This nomination is about celebrating all the work that we've poured into Crossy Road Castle. And for us, this project has been really fun and positive and super bright and colourful, and it's about enjoying playing with friends and family."

Nerissa Stephens praises Melbourne as one of the best places for game developers to set up shop.

"Melbourne is a really great place for creative businesses, I think it always has been. And with the help of places like The Arcade and support from Film Victoria, there's a really nurturing community to help get projects off the ground."

Crossy Road Castle video game screen shot

Since the Federal Government's Digital Games Tax Offset was announced IGEA believes there has been a big confidence boost for the industry.

"We're hoping once DGTO kicks in, and within a few years' time, that we're looking at a billion dollar industry. That's a significant difference, in dollars, but really more importantly, in employment, for sure." Mr Curry told 9News.

Award winners will be announced during the AGDA show on Wednesday night starting at 7PM. Those interested can watch it live on IGEA's Twitch channel.

You can also learn all about Melbourne International Games Week, which runs until October 10, by heading to http://gamesweek.melbourne

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'I thought it would be fun': AFL Grand Final streaker cops fine

He previously boasted he'd do it again, but the Perth prankster who ran onto Optus Stadium in his underwear on the AFL's biggest day says he has learnt his lesson.

Decked out in a green and gold Australian running outfit, Abra Bol, the cousin of Olympian Peter Bol, left Perth Magistrates Court with a $1200 fine.

Mr Bol was issued the fine for trespassing on September 25, when he jumped onto the field at three-quarter time of the AFL Grand Final, running and back-flipping for 200m before being tackled by security.

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The 22-year-old claims he'll be able to easily cover the penalty, having already raised $1400 through donations.

"I did actually expect it to be a lot bigger," Mr Bol said.

"It did catch me by surprise at $1200 so I do appreciate that, so that's good so far."

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Mr Bol, who snuck into the ground wearing a black T-shirt with "security" written on the front, represented himself.

He told the court there were "no excuses" for his actions and that he "thought it would be fun".

But the magistrate described him as a "nuisance" and the illegal dash as "a disturbance for everyone else".

"I don't think I was a nuisance but I do understand where she was coming from 'cause I did disturb the peace," Mr Bol said.

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"I think I learnt my lesson, the judge was nice, spoke to me nice and I think that's about it for now."

Mr Bol has received a three-year ban from Optus Stadium.

"Our review has also recommended alterations to the guarding of our staff entry gate and an assessment of the minimum capability requirements for security personnel assigned to it," a spokesperson for Optus Stadium said.