Those wanting to build their dream home are being made to play a form of Lotto to get new blocks in Sydney’s southwest, amid a crippling land shortage and the fastest land price rises in two decades, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Housing experts say the southwest has been at the centre of the land crisis due to the promise of a second airport at Badgerys Creek pushing up demand.

In response, the Telegraph reports that developers have introduced mechanisms such as lot ballots – lotteries where buyers have their name pulled out of a draw for the chance to get a sales appointment.

In Michael and Deanna Parzakonis’ case, they recently bought a block of land in Mirvac estate, The Village, in Menangle in the outer southwest after their name was drawn out of a ballot.

The couple were entered into the ballot with 300-odd buyers for the chance to get a sales appointment for one of about 30 blocks. They told The Telegraph, the experience was “stressful.”

“Your number determines where you are in the pecking order. We were the 40th pulled out and, luckily, there were other buyers who backed out, so we got a block,” Michael Parzakonis told the newspaper.

“It’s ridiculous how much demand there is, especially for an area so far out. I’m just relieved it’s over.”

NSW Treasury announced in June that 42,000 homes would need to be built every year over the next four decades – or 1.7 million by 2060 – to meet growing demand.

Southwest Sydney is now earmarked to pick up some of the slack with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes revealing new land in the area would be rezoned.

About 18,000 homes could be built in Glenfield, Lowes Creek Maryland, Leppington and Wilton, of which 2700 could be ready in three years.

Source: The Daily Telegraph.

It’s a busy day with COVID-19 news around Australia again and The Greek Herald has all the latest on the three locked down states of News South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Victoria:

Victoria’s lockdown will lift at midnight, ending the stay-at-home orders and allowing students to return to classrooms and dining in hospitality venues.

But Premier Daniel Andrews said visits between households would remain barred for another two weeks, as authorities managed thousands of close contacts still in quarantine.

Masks remain compulsory in both indoor and outdoor settings outside the home, unless an exemption applies. The restrictions apply statewide, meaning there is no longer any restriction on travel within Victoria.

Public gatherings are capped at 10 people, while workers in the office is capped at 25 per cent or 10 people if the workplace is 40 or fewer people.

Density limits of one person per 4 square metre apply to workplaces, community facilities, sports centres, creative studios, hospitality venues, hairdressers and beauty services.

Victoria has recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, all of which were in quarantine throughout their infectious period.

The cases were detected from 24,340 test results processed on Monday.

New South Wales:

New South Wales recorded 172 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday.

Sixty of those cases are known to have been in the community while infectious.

A further 19 cases were in isolation for only part of their infectious period and the isolation status of another 32 cases are under investigation.  

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the main focus of concern had shifted to Western Sydney.

“We are now seeing the virus becoming more prevalent in Western Sydney than south-west Sydney,” she said. 

The Premier said she was hoping to announce whether the lockdown affecting Greater Sydney and its surrounds would be extended past July 31 “as early as tomorrow.”

Late last night, NSW Health also released a long list of new exposure sites, including Greek owned, Fardoulis Sweets & Nuts in Kogarah.

Anyone who attended the venue on Wednesday, July 21 at 12pm – 5.45pm, Thursday, July 22 at 12pm – 5.45pm and Friday, July 23 at 12pm – 5.45pm is a casual contact who must immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

South Australia:

South Australia has recorded no new local COVID-19 cases today as the state’s COVID-19 lockdown is set to end at midnight tonight.

“I’m absolutely delighted to announce no new cases since yesterday’s update, and that’s a huge relief,” Premier Steven Marshall said at a press conference today.

High school students and teachers in South Australian schools will be required to wear masks when they return to classrooms.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the new requirement would not apply to primary school students, but would be enforced in high schools unless it interfered with the education process.

“SA Health are working directly with [the Department for] Education on that so we can get the mix right, so kids can still learn but they can do so safely, and teachers can be as safe as possible too in the same circumstances,” he said.

Department for Education chief executive, Rick Persse, clarified that students in year 8 and above — when high school starts in South Australia — would have to wear masks while indoors.

Mr Stevens also announced this morning that sport training would be allowed but not competition, following a meeting yesterday afternoon.

The Government has released for public consultation an exposure draft of the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021 that proposes new criminal offences and civil penalties to further protect migrant workers from exploitation. 

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, said the proposed Bill sends a strong message from the Australian Government that wage underpayment and other exploitative practices against migrant workers are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“This legislation is timely as we work on economic recovery from COVID-19. We want to ensure Australia maintains a strong reputation as a destination of choice for working holidaymakers, students and skilled migrants,” Mr Hawke said.

Building on initiatives previously implemented in response to recommendations from the Migrant Workers’ Taskforce, the Bill proposes a number of new offences designed to prevent an employer from using migration laws to coerce migrant workers.

It will be an offence to coerce or exert undue influence or pressure on migrant workers to accept work arrangements that breach work-related visa conditions. It will also be an offence for a person to coerce, influence or pressure migrant workers to accept work arrangements to satisfy a work-related visa requirement, or to avoid an adverse effect on their immigration status.

The Bill will also introduce other important measures to enhance protections for migrant workers under the Migration Act 1958, including:

• prohibiting certain employers who have breached specified provisions in theMigration Act or the Fair Work Act 2009 from employing additional non-citizen employees for a specified period;
• establishing new compliance tools for the Australian Border Force to work with employers, labour hire companies and other parties to improve compliance with Migration Act requirements relating to employing migrant workers;
• requiring the use of the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system to ensure employers, labour hire companies and others involved in referring non-citizens for work are conducting appropriate checks of prospective employees’ immigration status and work-related visa conditions; and
• increasing civil penalties for breaches of work-related provisions in the Migration Act.

“We know the majority of Australian businesses and employers do the right thing but there are still a small number of unscrupulous employers who find ways to exploit migrants,” Mr Hawke said.

In addition to the measures proposed in the Bill, the Government has also made regulatory changes to enhance the safety and welfare of working holiday makers in Australia, and discourage them from working for employers with a track record of misconduct.

The Migration Amendment (Subclass 417 and 462 Visas) Regulations 2021 will exclude work for specified businesses counting towards eligibility for a second or third working holiday maker visa.

Considerations for listing a specified business in the legislative instrument would include, for example, any relevant convictions, in particular those relating to safety and welfare of employees.

The exclusion would only apply to work undertaken by working holiday makers after the business is listed in the legislative instrument.

The Department of Home Affairs will implement enhanced communication channels to allow visa holders to easily check the status of their employer.

A specified business will be provided a right of reply, before listing them in a legislative instrument.

Consultation on the exposure draft of the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021 will close on Friday, 16 August 2021. For further information on making a submission visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Pharmacists were overwhelmed by the amount of interest on their first day of delivering the AstraZeneca vaccine in western Sydney, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reports.

About 70 to 90 pharmacies in Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown started administering the vaccine this week as the NSW government hopes their community connection will overcome vaccine hesitancy and lead the way out of lockdown.

Alex Papadimitriou of Harper’s Pharmacy in Earlwood, within the heavily restricted Canterbury-Bankstown area, told the AFR he had already requested more vaccines than the 300 a fortnight he was allocated based on the strength of Monday’s bookings.

READ MORE: Reverend Father George Liangas from Burwood features in NSW Health’s COVID campaign.

“We thought we’d have more resistance to AstraZeneca but a lot of people have realised it’s safe,” Mr Papadimitriou told the AFR.

“We definitely feel – talking among pharmacists and our staff – that there has been a turnaround.”

The pharmacy had booked 35 vaccinations for Monday with little advertising, and most of the appointments were for people in their 40s and 60s.

READ MORE: Dr James Giallussi helps convey COVID-19 messages to Sydney’s Greek community.

But Mr Papadimitriou said he received the biggest inquiries from younger people, to whom pharmacies are prevented from administering the vaccine.

“The worst part has been we’ve turned away, over the last two days, more than 20 people who are under 40,” Mr Papadimitriou told AFR.

“I’m pleasantly surprised that most of them would be happy to go ahead but we had to refer them on to the GP so I hope the government does change that.”

Source: The Australian Financial Review.

READ MORE: Dr Voutos and Dr Keramianakis join ‘culturally inclusive’ medical health centre in Bankstown.