‘So what’s the plan Gladys?’: Premier’s ‘abject failure’ slammed by Sydney councillor
A business owner has slammed the NSW Premier’s “abject failure” at handling Covid-19 and asked “so what’s the plan Gladys?”.
A former Sydney business owner has slammed the NSW Premier’s “abject failure” at handling Covid-19 and asked “so what’s the plan Gladys?”.
In a fiery attack on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Angela Vithoulkas, who is a City of Sydney councillor, begged the Premier to “stand up and manage this” instead of “continuously letting the virus in, and then telling people to mask up and lock down”.
Ms Vithoulkas questioned why the Premier “keeps on having daily press conferences to praise people and report virus numbers”, instead of “preventing … virus risks crossing our borders”.
“We know how it gets in,” Ms Vithoulkas said, “on planes, on boats, and via foreign flight crews.
“Why isn’t anyone saying, ‘this is Australia, here are our rules’, there’s a funnel you have to go through, a system.”
Her comments come as NSW announced a raft of tough new restrictions after 44 new cases were confirmed overnight, the highest number in the current outbreak so far.
Starting at 5pm on Friday, no more than two people will be permitted to gather outside, including for exercise.
There will be no travelling outside one’s local government area or more than 10km from home for exercise or outdoor recreation and no carpooling with people outside the household, and from Sunday, no more than 10 people in total will be allowed at funerals.
Ms Vithoulkas, who ran the Sydney CBD Cafe Vivo for 18 years, said as a former business owner she had to manage and mitigate risk.
She said that in the case of Covid-19, that should mean “not continuously allowing the virus to enter the community”.
She suggested special vehicles could be developed to shield drivers, much like the old taxi driver anti-assault shields, but using biosecurity technology.
She said if the entry point of Covid into Australia was “A” and the further infection point into the community was “B”, it was the Premier’s “job to stop the virus going from A to B”.
Instead, Ms Vithoulkas accused the Premier of allowing it to enter the community “which was then forced to mask up and lock down”.
RELATED: Greater Sydney lockdown extended until July 16
She said high risk people such as foreign flight crews entering NSW should be kept separate from other Australians.
“Why isn’t (the Premier) managing the A to B, the Covid getting in here and then working to mitigate that risk?
“I am a business owner. My responsibility is to keep people safe.
“If there’s a wet floor, I have to put up a sign saying ‘wet floor’ and make sure people don’t slip over.
“If you break a glass around food, I have to clear everything out because you can’t have the possibility of someone swallowing a shard and possibly dying.
“How many times does (an outbreak) have to happen and threaten our local economy before we put in the restrictions or measures for safety that are required?”
A spokeperson for the NSW Premier said Ms Berejiklian declined to comment on Ms Vithoulkas’ remarks.
Amid fears the current lockdown may extend further than the end of next week, Ms Vithoulkas said she was fired up after seeing businesses go to the wall. She described the Sydney CBD as “a ghost town”.
RELATED: Why is Victoria so prone to lockdowns?
Ms Vithoulkas, a City of Sydney councillor for the Sydney Business Party, said she was seeing levels of “generational debt that will be borne by individuals and families for the next 20 years”.
Many “will never recover”, she said, “shops are open but they might as well be closed … people are saying why bother?”
Ms Vithoulkas said politicians, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, had “failed continuously at quarantine and how we handled the incoming infections”.
“In business, you look at risk factors and you manage it, but with Covid it’s still happening … just look at the half-hearted measures they put in after the limo driver (outbreak),” she told news.com.au.
‘It’s not rocket science – manage the risk’
“We have never dealt with Covid in Australia except to build a fortress and lower or raise the drawbridge.
“We have locked people out and locked people in but governments have never actually properly dealt with the … the virus getting in, on plane and boats.”
She said all tiers of government “including councils have their heads buried in the sand” and instead “seemed to deal with political footballs rather than limiting the health risks”.
“If you are going to have the borders open, and we need deliveries, we need freight, what are the risks?” Ms Vithoulkas asked.
RELATED: ‘That is a big ask’: Hint at longer lockdown as 38 new cases recorded
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“It’s not rocket science.”
Ms Vithoulkas, whose Sydney CBD Cafe Vivo closed prior to the pandemic in 2018 after the light rail project damaged city trade, said Sydney business owners had lost 80 per cent of pre- Covid trade.
“None of us are asking for eradication, we are asking for management,” she said.
“I know it’s easy outside of the circle to point fingers and say you are not doing enough, but there’s no plan.
‘Stand up and manage this’
“I would like my government to stand up and manage this,” Ms Vithoulkas said. “Instead it’s all lights and sirens after it’s happened, another Covid outbreak.
“They’ve got a great contact tracing team? Fabulous. And a QR code system? Awesome. But you first have to get from A to B.
“From B you have a system, and it’s all our own fault or problem. They pass the buck and tell us wear a mask, use a QR code and stand 1.5m apart.”
‘The bridge has fallen away’.
Ms Vithoulkas, who is currently planning a Small Business Emergency Unit for city shops, said people were suffering financial and emotional stress.
The latest lockdown, after 18 months of pandemic, had “drawn a line in the sand” for many owners.
She likened it to “the bridge falling away between two pieces of land”.
“It doesn’t matter if they are open or closed, shops have no-one in them,” she said. “No one feels like we’re all in this together. People are actually giving up and walking away.
“Last year JobKeeper helped, but people still suffered incredible amounts of financial stress.
“Now, it’s beyond desperate.
“I’m angry when I look at the Premier seeming so calm and understanding, and the Prime Minister who seems to be missing in action.
“I understand politicians have a responsibility to keep us safe and alive.
“But there are more victims from the pandemic than just people who contract Covid.
“When you lose your job or your livelihood you still have to pay your mortgage or rent, your electricity and put food on the table.”
Last week, the NSW Premier defended the state’s response to the latest outbreak, saying she was as “upset and frustrated as anybody” about the virus leaking from an unvaccinated limousine driver transporting flight crew.
“We all worked so hard and it is really disappointing when things don’t go the way they should. I live and breathe it every day and I feel it intensely everyday,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
Other business lobby groups have supported NSW’s approach through two lockdowns and the partial lockdown of Sydney’s northern beaches last December, compared with Victoria’s four lockdowns.
NSW has taken abut a third of all overseas traveller arrivals to Australia, accommodating them in hotel quarantine and will continue to do so when arrivals are slashed by 50 per cent this month.
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