Australia: A crucial national cabinet meeting to solve a disagreement between Canberra and the states over the Albanese Government’s long-promised energy market involvement was postponed after the Prime Minister tested positive for COVID-19.
Mr. Anthony Albanese disclosed that he had COVID-19, and shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister’s office announced that the national cabinet meeting scheduled on December 7th 2022 had been cancelled. In the previous week, the night’s dinner with the Premiers and Chief Ministers should have been hosted by Mr. Albanese, but the Prime Minister is now spending time alone at Kirribilli House, his official house in Sydney. The Prime Minister, according to officials, has received all of his booster shots.
The Prime Minister’s second coronavirus infection in seven months comes with an increase in cases as Australians get ready for the summer vacation.
Earlier in the day, Albanese warned Premiers and Chief Ministers that households and businesses would pay more for power, and manufacturers would go out of business, unless Canberra and the states as well as territories agreed to a cooperative intervention in the energy market in the coming days, as per the reports.
The national cabinet’s first priority this week was to discuss the Albanese Government’s regulatory intervention to assist reduce power costs. The Premiers are currently playing hardball, the Prime Minister was questioned about the expenses of the intervention during a radio appearance in Adelaide recently.
Mr. Albanese stated before his diagnosis, he was continuing to have cooperative discussions with the premiers of New South Wales and Queensland, and “we’ll have a dinner tomorrow night and then we’ll have a meeting on Wednesday”.
The Prime Minister was supposed to visit Western Australia for a full ministry meeting later in the week before Monday’s positive test result.