Project host Rachel Corbett reacts to Sydney lockdown

Host of The Project Rachel Corbett insists that Sydney should have had a stricter lockdown sooner to avoid the mess they are in now.

Project host Rachel Corbett has insisted Sydney-siders would have preferred a stricter lockdown earlier in the hope of avoiding extended lockdowns.

Wednesday night’s episode of The Project discussed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s decision to extend Sydney’s lockdown; a decision that has upset some, but wasn’t necessarily surprising.

“Now that you’re living through this lockdown, I’m going to make you speak for everyone in Sydney. Do you think Sydneysiders would like to see something stricter now?” Waleed Aly asked Corbett.

Rachel Corbett would support a stricter lockdown. Picture: Channel 10

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“I can only speak for myself, but I’ve always felt a bit on the wrong side of these people that are being spoken to,” she said.

“I feel like we’re being treated like delicate flowers who couldn’t possibly deal with a lockdown when, in reality, we don’t want to go into a lockdown that continually gets extended because we’re hemming and hawing about where we should be.

“I think everybody understands we’re in the middle of a pandemic.

“If something is going wrong, shut us the hell down and get us back to normal as soon as you possibly can. I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable in that.

“I’ve always been a bit surprised at this hesitation about being very black-and-white in Sydney, because I get there’s pushback, but you have to take the pushback to get a better result.”

It comes after they welcomed professor Billy Bowtell, a strategic health policy adviser at UNSW, to the show.

The panellists mentioned NSW Health Minister Brad Hazard’s comments about not listening to chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant’s message to stay home and adhere to lockdown rules.

He conceded that the state may have to learn to live with the Delta variant that is circulating in the community if residents don’t listen to the current medical advice.

Mr. Bowtell expressed his thoughts on The Project, unimpressed with the government's response. Picture: Channel 10

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“At some stage, if individuals don’t hear Dr. Chant’s message, then at some point we’re going to move to a stage where we’re going to have to accept that the virus has a life which will continue in the community,” Mr Hazard said.

Mr Bowtell said the message was “an enormous threat”.

He explained how the general public might be confused about the different messages coming from the government. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has made it clear that her goal is zero cases, but Mr. Hazard and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg claim that we might be heading toward a community that lives with the virus, no matter the lives it could take.

Health Minister Brad Hazard set the tone in a press conference. Picture: AAP Image/Tim Pascoe

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“It really is the most extraordinary thing that the Minister for Health and Treasurer could say,” said Mr Bowtell.

“I think people in NSW have every right to say, ‘What is going on? What is the objective of this lockdown?’ And to conjure threats that say, ‘If you don’t do what we say, we’ll just let Covid run…’ I mean, have we really come to this?

“I fully support the Premier and the Chief Medical Officer in saying the objective of this is zero Covid. If the Minister for Health and the Treasurer have a different idea, then let them say it out loud and bring forth the evidence.”