WA Premier says Gladys Berejiklian must ‘ignore right-wing nut jobs, shock jocks’ in fight against Delta outbreak

The WA Premier has taken a dig at NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, saying she needs to ignore the ‘shock jocks’ and ‘right-wing nut jobs’.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has taken a brutal swipe at Gladys Berejiklian over her government’s handling of the NSW Delta outbreak.

It comes as NSW recorded 124 new local cases of Covid-19 – the highest number to date since the outbreak began on June 16.

No new cases were recorded in Western Australia overnight but Mr McGowan said the NSW government had clearly made mistakes and needed to ignore the “shock jocks”.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has said the NSW Government needs to ignore “right-wing nut jobs and shock jocks” and continue their efforts to crush the Delta outbreak.

“They’ve got to ignore some of the shock jocks in NSW, some of the right-wing nut jobs who are saying let it rip,” Mr McGowan said on Thursday.

“They’ve got to actually hold the course … lock down until they crush and kill it … for all our sakes.”

Ms Berejiklian said 48 of the new cases were active in the community for their entire infectious period, warning case numbers would likely go higher.

She earlier warned NSW would likely live with some level of restriction until the majority of the population could be vaccinated.

Mr McGowan also announced Western Australia was on the cusp of a major milestone in their vaccine rollout.

There are now 15 active cases in WA – 10 of which are on-board the BBC California cargo ship.

The remaining five are in hotel quarantine.

With the Delta strain continuing to wreak havoc across other states, Mr McGowan said a hard border would come into effect with South Australia from midday.

Following the latest health advice, Western Australia will return to hard border arrangements with South Australia from midday today (12:00pm Thursday 22 July). pic.twitter.com/dglV05l79M

— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) July 22, 2021

Only approved travel will now be required and those who do will be required to undergo testing and the mandatory self-quarantine of 14 days.

“It’s taken us five months to get to this first million doses,” Mr McGowan said.

“It’s frustrating, there’s not enough supply to meet demand.”

Mr McGowan said another 10,000 extra booking spots at vaccine clinics would be made available.

More than half of the additional doses of Moderna and Pfizer would go to the primary health sector, including GPs and pharmacies.