QandA: NSW, Vic leaders warn Australian coronavirus restrictions could be brought back
As lockdown rules continue to ease, state premiers have revealed what could force them to bring back coronavirus restrictions.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has revealed what could lead to coronavirus restrictions being reimposed, although she is "hoping that's not the case".
Appearing on the ABC's Q&A program alongside Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Ms Berejiklian was asked about photos from the weekend showing shoppers in Sydney and Melbourne "seemingly unaware social distancing is still important".
"It seems almost inevitable we'll be having some sort of re-emergence of the disease in the next few months," the questioner said.
"What's your trigger, what's your threshold for reintroducing restrictions that you're lifting this week?"
If there’s a second wave of COVID-19, what will be the trigger for reintroducing restrictions in Australia? #QandA pic.twitter.com/5VRhrCD9CV
— QandA (@QandA) May 11, 2020
Ms Berejiklian agreed that "you automatically should expect extra cases … every time you ease a restriction" but said the "strategy moving forward is really to find the healthy balance, the new normal, where we have a manageable number of cases but yet we're able to fire up our economy and keep jobs and get new jobs".
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"In NSW, as with the vast majority of states and territories, our cases are just a handful, compared to March when we were having in excess of 200 cases a day which was not tenable," she said.
"I'm incredibly proud of our citizens. They've demonstrated the last month when we've come together and followed the rules that are in place we have seen the case numbers dramatically reduce. We've gone from 200 a day to just a couple."
Key to making any decision was also being able to collect data over the next few weeks, with schools opening and the easing of restrictions from Friday. "Any type of increase in activity does increase the chance of extra cases," Ms Berejiklian said.
"We can manage the disease or control the spread to an extent so long as people practice social distancing. Before we were telling everybody to stay home. Now the message is stay safe. No matter what you're doing outdoors, you have to assume you have the disease and everybody else you're coming into contact has the disease."
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Mr Andrews said Victoria would reimpose restrictions if he received advice from his chief health officer and federal chief medical officer Brendan Murphy “that we no longer had control, things had got to a point where we were going to see a significant spike in cases and our hospital system fundamentally overrun”.
“Then of course we'd have to reintroduce some of these sanctions,” he said.
“That’s in our own hands in many ways. If people change their behaviour but keep pace with the rule changes that we are making, continue to follow the rules and continue to get tested, we will have many more options in June and we can gradually open up.”
He added the key was “testing, having more contact tracers and having a dedicated focus on locking down those outbreaks really quickly and making sure that you can minimise the amount of spread so it's not getting out of a workplace or given setting”.
“If we have more outbreaks, that doesn't mean we have to instantly put back all the restrictions,” he said.
“We have to find that medium and find a point of balance where there are more cases but we have control.”
Mr Andrews said the shopping centre crowds on the weekend were “not a good outcome” but were not representative of the wider community.
“We would not have achieved the outcomes we've achieved, which are the envy of the world, if we hadn't had compliance between 80 and 90 per cent,” he said.
“There's a sense of frustration and that's a perfectly natural thing. No one's enjoying being locked at home. That's why the announcements that we've made will come into effect just before midnight tomorrow night. I think we've got the timing right. Cautious steps. Necessary steps to make sure that people stick with us and to make sure we get through May and then take some further steps in June.”
Do the premiers believe the lockdown was worth “ruining†the economy over? #QandA pic.twitter.com/VbqtmbJL1n
— QandA (@QandA) May 11, 2020
The three leaders were quizzed about a range of other topics including school re-openings, the trans-Tasman “travel bubble”, internal border restrictions, plans to restart businesses, and whether they believed “ruining” their economies was justified given the COVID-19 death toll.
On the last question, Mr Andrews said they had been “really challenging decisions but they have saved lives”, adding “hopefully we can get to a point very soon where we can start to focus on jobs, employment, investment and repairing the very necessary damage that we made.
“We chose between a pandemic that overwhelms our health system, where tens of tens of thousands of people die, or the response we've put in place, a response that is it the envy of so many places right across the world," Mr Andrews said.
Ms Berejiklian and Mr Andrews also faced grillings about the Ruby Princess and Cedar Meats debacles in their respective states.
The NSW Premier hit back with a response to a questioner – based in Queensland – who asked “why the people of NSW and Australia should be taking advice from you and your government's health department?” given the cruise ship disaster at the centre of hundreds of cases and 20 deaths.
After the Ruby Princess disaster, how can the people of NSW trust the advice of the health department on Newmarch House? #QandA pic.twitter.com/232S81gz9X
— QandA (@QandA) May 11, 2020
“Well, you're welcome to listen to your Premier and take her advice,” Ms Berejiklian said, adding that “all of us want to get to the bottom of what happened”.
“From day one I've stood up and said a number of authorities could have and should have done better,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk was asked whether she feared a second wave like chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, who said earlier tonight the idea kept him awake at night.
“Of course it does. When we first declared this health emergency in Queensland at the end of January, I don't think I slept for five weeks,” she said.
“It weighs on your mind every night. Waking up in the morning, what are the numbers going to be? Where is there going to be an outbreak? What more can I do? People have had their lives turned upside down … society has been turned around.”
When will borders reopen in Queensland? #QandA pic.twitter.com/hU6U7TEEgQ
— QandA (@QandA) May 11, 2020
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