Australia Covid live update: Morrison doesn’t rule out further financial support as NSW records 44 new coronavirus cases

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says 29 of the new cases were infectious in the community as new restrictions announced for Sydney; state and territory leaders meet with PM to discuss the vaccine rollout. Follow latest updates

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9.53am BST

The disability community has welcomed a federal government backdown on a plan to introduce independent assessments to the NDIS, with one senator calling it a beautiful thing".
The Every Australian Counts spokesperson El Gibbs said:

We are glad that the state and territory disability ministers have listened to the thousands of people with disability and their families who have contacted them this week to ask them to say no to the NDIS independent assessments. Minister [Linda] Reynolds and the NDIA now need to commit to working with us to make the NDIS deliver on its promise.

I am so proud of the work everyone has done this week. It's incredible. [People with disability] made politicians listen to them today. They proved tonight their power.

It makes you wonder. They're breathlessly inflating the numbers of a financial crisis ... and now apparently it's not that important. If they actually believed what they're saying, they'd be pushing. I think that proves my hypothesis that a lot of this was just disaster war-gaming from them.

9.31am BST

NSW health has updated its venues of concern (this list is now running to three pages, so please take a close look):

PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT - VENUES OF CONCERN NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern across metropolitan Sydney which have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/Zn7ZsVelpV