Matt Canavan says NSW lockdown doesn’t justify its cost

A senator has demanded an end to the NSW lockdown, claiming Australians should ‘learn to live’ with Covid-19.

Matt Canavan says the NSW lockdown doesn’t “justify the cost” and Australians need to learn to “live with” Covid-19 despite low vaccination rates.

NSW has been plunged into an effectively indefinite lockdown after Premier Gladys Berejiklian conceded it was “almost impossible” to end the shutdown on Friday as scheduled.

The state is grappling with an escalating outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, but Senator Canavan claimed the dynamic on lockdowns had shifted, with 70 per cent of vulnerable older Australians having received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose.

“We were told last year to lock down to flatten the curve; we were then told to lock down to help vulnerable people. All good, I support that,” he told Sky News.

“What is the justification now? We can’t remove all risk from our life, and there is no choice here that does not impose massive costs and risks on people.”

Matt Canavan has hit out at the NSW lockdown. Picture: Sam Mooy / Getty Images

Senator Canavan claimed he was never opposed to lockdowns in general but said shutting down cities bore less “visible” and “measurable” costs.

“People are obviously affected mentally from lockdowns (and) kids are out of school,” he said.

Australia has avoided high deaths rates seen overseas – including more than 3000 fatalities in a single day in the US – but Senator Canavan claimed two Australians died of the flu every day pre-pandemic.

Senator Canavan insisted Australians had to “learn to live with this” despite just 11 per cent of the population being fully vaccinated.

“This is going to happen at some point, vaccines will be with us,” he said.

The NSW and federal governments were also expected to announce additional economic support for the state on Tuesday, having already introduced an emergency support payment for people trapped in prolonged lockdowns.

The rescue package is expected to include substantial support for businesses facing the strain highlighted by Senator Canavan.

And with 11 hospitalised patients in NSW under the age of 35, authorities have attempted to dispel the idea the virus was only a threat to the elderly.

The federal government on Sunday rolled out a confronting ad, depicting a young woman gasping for air on a hospital bed, in a bid to boost vaccination rates.

But with many young Australians still ineligible for the government’s preferred vaccine – the Pfizer jab – the graphic 30-second clip faced criticism for fear mongering.