NSW government warned it must take Covid-19 outbreak more seriously

The NSW government has been accused of not taking Covid-19 seriously, with the warning that more lives and billions of dollars are at stake.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says the NSW government has made some “terrible mistakes” with its handling of the latest Covid-19 outbreak, claiming it is not taking it seriously.

In his latest attack on NSW, Mr McGowan also labelled the weekend protesters as “hooligans, drop kicks (and) disgusting people”.

The Premier singled out Victoria, South Australia and Queensland as having done a good job recently of “crushing and killing” the virus, indicating they were all on track to have looser travel restrictions with WA soon.

But in his longest rant yet against NSW, Mr McGowan said the eastern state had failed to put appropriate measures in place.

“Obviously, the NSW government has made some terrible mistakes,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We just want them to put in place measures that work. They’ve got to actually take it more seriously. They’ve got to lockdown properly.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly clashed with Mr McGowan on how to handle the pandemic. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA NewsWire

Mr McGowan was especially critical of the NSW government’s restrictions regarding local government borders and the use of masks.

“They can’t have borders between local government areas within Sydney. People cross local government borders … it’s not working,” he said.

“They don’t have a mask mandate outside … people are wandering out in the streets without masks on.

“They don’t have restrictions on people leaving Sydney, they don’t have the roadblocks that every other state government has put in place.

“All we’re saying to the NSW government is it’s a risk to the entire country – they need to put in place measures that work like other states have done.”

Premier Mark McGowan has often been critical of NSW during the pandemic. Picture: Paul Kane / Getty Images

Asked if the NSW government had somehow given licence to the protesters over the weekend, Mr McGowan said: “I wouldn’t allege that … they took action late and that means the genie got out of the bottle.”

Mr McGowan said if the NSW government did not get on top of the Delta outbreak soon, it would go on for months, costing more lives and billions of dollars.

The Premier described the protesters as “morons” and said they should be dealt with firmly by law enforcement.

“Those people were terrible – a group of hooligans, drop kicks (and) disgusting people,” Mr McGowan said.

“They need to deal with those people seriously, set an example.

“Attacking police officers is never a good idea and I hope they deal with them very forcefully.”

Ultimately, Mr McGowan said the government and people of NSW needed to help themselves.

“Their moment of truth is now. They need to actually crush and kill the virus and get themselves out of this situation,” he said.

“They need to do what is required like every other state has done.”