Morning mail: PM to unveil India flight plan, Sydney restrictions, office housing?

Friday: national cabinet will discuss repatriation plans today. Plus: NSW government refers environmental offset purchases to watchdog

Good morning - did you stay up to watch the meteors? It's Friday 7 May, and this is Imogen Dewey with the latest news on Covid restrictions and the lead-up to the budget, plus warnings over Queensland's proposed coercive control laws.

The Morrison government is expected to begin repatriating Australians stranded (an estimated 9,000) amid India's deadly second Covid wave as soon as its travel ban ends on 15 May, with evacuated citizens and permanent residents to quarantine at Howard Springs near Darwin. Scott Morrison is expected to announce details today. New South Wales yesterday announced new restrictions for greater Sydney, including Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains, following two cases of local Covid transmission in Sydney's east. New Zealand has temporarily suspended quarantine-free travel from the state - initially for 48 hours - while the source of the infections is investigated. And Australia's drugs regulator confirmed five more cases of a rare clotting condition are likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, taking the country's tally to 11 cases.