The temporary suspension of jury trials is being reviewed each month and will continue until at least 31 May 2020. The Honourable Justice Derek Price AM, Chief Judge, District Court of NSW, is hopeful jury trials will resume in some locations earlier than anticipated. Further details here. The Chief Judge has also issued an update on the interim protocol for civil jurisdiction of the Sydney District Court. Read more here.

The President of the Children’s Court has now issued Public Notice 4 and a Practitioners Guide to Courtroom Meeting Space. It is anticipated these changes will provide a more sustainable approach over the coming months that will, in time, support a transition to normal operations.

An additional 250 police will be assigned to local stations and specialist commands over the next 12 months to protect communities and fight crime at a time when many officers are on the frontline in the war against COVID-19. Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the Government's $583 million investment will see the NSW Police Force's strength increase by an extra 1,500 permanent police positions over four years. See more details.

NSW school students will transition back to the classroom during Term 2 as the Government continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell today outlined the plan for students attending NSW public schools to progressively return to face-to-face learning in week three of Term 2. Find details here.

In an effort to allay widespread privacy concerns about the so-called COVID tracing app, the Federal Government has confirmed that a Privacy Impact Assessment of the service would be made public, along with the app’s source code. The assessment is being finalised with assistance from the Australian Information Commissioner, with Government Services Minister Stuart Robert saying it would be released midway through this week.

While the Law Council of Australia acknowledges the government’s desire to improve the efficiency of COVID-19 contact tracing arrangements through the roll out of a tracing app, the privacy settings of any such app will require careful scrutiny, with many in the community understandably hesitant about the collection of their personal information by the government. Read the statement here.

The Office of the Australia Information Commissioner has joined with its state and territory counterparts and issued a public statement on the continued importance of transparency and the right to access information as governments, businesses and citizens deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mature-aged workers can now access funded training more easily under changes to the Career Transition Assistance (CTA) program announced by the Morrison Government. The CTA program assists job seekers aged 45 and over with training and support to improve digital literacy, job opportunities and transferrable skills. The program will be funded by an additional $41.7 million from early May until June 2022. Details here.

Results from the first ABS Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey show that in the first week of April, around 12 per cent of Australians aged 18 and over with a job were working more hours than usual due to COVID-19, and around 24 per cent were working fewer hours. At the start of April 68 per cent of people were concerned or very concerned about their personal health due to the spread of COVID-19.

The National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) has announced the establishment of an Industrial Relations Working Group to help as many businesses as possible operate and keep their employees and customers safe through the COVID-19 crisis.

The Federal Opposition will seek to partner with the Senate crossbench to overturn the Government’s decision to slash the consultation period for changes to enterprise agreements. The regulations amend the Fair Work Regulations 2009 to temporarily shorten the period employees must have access to a copy of a proposed variation of an enterprise agreement, and before which employees must be notified of the details of the vote on the variation, from seven calendar days to one calendar day. Details here.

PM Scott Morrison, Health Minister Greg Hunt, and Chief Medical Officer Dr Brendan Murphy have addressed the media following a meeting of National Cabinet today. Key announcements include:

• Australia has less than 2,500 active COVID-19 cases and there is progress on containment, capacity and recovery.
• The COVID-19 growth rate in Australia has dropped with only 13 new cases recorded overnight – we now have a sustained and consolidated flattening of the curve.
• Elective surgeries will gradually restart after the ANZAC Day weekend, subject to capacity – this includes all category 2 and urgent category 3 procedures including IVF procedures, joint replacements, screening programs, and post-cancer reconstruction.
• The Government is concerned about the impact of social isolation on aged care residents.
• In relation to schools there is no requirement that the four-metre-square rule applies in classrooms.
• National Cabinet has agreed in principle to the COVID-19 app. The Commonwealth will have no access to the data from the new tracing app.