Gladys Berejiklian confirms she breached COVID-19 test isolation rules

Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed she didn’t isolate after receiving a COVID-19 test, undermining months of public health messaging.

Gladys Berejiklian has admitted she breached her own COVID rules including leaving her office to vote in the NSW parliament chamber after having a virus test but before receiving the results.

It is also understood the Premier hosted a meeting of senior ministers including John Barilaro, Rob Stokes and Adam Marshall regarding the government’s koala policy in her office in the time period in question.

The Premier baffled colleagues when she declared the breach was “down to interpretation” after she failed to isolate after taking a virus test last week.

Ministers and MPs were stunned and horrified by the Premier’s breach, citing grave concerns about her judgement.

The Premier’s moves to attend a vote while awaiting a test result comes despite as many as four other lower house MPs requesting pairs this year due to having COVID tests and sticking to the isolation requirements.

After days of failing to answer questions on the timeline of her test, and her activities between taking the test and receiving the result, Ms Berejiklian’s office last night confirmed the test had occurred at about 4pm last Tuesday, with a negative result received at 6pm.

Ms Berejiklian conceded in morning interviews she did not alter her schedule in this period.

Hours later her office confirmed this included entering the parliamentary chamber for a vote at about 5.40pm.

COMMENT: Life’s a breach, unless you’re the Premier

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

On her way into the vote at 5:43pm, Ms Berejiklian performed the “COVID handshake” by bumping elbows with Liberal MP Adam Crouch, Nationals MP Steph Cooke, and Liberal MP Mark Coure.

“I would have definitely been in contact with people,” Ms Berejiklian told Nine’s Karl Stefanovic on Today yesterday morning.

“People come and go all the time, so I’m sure that I was in contact with people,” she said.

“Perhaps in that time frame I should have shut my door and not let anyone in.”

Despite being pressed on why she broke her own government’s self-isolation guidelines in four separate interviews, the Premier made no reference to the fact that she left her office while awaiting results until late on Tuesday afternoon.

In a debacle for the government’s critical public health messaging, Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres wrongly told ABC TV Monday night that asymptomatic people can make up their own minds if they isolate.

The Premier had a scratchy throat so she had a COVID test, but instead of isolating until she received the results, she attended a number of meetings at parliament.

This is in direct conflict with @NSWHealth advice and shows an extraordinary lack of judgement.

— Jodi McKay (@JodiMcKayMP) November 23, 2020

Ms Berejiklian’s office did not answer yesterday when asked if Mr Ayres’s comments - explicitly at odds with official policy - were correct.

In a Daily Telegraph poll on the topic, 65 per cent of voters believed the Premier should pay a $1000 fine for her breach.

There is no offence in the health act however for failing to isolate after a test, although it is a strict requirement.

When asked in an interview on 2GB if she was sorry for failing to follow health guidelines she replied: “of course”.

“Strictly when you take a test, you are meant to self-isolate,” Ms Berejiklian told 2GB.

“Because I did not feel I needed to take the test, I did not think at the time I (needed to isolate) but I should have closed my door and not met with anybody or seen anybody,” she said.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Tourism Stuart Ayres provide a COVID-19 update. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

There was a view among the Premier’s colleagues that her actions were ultimately harmless, but they raised serious concerns about her judgement.

Broadly there was confusion as to why the Premier didn’t admit her mistake when first contacted by media last week.

A spokesman for the premier said last night “no health order was breached” when asked if she would pay a fine for her actions if required by law.

Her office confirmed the premier had a rapid test, but did not explain why the less accurate rapid antigen test was chosen.

Asked when people came into her office and why, Ms Berejiklian said “a number of parliamentary colleagues and staff”.

The spokesman did not answer when asked if Mr Ayres was correct in his comment on Q&A that people do not need to isolate when they don’t have symptoms.