The curfew issue exposes shambolic state of NSW leadership

It’s not a good sign when you have to stress your team is united. But one issue forced Gladys Berejiklian to try and convince NSW just that.

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It’s never a good sign when you have to stress how aligned your team is.

But that’s exactly what NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had to do when explaining why tougher Covid-19 restrictions hadn’t been brought in sooner.

For weeks Ms Berejiklian has talked about restrictions could be eased at the end of the month in areas with low case numbers and high vaccination rates.

But there was no mention of that on Friday when the Premier announced the lockdown for Greater Sydney would be extended until the end of September.

Masks will also be mandatory for anyone outdoors in NSW.

When explaining the new restrictions, Ms Berejiklian was keen to stress “Team NSW” is united.

“This is a very important point and I will ask the police commissioner and Dr (Kerry) Chant to verify that this is the list we received last night and I want to verify that with both, if they don’t mind, just to demonstrate how closely aligned team NSW is,” she said.

“We work together hours and hours every single day. I will not have anybody say otherwise.”

But it was the issue of a curfew that shows the cracks in “Team NSW”.

It was advice from NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller that made Ms Berejiklian finally impose a curfew from 9pm-5am in the 12 LGAs of concern.

“This is based on police feedback in the last few days on the type of activity that is unfortunately being carried out,” Ms Berejiklian said.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller recommended the curfew.

But seconds later the Premier said the evidence of a curfew even working was mixed.

“While the evidence on curfews is mixed, I don’t want to look back and say we didn’t try,” she said.

“We have to be real about this. Delta is like nothing we’ve seen ... The NSW Government always follows the advice we’re given. I reckon if you speak to other Premiers and Chief Ministers, they’ll tell you how hard it is to keep a lid on it.”

NSW chief medical officer Kerry Chant also didn’t show great support for a curfew.

“Health has supported the curfew and that is because we want to do everything we can,” Dr Chant said.

“The evidence is mixed, as the premier says, but also on the ground, we are knowing that we are getting feedback throughout public health unit, that a small number of people are also still mixing across households and so we suspect that the curfew could assist in that.”

Later Dr Chant admitted “evidence for curfews is not strong”.

On the other hand Mr Fuller was wishing a curfew had been imposed sooner.

Dr Kerry Chant says the evidence a curfew works is mixed.

“In hindsight, do I wish that I raise curfew day one? Probably, but you probably would have laughed me out,” he told reporters.

Whether a curfew can help drive down cases is not really the point, even though medical evidence seems to show it doesn’t do much.

But it’s an issue that has highlighted how shambolic things are looking within “Team NSW” in the past week.

How can NSW have confidence in the state’s leadership when the Premier has repeatedly said a curfew won’t work?

“Please know that we are not the type of government, and I am not the type of premier, that is going to be asking citizens to do things that we don’t think are going to have any effect,” she said last month.

“When I get questions about curfews or exercise or whatever else, the fact is that will not … reduce the number of cases.

“There’s no point for symbolic reasons, locking down or having more restrictions if we don’t think they’re going to work.”

How can NSW residents have faith in Ms Berejiklian and her team when a couple of days ago she was talking about how restrictions could ease in some areas at the end of August despite case numbers exploding?

That was never going to happen and most Sydneysiders were realistic in knowing that the lockdown would be extended into September.

Most Sydneysiders will do the right thing, and obey the new restrictions that come into place.

But they also want to have faith in the state’s leadership that it can guide us through this outbreak.

Today’s disaster press conference wasn’t a great example of that.

Oliver Murray is the news.com.au editor