Anna Caldwell: Premier bends rules if she thinks no-one is looking

With the ICAC report into the Daryl Maguire affair still hanging over her, Gladys Berejiklian breaking her own government’s COVID rules is a bad mistake, writes Anna Caldwell.

Gladys Berejiklian’s stunning breach of her own COVID rules - that we isolate while awaiting test results - will erode her trust and credibility.

While the Premier has leant heavily on her reputation as being a stickler for rules and process, this sorry saga has revealed she is willing to breach the rules and try to cover it up if she thinks no one will know.

Every day in NSW, as many as 20,000 people are taking COVID tests and subsequently missing casual shifts at work, using up sick leave, skipping events and generally having their lives up-ended because they are abiding by the strict rules NSW set.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been criticised for flouting the COVID rules of her own government. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Ms Berejiklian’s disgraced ex-boyfriend, Daryl Maguire. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The idea that you must isolate while awaiting a test result has been a key underpinning of this state’s performance in the pandemic.

Gladys Berejiklian knows this full well.

She’s effectively appointed herself COVID Goody-Two-Shoes-In-Chief in recent months, and regularly tut-tuts even her most senior colleagues if she sees them get too close talking or shaking hands.

Berejiklian’s whole schtick is that she abides by rules.

But now, just as she was through the Darryl Maguire affair, the Premier is aghast that anyone would question her behaviour.

NSW people have every right to be horrified that Berejiklian thought it acceptable to make up her own version of the COVID rules to suit her.

Senior minister Stuart Ayres defended the premier on TV on Monday with false inormation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Just as horrifying is that her tourism minister and one of her protectors in chief Stuart Ayres saw it fit to tell national television false information that you don’t need to isolate if you have no symptoms after a COVID test.

Berejiklian’s office tried to obfuscate on the story, dismissing concerns repeatedly to multiple media outlets who made enquiries about the timing of her test and activities.

Berejiklian’s trust and credibility has taken another hit, and the question is how many more can she afford?

Originally published as Anna Caldwell: Premier bends rules if she thinks no-one is looking