Covid-19 updates: Scott Morrison calls on states, territories to stick to vaccine agreement to open up

Mark McGowan has slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his calls for the states to embrace plans to reopen the country once Covid vaccination rates hit target.

Western Australian premier Mark McGowan has blasted Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his calls for the states to embrace plans to reopen the country, slamming the NSW government over its “failed” management of the crisis.

Mr McGowan said the pressure from the Prime Minister for WA and other states to ease border restrictions and abandon lockdowns when vaccination rates hit between 70 and 80 per cent failed to take into account what was happening in the rest of the country.

“This is a time for cool heads. We don’t need rash decision making on the basis of what is occurring in NSW. There is an Australia outside of NSW,” Mr McGowan said, per The Australian.

“Just because the NSW Government has made a mess of it, doesn’t mean the rest of us should suffer.”

‘Rash decision’. WA Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Morrison said the country would “stay in the cave forever” if states didn’t commit to moving forward at the agreed upon vaccination thresholds.

But Mr McGowan has noted that the National Cabinet had already agreed that targeted lockdowns would remain even when vaccination rates hit 80 per cent.

“That’s not the plan,” Mr McGowan said, in response to the Prime Minister’s latest comments.

“The plan allows for lockdowns at 70 per cent two-dose vaccinations and 80 per cent two-dose vaccinations. It’s in black and white. People should read the plan.”

Mr McGowan said people in Covid-free states outside of NSW wanted to stay that way.

“We have the freest society, the most successful community of anywhere in the world,” he said.

“I’d prefer not to have lockdowns. I’d prefer not to have Covid. That’s the point.”

‘LIVE WITH THIS VIRUS’

It came as Mr Morrison called on all states and territories to stick to their agreement to open up the nation as Australia hits 70 and 80 per cent vaccination targets and not walk back on commitments made at National Cabinet.

However, Mr Morrison also refused to confirm whether he would withhold federal aid from premiers who kept their borders shut after they’d hit the nominated target of 80 per cent of residents double-dosed.

“Our goal to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it,” the prime minister said Monday.

“It is a plan based on the best possible scientific and medical and economic advice – I would argue the best in the world.

“The plan sets forward (what has to be done) to move forward. You cannot hold back,” he said.

The comments came after opposition leader Anthony Albanese attacked the government on social media, saying, “The wheels are falling off Scott Morrison’s latest plan. Australians deserve clear answers about the pathway out of this mess, not just more spin and blame shifting.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke to media at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The wheels are falling off Scott Morrison’s latest plan. Australians deserve clear answers about the pathway out of this mess, not just more spin and blame shifting.

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) August 22, 2021

Mr Morrison rejected the notion that the plan agreed at National Cabinet was not the way out of the pandemic.

“We have been told very clearly that lockdowns, once you push past that level, come at more cost than gain.

“So it puzzles me why anyone would want to go against the plan.”

He said in relation to lockdowns that “this cannot go on forever”.

But Mr Morrison refused to confirm states who locked down or kept their borders shut would not receive federal aid, calling it a “hypothetical” situation.

“I’m committed to the national plan and I think Australians are too … they’ll be expecting that plan to be put in place. So let’ just see what happens,” he said.

His comments come after Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said lessons can be learnt from the UK and Israel as Australia races to vaccinate its way to more freedoms.

Professor Kelly addressed media on Sunday as 891 new locally acquired infections were recorded around the country.

There are 554 Australians in hospital with Covid-19 while there are an estimated 10,223 active cases in the country.

As both new infections and vaccinations soar in Australia, Professor Kelly said there were lessons to be learnt in places such as Israel where outbreaks have surged but hospitalisations and deaths have been limited due to vaccination.

Professor Kelly backed the federal government’s claim that restrictions could lift once key vaccination targets are met, regardless of case numbers.

Chief medical Officer Paul Kelly (right) says Covid-19 hospitalisations are climbing. NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

It comes as national cabinet will this week be given updated modelling from the Doherty Institute’s researchers about how reopening plans will be ­affected by surging case numbers in Victoria and NSW.

NSW was the state with the most Covid-19 hospitalisations but admissions were also beginning to climb in other states.

“They (rising numbers of cases) are starting present to hospital and intensive care are also increasing,” Professor said.

“Particularly in NSW but also in other jurisdictions. This is something we've (hospitals) been planning for, for 18 months, and we know that our hospitals, particularly our intensive care, are ready for this.”

Professor Kelly praised Australians for reaching 52 per cent of people (older than 16) having received at least one dose of the vaccine (10.8 million doses) while 30 per cent (6.2 million) of the same age group are fully vaccinated.

Those figures come after Australia gave out 196,000 doses of vaccinations on Saturday.

“1.1 million doses in four days, we're getting close to 2 million a week and it is close to what we are planning to do in the coming weeks,” he said.

“That is extraordinary, thank you have one involved.”

Professor Kelly said lessons could be learnt from the UK and Israel and their experiences with vaccinations and opening up.

Israel has fully vaccinated 80 per cent of its adult population but the country registered 7600 new infections overnight.

Some Australian premiers have expressed hesitancy towards lifting restrictions once 70 or 80 per cent of Australian adults are vaccinated, warning the modelling used by national cabinet uses low case numbers in the community.

“Does this need to go back to the drawing board? The answer is absolutely not,” Professor Kelly said.

“The assumption is of course all modelling can be changed and sensitivity analysis, that’s the technical terms for what’s being done by the Doherty Institute, can be relatively easily done.”

Australia’s Covid-19 vaccination rates as of August 22. Picture: Federal government

Covid testing rates remain high. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Professor Kelly said expectations were always for case numbers to rise as the country opens but stressed the importance of vaccination.

“(There are) lots of lessons; when the UK decided to open up, they did have an increase in cases but not an increase in any great extent in deaths or in hospitalisations or ICU except in some small pockets of the population, particularly in the Midlands, where they had lower than the national average vaccination rates,” he said.

“They have actually done what we are proposing to do at that around 80 per cent rate of vaccination.

“Israel similarly, they recently have seen an increase in cases but the death rates in hospitalisation rates have not increased the great extent.

“We’ve absolutely looked at those (countries) every day and every week and are learning from their experiences.”

Originally published as Covid-19 updates: Scott Morrison calls on states, territories to stick to vaccine agreement to open up