COVID lockdown northern beaches: Liberal MP Jason Falinski joins James Griffin in push for end
A second northern beaches Liberal MP has called for the region, as well as the Central Coast, to be released from lockdown.
Manly
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A second senior Liberal MP on the northern beaches has called on the NSW Government to abandon lockdown restrictions on the northern beaches and the Central Coast and allow businesses to re-open.
Federal MP for Mackellar Jason Falinski said there have been zero community transmitted cases of COVID-19 across the northern beaches and Central Coast regions over the last four weeks.
“We need to forge through this pandemic and break this seemingly infinite loop in Australia of outbreaks equating to mass lockdowns,” he said.
“Continuing to accentuate the pain of this pandemic by limiting individual liberty, crushing certainty for businesses and causing hardship for families through extensive restrictions when there is no overriding and greater public health reason for doing so has to end.”
Mr Falinski is the second senior Liberal this week to challenge NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s lockdown plan.
He echoed the Manly state Liberal MP Manly James Griffin in calling for an
easing of ‘stay at home’ restrictions across the northern beaches, the resumption of business, and getting kids back to school.
“People of the northern beaches paid their dues over the Christmas and the New Year period,” Mr Falinski said.
“They carried the country and avoided a mass outbreak by locking down.
“It proved you can manage the outbreaks through LGA restrictions without unreasonably up-ending millions of lives.
“Australia can’t survive on Federal Government handouts; we need to get businesses back open, people back at work, kids back to school and all of us back to normal.
“We can’t afford as a society to be unnecessarily spreading the suffering of this pandemic when we should be focused on limiting its impact,.”
As of this morning over 8.57 million people in Australia have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination.
Previously, July 7, 2021
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has extended the lockdown for another week until midnight July 16.
At a press conference today she revealed there had been 27 cases of local transmission, but only 13 of those were in isolation for all of their infectious period.
Ms Berejiklian said the lockdown extension was necessary because the “Delta strain is a game changer” and said she expected cases to rise again tomorrow.
She also said that children would learn online at home next week.
It comes as hopes were raised yesterday that perhaps the Northern Beaches Local Government Area would be allowed to open up as there had been zero cases on the peninsula.
Manly MP James Griffin, who was recently appointed to the role of NSW Secretary of Health, working alongside Health Minister Brad Hazzard, wrote a letter to the Premier yesterday asking her to consider the option.
July 6, 2021
Manly MP James Griffin has written to his boss NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian appealing for her to lift COVID restrictions on the peninsula.
In a letter he published on Instagram, Mr Griffin said, “Given our geography, easing the ‘stay at home’ orders in Manly and the northern beaches to allow free travel throughout, the resumption of business, and other activities (where appropriate) would be feasible and highly desirable”.
He wrote that the northern beaches did the right thing at Christmas by shutting down.
“ … the northern beaches demonstrated resilience and community spirit in the face of a difficult ‘lockdown’ over the Christmas and New Year period,” he said.
“Over 14,000 local businesses received NSW Government support, however the economic impact is still being felt.
“As a community we are working hard to support our small businesses.”
Mr Griffin – who is well thought of by Ms Berejiklian who has joked he is the ‘teacher’s pet’
– asked her to take his letter into account when reviewing the forthcoming health advice.
The northern beaches was plunged into a lockdown just before Christmas for two weeks in the south of the peninsula and three weeks in the area north of Narrabeen bridge.
Thousands came forward for tests and isolated, while the rest of Sydney continued with their holiday plans.
Businesses said that lockdown came at the worst possible time.
Matt Clifton, owner of several bars in Manly including Donny’s, Insitu and The Cumberland, said they should pull up Spit Bridge and shut the Roseville Bridge, and “let us trade”.
He said a high percentage of people on the beaches would agree with him after the Christmas lockdown.
He added that Mr Griffin’s comments gave him some hope and he was pleased that someone was being their voice.
“If we can open up I’m sure there would still be restrictions such as the 4 sqm rule and no standing, but anything is better than nothing,” he said.
Glenn Piper, owner of Harbord Hotel, welcomed the move saying COVID was a challenging time.
“If our COVID cases remain zero then being able to open up would be welcomed by not just me but other business owners,” he said.
Mr Piper said the business was still operating a takeaway service in order to keep staff working, but it was difficult.
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