National Cabinet will meet today, and top of the agenda is a proposal to reduce the mandatory COVID isolation period from 7 days to 5 – a move supported by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is more circumspect, saying that any decisions must be based on medical advice. While Perrottet and Andrews remain at odds over iso, they are on a joint ticket on extending pandemic pay for workers who don’t have sick pay to stay home with COVID if mandatory isolation rules are reconfirmed today. And they have joined forces to each establish 25 bulk-billed/urgent care clinics to alleviate the pressures on emergency departments. The clinics will complement a similar federal trial promised by Labor at the election. And faster than you can say ‘Kevin Rudd’s Super Clinics’, some experts say it won’t be enough to address the many issues facing the states’ stressed hospital systems.