Schools across New South Wales will reopen for face-to-face teaching from 18 October, one week earlier than originally planned.

But in an interview with ABC News, President of the NSW Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, said that because vaccines are still unavailable for under 12s, schools won’t be without risk.

Mr Gavrielatos added that the fact only fully vaccinated teachers are allowed on school grounds from October 18 will also be a challenge.

“That’s necessary. That’s important. But what’s unknown at this stage is how many teachers will have been fully vaccinated by that time and if teachers haven’t been fully vaccinated by that time, well that lies at the feet of the government which failed repeated calls to prioritise teachers for the vaccination rollout,” Mr Gavrielatos said.

READ MORE: ‘Very nervous about it’: Greek parents react to NSW Government’s return to school plan.

Mr Gavrielatos went on and said COVID-19 cases at schools are still likely and that’s why measures need to be taken to mitigate those risks before reopening.

“Months ago we called on the Government to conduct a ventilation audit because we know with Delta it’s transmitted through airborne particles,” he said.

“They remain resistant in terms of measures like ventilation, filtration, etc. These are serious matters.

“It’s a ripple effect. It’s not contained just simply to the one child, the one family, the one teacher. That’s why we need to put in place those other risk mitigating strategies to minimise risks.”

READ MORE: Maroubra mum, Gaye Xenos, wants kids back at school earlier than October 25.

Westpac’s attempt to hold Bill Papas in contempt of court has been complicated by the fact that his lawyer no longer represents him and his listed address for contact is a property in Sydney, despite his being in Greece, The Australian Financial Review reports.

Westpac wants Mr Papas held in contempt of court, the first criminal charges that would be made against him, over an alleged transfer of funds from an entity he was the owner of – Palante – after freezing orders were placed on the Forum Group founder.

READ MORE: Westpac takes aim at new figures connected to Forum and Bill Papas scandal.

However, the application to the Federal Court of Australia is being held up after Mr Papas’ solicitor, Rocco Panetta, filed to no longer represent him. Mr Papas has not yet found another lawyer.

After Mr Panetta ceased to represent him, the address to contact Mr Papas to serve documents related to civil actions against him was a property in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle, the AFR reports.

Mr Papas has been in Greece since June 21 and has failed to come home, despite – through Mr Panetta – saying he would.

Westpac sent two emails to Mr Papas on Thursday before a third bounced back. Mr Papas had been corresponding with his lawyers, Westpac and McGrathNicol through a Gmail account.

Mr Panetta was asked by Justice Lee to be contacted and to attend court later on Friday. However, attempts by Westpac’s solicitors to reach Mr Panetta failed and the court will return next week in an attempt to resolve the issue of Mr Papas’ listed address.

READ MORE: NSW Financial Crimes Squad opens investigation into Bill Papas and Forum Finance.

Source: The Australian Financial Review.

NSW Deputy Premier, John Barilaro, has announced he will step down as Nationals leader and resign from parliament.

“I have decided now is the right time for me to hand the reins over to new leadership, and resign as Deputy Premier of NSW,” he said in a media statement.

His announcement means there will be a by-election in the seat of Monaro.

It comes one day after Transport Minister Andrew Constance resigned, triggering a by-election for his seat of Bega.

On Friday, Gladys Berejiklian resigned as Premier and from parliament, which will trigger another by-election in her seat of Willoughby.

Mr Barilaro says he will call a party room meeting for this Wednesday where he will formally resign as the NSW Nationals Leader and call for a ballot to find a replacement.

In 2016, Mr Barilaro was elected leader of the NSW Nationals and Deputy Premier of NSW. He is currently Minister for Regional NSW, Industry and Trade.

He says he has worked with three of the Liberals’ “hardest working Premiers”; Barry O’Farrell, Mike Baird and Ms Berejiklian.

Last year, Mr Barilaro took time off after a month of mental health leave and admitted he thought he was “never coming back”.

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has promoted key ally, Alex Hawke MP, in a broad ministerial reshuffle brought on by the resignation of Christian Porter earlier this month.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has been promoted to cabinet to fill the vacancy left by Mr Porter.

“I’ll be promoting Alex Hawke, the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs, to the Cabinet,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference today.

“He will be retaining all of his existing responsibilities but joining the Cabinet to fill that vacancy, and it’s important, not only because of the strong performance he’s shown in the Ministerial portfolios I’ve entrusted him with, but it also brings back, pleasingly, the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolios into the Cabinet.

“Minister Hawke did an absolutely extraordinary job most recently in the evacuation from Kabul. That was an incredibly complex exercise, and it was done with an enormous amount of effort and great skill and professionalism, and I’m very pleased to be welcoming Minister Hawke to the Cabinet.”

Ben Morton has also been involved in the reshuffle and will take on the responsibilities of Special Minister of State, Minister for the Public Service and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

Federal Labor has leapt on the reshuffle, describing it as a reward for mates and without integrity.

Dr. Nina Paplia has been awarded a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) fellowship from the Australian Research Council to examine childhood maltreatment.

The fellowship will help Papalia identify links between child abuse and domestic violence with re-victimisation and offending.

“I’m hugely grateful to have received this award, which would not have been possible without the support of CFBS colleagues,” Dr. Papalia said.

“My hope is that the work will provide cues to orient more targeted initiatives to better prevent re-victimisation and offending in at-risk children, at the earliest possible point in the life-course.” 

“It also offers an important opportunity to inform the proposed expansion of child and adolescent forensic mental health services in Victoria.”

Approximately 170,000 children receive child protective services and over two million Australian adults say they witnessed domestic violence as children.

This often leads to a pattern of offending and delinquency which can carry through to one’s adult years. 

Dr. Papalia says reducing these trends is an urgent policy issue. 

“There is enormous potential to interrupt intergenerational patterns of violence and offending in our community,” she says.

“This project will provide new evidence to inform policy and assist services to better protect at-risk children and support them to navigate adolescence without becoming entrenched in the justice system.”