Daily News Round-up

FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2020

NSW captain Boyd Cordner has ruled himself out of the rest of the State of Origin series after the latest in a series of head knocks.

Cordner came off the field in the first half of the opening State of Origin game in Adelaide, but returned after passing a HIA test and finished the game.

This was his fourth concussion scare in recent months.

“As hard as it was, it is the right call based on the fact that I have had a few knocks this year,” Cordner said in a statement.

“I feel really good after Wednesday’s game; I’ve pulled up fine. I have no concerns about the knock in game one. I passed the HIA test and was happy to return to the field.

“The decision is more precautionary than anything. It has been a big year and now I can just rest up and relax with a good break coming up. I will be leaving camp today.”

Cordner will now miss the final two games of the series — in Sydney on November 11 and in Brisbane on November 18.

The Blues stalwart suffered his first bout of concussion in the Sydney Roosters’ round eight loss to Melbourne.

He returned a fortnight later but copped a knock to the head in training.

Cordner sat out for a further five weeks, consulting a specialist about headaches, before returning in round 16.

He suffered yet another knock against the Knights in round 18.

NSWRL chief executive David Trodden said everyone involved with the organisation and the team was fully supportive of Cordner’s decision to withdraw.

“The welfare of our players is always of the utmost importance in our minds,” Trodden said.

“Boyd’s decision after consulting with team doctor Nathan Gibbs and coach Brad Fittler, is the appropriate one and we fully support him and wish him a restful off-season.”

NSW has named a 21-man squad for game two, with James Tedesco taking over as captain.

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The High Court has knocked back billionaire miner Clive Palmer’s challenge against Western Australia’s COVID-19 hard border closure.

The question put to the High Court was whether Western Australia’s Emergency Management Act and the directions to close the borders issued under it breached section 92 of the Constitution.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said the court had found the Act complied with the constitution and the directions did not raise a constitutional issue.

WA Attorney General John Quigley greeted the news with relief.

“We didn’t do this as an experiment, we knew what the law was,” he told ABC Radio Perth.

Mr Palmer was also ordered to pay costs, including for each of the six states and territories that intervened, which they’re entitled to do.

“Sometimes the cost order will order those interveners pay their own costs, but here, Clive Palmer’s been ordered to pay every everybody’s costs, which really sends a signal as to the court’s view about the merits of the case,” Australian National University law school associate professor Amelia Simpson said.

Wherever you could travel before, you can travel now. This decision affirms the ability of states to make their own decisions on border closures during the pandemic.

Dr Simpson said it meant states and territories could “relax” about the constitutionality of their border restrictions.

“It really puts states and territories in a much stronger position,” she said.

“The onus has really been put back on challengers like Clive Palmer to provide a very good reason why a state’s choice of border control is completely inappropriate.”

Mr Palmer wanted to come to WA in May for a series of business and political meetings, including with Senator Mathias Cormann.

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A judge has ordered twice-daily sweeps at US Postal Service (USPS) facilities serving states with extended ballot receipt deadlines, as votes are still being counted in US election battleground states.

Some states, including still-undecided Nevada and North Carolina, are counting ballots that have been received after Election Day Tuesday (local time).

Plaintiffs’ lawyers in a lawsuit said the Postal Service delivered roughly 150,000 ballots nationwide on Wednesday despite the extraordinary measures taken to get ballots delivered by Tuesday.

Of those, roughly 8,000 or 9,000 were delivered after Tuesday even though they had been mailed by Sunday.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday said the processing centres must perform morning sweeps and then afternoon sweeps “to ensure that any identified local ballots can be delivered that [same] day.”

Judge Sullivan issued a separate order requiring USPS to file additional data from districts covering North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

He also ordered USPS to “coordinate with all local county Boards of Elections in North Carolina or Pennsylvania” in order to deliver all ballots “before 5:00pm local time in North Carolina or Pennsylvania” on Friday.

The judge also directed additional steps to ensure delivery of ballots in two states before the deadline.

He set a new status conference for Friday at 11:00am Eastern Standard Time.

Judge Sullivan previously urged USPS to take all possible steps to ensure ballots are delivered.