COVID-19's march across the country continues with growing cases in NSW's outback and Victoria looking at further lockdowns as regional cases are recorded.
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Outback NSW
COVID-19 has entered another remote Indigenous community as 39 new cases emerged beyond Sydney's borders.
Two cases of the 30 cases detected in western NSW were in a family in the predominantly Indigenous community of Goodooga near the Queensland border.
Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service acting manager Katrina Ward said the family was retested on Friday to ensure none were false positives.
At the same time, about 200 community members were asked to be swabbed, meaning the extent of any spread should be known in coming days.
Regional Victorian lockdown looming
Premier Daniel Andrews has warned Melburnians the virus "will get away from us" if they fail to stick to the rules this weekend, with COVID-19 threatening to send regional Victoria back into lockdown.
The state is facing its biggest coronavirus threat since last year's second wave after recording 55 new local coronavirus cases on Friday, including 30 which were infectious while in the community.
Five mystery cases were reported in Brunswick, Pakenham, Point Cook, Port Melbourne and Tullamarine.
Regional Victoria recorded its first case connected to the current outbreak, a Shepparton man in his 30s who infected 11 other members of his family across two households.
The 12 new regional cases are expected to be reported in Saturday's numbers. An announcement on if the regions will go into lockdown is expected at today's press conference.
Mandatory vaccination
Companies implementing mandatory vaccination rules could face legal fights from employees unwilling to be immunised.
The Canberra Times understands the current stance of the Morrison government to not implement mandatory vaccination codes for high transmission risk industries could open an avenue of legal risks to businesses looking to instil vaccine employment rules.
Due to no indemnity clause, which would protect a business from legal action from implementing a vaccine policy, a worker refusing to be vaccinated could sue its employer for unfair dismissal or breach of contract.
Vaccine supply debate continues
ACT and NSW residents aged 16 and older might be eligible for Pfizer vaccines next month, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to get one.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has taken a swipe at his federal counterparts for expanding the rollout without giving states and territories information about additional supply.
He wants to know where Pfizer for people aged between 16 and 39 is coming from and when it will arrive.
"This was announced with no advance notice given to states and territories or any information on the vaccine supply that would be necessary for this to happen," the chief minister said.
The ACT's vaccine clinics are booked out until mid-October.
In non-COVID news, it's time to save the frogs
Australia has more than 240 species of frogs but a team of scientists says urgent action is needed to protect many of them from extinction within a few decades.
A national team of 29 frog scientists from universities, government agencies, zoos and museums have identified the species most at risk and the conservation efforts needed to save them in a new study.
There are four frog species officially recognised as extinct but the Threatened Species Recovery Hub research found three more that are highly likely to be already extinct and four that are still alive in the wild but highly likely to be extinct by 2040.