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The AFL has ended its compulsory COVID-19 vaccine mandate and will instead "strongly encourage" players to receive the jab.
The lifting of the vaccine requirement takes effect immediately, meaning the likes of former Carlton defender Liam Jones are eligible to play again.
Jones opted to retire rather than move to the Blues' inactive list following the AFL's decision to mandate vaccination last October.
The AFL on Thursday confirmed it had written to clubs saying the requirements had been scrapped after an "extensive" review.
"The health and safety of our players, staff and the wider community has been one of the guiding principles governing the AFL's ongoing response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," AFL football operations manager Andrew Dillon said.
"Our AFL industry has continued to adapt to the circumstances in front of us, and while we have removed the mandatory vaccine mandate, we still maintain the view that vaccinations are the best form of defence in minimising the impacts of COVID with the focus now on keeping "up to date" with all recommended boosters.
"We will continue to monitor the COVID situation as it evolves.
"If we need to adjust over the coming weeks and months we will do so in consultation with the respective governments and medical professionals."
Only a handful of players showed any public resistance towards the vaccine mandate.
Jones and former Brisbane Lions midfielder Cameron Ellis-Yolmen were the only men's players to step away from the AFL rather than be vaccinated.
The pair have been playing local football in the Queensland state competition this year instead.
West Coast premiership forward Jack Darling eventually agreed to have the jab on the eve of the season after being unable to train with the Eagles for the majority of the pre-season.
Melbourne premiership forward Tom McDonald was vaccinated but spoke out publicly against the mandate, saying it was "ethically wrong".
The lifting of the mandate comes about six weeks away from the start of the new women's season.
St Kilda star Georgia Patrikios sat out all of last season after refusing to be vaccinated but will now be able to return in a major boost for the Saints.
Adelaide premiership defender Deni Varnhagen chose not to be vaccinated, leading her to miss the Crows' run to a third flag and she lost work as a nurse in South Australia.
However, Varnhagen will remain on Adelaide's inactive list for the upcoming season after recently announcing she was pregnant.
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Children and young people should be recognised as victim-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence in their own right and be a priority for a national plan.
That is a key finding of a report released on Thursday that will inform the next 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said releasing the consultation report was an important step towards finalising the national plan.
"A critical part of (the plan's) development is listening to the victim-survivors, advocates, sector representatives, research experts, business leaders and the broader community about what the national plan needs to achieve," she said.
The report, delivered by Monash University's Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre at the request of the government, presents the findings of workshops and interviews with almost 500 stakeholders conducted from July to September last year, as well as the talks at the National Summit on Women's Safety in September.
Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre director Kate Fitz-Gibbon said family, domestic and sexual violence was a national crisis.
"The stakeholder report evidences the strong call for children and young people to be clearly established as a priority in the next national plan," Associate Professor Fitz-Gibbon said.
The report says the "wellbeing, recovery and safety needs of children and young people" should be central to the plan.
It should start educating children about preventing and responding to violence in school and take into account the specific needs of Indigenous children, provide greater investment in services, and address the shortage of safe housing.
A national plan to end violence must embed the right to truth telling, healing, and self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Monash Adjunct Professor Silke Meyer said.
"Domestic, family and sexual violence does not occur in a vacuum," she said.
"The national plan must recognise the intersecting areas of national priority."
The report also addresses the specific needs of the LGBTQI community, people with disability, migrant women, people in rural and remote communities, older people and military and veteran families.
Ms Rishworth said the government was committed to delivering a "strong and evidence-based national plan".
"One woman dies in Australia every nine days at the hands of their current or former partner," she said.
"The national plan will set out a strategy for the next decade with the aim of reducing that number."
Prof Meyer called for all levels of government to move away from short-term funding models to address the issue.
Longer-term funding cycles and flexibility in allocations would encourage genuine partnerships and responses across the anti-violence sector, she said.
Commonwealth, state and territory ministers responsible for women and women's safety will meet in Adelaide on July 22.
While the coalition government's March budget set aside $1.3 billion for the plan, the Labor government is likely to make changes in the October budget.
But the former government faced criticism for holding back the research.
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Former Queensland captain Cameron Smith has suggested NSW centre Matt Burton brought the fiery State of Origin fracas involving Maroons counterpart Dane Gagai on himself.
Burton and Gagai both escaped suspension after igniting an Origin series which had been timid and amicable until the 42nd minute of Wednesday's decider in Brisbane.
Gagai took exception to a shove on Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga and squared up to Burton, unleashing a flurry of fists in a throwback to Origins of old.
Both Gagai and Burton were sinbinned by referee Ashley Klein and have escaped with fines totalling 23 per cent of their match fee with an early guilty plea for their roles in the stoush.
Blues coach Brad Fittler said it was unfair that Maroons forward Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, who held Burton in a headlock as Gagai threw punches, wasn't sent for 10 minutes in the bin.
Smith said Burton knew he was going to stir a reaction when he pushed Ponga as he was getting up from the ground.
"The comments after the game saying Burton was harshly dealt with (are ridiculous)," Smith told SEN.
"Burton had an opportunity not to run through Kalyn Ponga. Gagai wasn't going to take that last night, he wasn't going to cop that.
"If the shoe was on the other foot and a Queenslander did what Matt Burton did, I'd expect Blues players to have a crack at a Queensland player and rough him up a bit."
The fines mean Burton and Gagai should both be available for Canterbury and Newcastle respectively this weekend.
Gagai was relieved when he learned he wouldn't miss any club games while a crestfallen Burton struggled to comprehend the loss as he sported a black eye.
The Canterbury centre was inconsolable after the 22-12 defeat and insisted he had not sustained a fracture to his cheek or eye socket.
"Whatever happens on the field stays on the field," Burton said.
"You don't want to get sent off and it obviously affects the team.
"The ref controlled the game and that's his decision.
"I'm not the ref, he makes the decisions and that's his call. It was obviously disappointing to not get the result."
Fa'asuamaleaui was hit with a charge for holding Burton back and for a shot on the NSW centre in the first half.
For both incidents he faces a 20 per cent reduction in his match fee if he pleads guilty and will be cleared to play for Gold Coast against Brisbane on Saturday.
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It will be several weeks before the peak of the latest wave of COVID-19 cases arrives, according to the aged care minister.
As the government outlined its response on Thursday to how aged care facilities would manage the rise in cases during winter, Anika Wells said the peak would come at the end of the month, based on current estimates.
Following talks with chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly earlier this week, Ms Wells said the peak could continue into early August.
"He is as worried about this wave as he was in December about what became the January Omicron wave," she told reporters on Thursday.
"We are leaving no stone unturned ahead of our response to this current winter wave."
Ms Wells will meet with aged care providers from across the country next week in a bid to limit the spread of the virus in facilities.
The government's winter plan in aged care is based around around an increase in vaccination, antiviral access, visitor and worker safety, infection control training and proactive engagement.
As of Wednesday, 819 aged care facilities across the country have an outbreak.
The weekly average of deaths in aged care has also risen, from 69 to 91, with 2141 fatalities in facilities so far this year.
The government has come under fire for its decision to allow a scheme giving free rapid antigen tests to concession card holders to wrap up at the end of the month.
NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns has called on the federal government to also reinstate pandemic leave payments for workers who are forced to isolate because they have tested positive.
That scheme finished at the end of June, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying the decision was made by the previous government.
"We inherited those cut offs across a range of decisions from the former government," he said.
"We have added three months' health funding for the state and territory governments ... because the pandemic continues to have an impact."
Health Minister Mark Butler said he regretted the decision, but said the payments had to come to an end eventually.
"Unfortunately, whenever an emergency payment arrangement is withdrawn or comes to an end, there will be an impact on the community, whatever time that was," he said.
Mr Butler also said he was worried by misinformation about testing requirements.
"There is no change to the arrangements that are in place right through the pandemic," he said.
"If you think you have COVID , if you have symptoms, if you're exposed as a close contact anywhere in Australia, you can access a COVID test free of charge through the state government.
"I am concerned about misinformation that has been spread that there will be change to the free COVID testing arrangements in place for some time now."
Aged and Community Care Providers Association interim chief executive Paul Sadler welcomed the winter plan.
He said while aged care facilities were better prepared than the previous Omicron wave, workforce availability remained a concern.
"At the height of the Omicron wave providers had anywhere between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of their workforce absent due to COVID infection, placing an enormous strain on remaining staff to keep caring for residents," he said.
"The aged care system is already under extreme pressure from COVID, so every bit of help is needed."
LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:
Victoria: 11,283 cases, 20 deaths, 771 in hospital with 34 in ICU
NSW: 14,235 cases, 36 deaths, 2001 in hospital with 56 in ICU
Tasmania: 1844 cases, one death, 125 in hospital with four in ICU
Queensland: 6900 cases, 18 deaths, 863 in hospital with 16 in ICU
South Australia: 4761 cases, one death, 231 in hospital with seven in ICU
Western Australia: 6535 cases, two deaths, 329 in hospital with 14 in ICU
Northern Territory: 494 cases, no deaths, 55 in hospital with three in ICU
ACT: 1367 cases, no deaths, 137 in hospital with five in ICU.
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