Crowds march for Invasion Day protests – as it happened

With that, we will wrap up the blog today.

Here were today’s major developments. Congratulations to the Australians who celebrated their citizenship today.

• Invasion Day protestors gathered in the thousands across the nation on the 50th year of advocacy at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. A Guardian Essential poll found more Australians are in support of changing the date of Australia Day. Renewed calls have been made for the implementation of the Uluru Statement of the Heart and a voice to parliament to provide greater representation and self determination of First Nations peoples.
• Scott Morrison used his speech at an Australia Day ceremony in Canberra to honour Australia’s freedoms and diversity as a nation.
• It came as Dylan Alcott spent his first day as Australian of the Year, a platform he has so far used to campaign for greater prioritisation of the NDIS and free rapid antigen tests for the disabled community.
• The body of a missing Launceston swimmer was discovered by police this afternoon. The woman in her 20s disappeared while swimming in a gorge yesterday.
• In pandemic news, Victoria recorded 35 Covid deaths and 13,507 new cases as the Australian Open capacity limit was increased to 65%, while NSW surpassed 1 million Covid cases since the pandemic began as well as reporting 29 deaths.
• Queensland recorded another nine deaths since reopening borders, while Tasmania recorded another Covid death and 712 new cases. The ACT recorded 896 new Covid cases and no deaths, and SA recorded 13 deaths and 2,401 cases.
• A Northern Territory council has called for an urgent lockdown of remote Indigenous communities to save lives amid the “out-of-control” spread of Covid-19. And WA recorded 24 new Covid cases including a mystery case.

Before we wrap up the blog for the evening, it is worth watching former journalist Kerry O’Brien’s speech at this year’s Sunrise Ceremony.

Minister for foreign affairs, Marise Payne, minister for defence, Peter Dutton, and minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, have issued a joint media release on further humanitarian support for Tonga.

The HMAS Adelaide arrived in Tonga today with humanitarian and medical supplies, engineering equipment and helicopters following the volcano and tsunami on 15 January. Before its arrival, it was confirmed more than 20 people on the ship had tested positive to Covid-19.

The commonwealth will provide an additional $2m in humanitarian funding for the “next phase” of Tonga’s recovery, bringing the humanitarian commitment to $3m. New Zealand has also committed to $3m in funding.

We appreciate the decision of the Government of Tonga to enable HMAS Adelaide to dock and offload the humanitarian and medical supplies, and the high priority it has placed on Covid safety throughout the recovery process.

Australia continues to take every precaution and are delivering our assistance to our partners in accordance with the Covid-safe practices that we have put in place with the government of Tonga. The ship is undertaking an entirely contactless delivery of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief supplies.

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Labor is demanding disclosure of Covid-19 vaccination data for young Indigenous children as the overall First Nations jab rate lags by nearly 20%, AAP reports.

About 75% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 16 and older are double-dosed, compared with more than 93% of Australia’s overall 16-plus population.

Labor’s Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Linda Burney will use the resumption of federal parliament in February to demand transparency about first doses for under-12s as well as a breakdown of adult booster rates:

The government should be reporting Indigeneity in the five-to-11 group, it doesn’t make any sense that they’re not. We need to know what the vaccination rates are for our very young people. And it’s just remarkable to me and to many Aboriginal people that those those rates are not being reported.

Federal data shows about 33% of all Australian children between the ages of five and 11 have received a first dose. Nearly 76% of the overall 12-to-15 age cohort is double-dosed.

In comparison, about 64% of Indigenous children aged between 12 and 15 have received at least one dose.

More than 7 million adults have received a third dose, but the federal government’s daily vaccination tally does not show a breakdown for Indigenous people.

Sad news coming out of Tasmania. The body of a female in her 20s who went missing while swimming at Cataract Gorge yesterday has been recovered by police divers.

Momentum continues to build for the date of Australia Day to change, with numerous clubs from around the country sending out strong statements about the pain and hurt that is caused by celebrating 26 January, AAP reports.

January 26 marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and the raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples, it represents Invasion Day.

Almost every single AFL club took to Twitter to acknowledge the pain and distress that 26 January represents, and the need for unity.

The AFL Players Association Tweeted a moving graphic that summed up the sentiment:

For many First Nations Peoples, this day represents the beginning of colonial violence, dispossession of land, destruction of culture, separation of families and brutal massacres across the country. This day is referred to by many as Invasion Day, Survival Day, and Day of Mourning.

Brisbane utility Callum Ah Chee hopes Australia Day will find a new date:

All Indigenous people want to celebrate this great country, but we want to do it together. If we could celebrate on another day, we want to be part of that.

Cricket Australia caused a stir last year when they dropped the term “Australia Day” for matches played on 26 January. They have gone one step further this year by allowing staff to work on 26 January and then take a day off on a different date.

The NBL sent out a statement acknowledging the pain that January 26 brings about for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:

In order to move forward in this country, we must acknowledge and understand our past. On today, and all days, we stand with those communities who have been affected by the wrongs of Australia’s past.

NRL outfit South Sydney Rabbitohs took to social media to acknowledge the pain and suffering that January 26 represents.

Today, the Rabbitohs join in acknowledging the many and varied cultures that make up our modern Australian nation. At the same time, we pay special tribute to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters and honour them as custodians of the oldest living culture on the planet.

In the NT, wild weather did not dim Survival Day gatherings:

It is also India’s 73rd Republic Day today, marking the date on which the nation’s constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950.

Which reminds me of one of my favourite Tweets of all time:

Amid raging storms, an extreme heat warning has been issued for Melbourne and other parts of central Victoria tomorrow.

Temperatures are tipped to reach up to 37C in the city, as the Victorian health department advises residents to stay hydrated, keep cool and, if travelling outdoors, to wear a hat and sunscreen and take a fitted face mask and bottle of water.

Speaking of wild weather in the state, a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and damaging winds has been extended to the Alpine area.

And, in South Australia, thunder is on the way, if it hasn’t arrived already:

Check out this picture of regional Victoria’s Ararat:

The WugulOra morning ceremony was first held in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden in 2003, when it was known as Woggan-ma-gule. It was renamed WugulOra, meaning “one mob”, and moved to the Sydney Opera House northern boardwalk in 2013. Since 2016 it has been held at Barangaroo Reserve. For those who missed it, here’s a look at this year’s ceremony.

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NSW has surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases as a leading health expert warns Covid-19 infections could spread widely during Australia Day events, AAP reports.

The state recorded another 21,030 new Covid-19 infections today, marking the seven-digit figure two years after the first case was recorded in Australia.

While thousands gathered across the nation for Invasion Day marches, a top health expert advised people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and former health department head Jane Halton encouraged people to remain vigilant at events to avoid another spike in cases.

We know it’s highly infectious and the closer everyone gets together, the more the likelihood you’ll be close to someone whose got Covid and therefore the greater the likelihood you’ll contract it. People should be careful. What we don’t want to see is a big increase in cases.

Halton said case numbers were coming down and it appeared as if Australia had come off the peak of the outbreak, but this could be jeopardised by large gatherings on the public holiday.

She stopped short of suggesting events should be cancelled, instead encouraging people to wear masks, maintain social distance and remain cautious.

Here is a good breakdown of the vaccination status of hospitalisations and deaths due to Covid-19 in Victoria.

People who had received a third vaccination make up just 6% of hospitalisations and ICU numbers in the state, while unvaccinated patients are vastly over-represented.

The Northern Territory has reported another 492 Covid-19 infections as health minister Natasha Fyles resists calls for a seven-day lockdown in vulnerable parts of Central Australia.

Lockdowns are currently in place for a handful of remote communities, while lockouts are in place in some others including Alice Springs.

There are 84 people being treated in hospital.

Fyles:

We’ve got a strong testing regime. We certainly have got a really good supply of those all-important rapid antigen tests. They’re available to the community. We need people to come forward. It is difficult – a number of people will be asymptomatic, they won’t feel unwell, and their Covid is potentially picked up when other people test positive. So we just need Territorians to be really conscious of their health and even the slightest headache or sore throat or any of those symptoms – just isolate and get yourself a test, please. But we’re confident in the public health measures that we’ve got in place. We do have the lockout in place. And we believe that they’re proportionate and they’re following the health advice from our officials.