THE SQUIZ
As the national fully vaccinated rate for COVID passed 85% yesterday, the temperature is not dropping on the political front. Yesterday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews again accused PM Scott Morrison of “pandering to extremists″. And when Morrison stops doing that, “his relationship with me will be a lot better,” Andrews said.

WHAT’S THAT ABOUT?
Yeah, let’s step that through… Last week, the Victorian Government failed to get support for a bill that would shift responsibility for calling a lockdown/other restrictions from the chief health officer to the premier/health minister. Andrews said he and his family had received personal threats over the issue, and Morrison sympathised with the Premier – but said he could understand why some Victorians were frustrated with the state government. That’s what has set off a war of words. Also looking to have their say were tens of thousands of protesters who gathered in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Adelaide on Saturday. The ‘freedom rallies’ drew those against various governments, vaccination mandates, Victoria’s pandemic legislation and COVID conspiracists. As for Morrison, he didn’t look too bothered on Saturday as he and loose finger-gesturer Jane Malysiak got their booster shots.

ARE THINGS GOING MORE SMOOTHLY ELSEWHERE?
Umm not really… COVID cases are spiking again in some parts of Europe. On Friday, Austria went into a national lockdown as it became the first European country to announce that vaccination would become a legal requirement. That led to big protests in Vienna over the weekend. Other nations, including the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia and Italy, have also announced fresh restrictions, and protests flared there too. In Rotterdam, demonstrations have turned into riots. The prospect of another winter of COVID in the northern hemisphere has the experts pointing to early lessons – vaccination rates need to be super high to head off a resurgence of the virus, and booster shots are worth getting.