If it’s not working, then unlock Sydney

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks at a news conference on Friday. Her strategy has not worked. Picture: Getty

Without actually saying it, Gladys Berejiklian conceded on Friday that her four-week strategy of a city-wide lockdown, with its tinkering at the edges of individual freedom and its promises of “green shoots” and silver linings, had been thoroughly unsuccessful in suppressing the Delta strain.

Rather than a flatlining of infections, daily numbers have surged to the triple digits and a growing proportion of these have tested positive outside of isolation each day, despite the stay-at-home orders.

Until now, Ms Berejiklian has been quick to turn the hot wind of her stare on anyone who dared to question this strategy, even as it became obvious it wasn’t working.

But Friday marked a distinct change in tone, with the NSW Premier and chief health officer Kerry Chant dubbing the crisis a “national emergency” requiring urgent intervention from the federal government.

Members of the state’s crisis cabinet will convene this weekend to reorient their lockdown strategy – or so we hope. It is shaping up to be a difficult discussion, with some ministers strongly in favour of restoring economic activity and others intent on cleaving to the rigidities of the health advice.

As The Australian reported on Friday, one model likely to be discussed would be imposing additional lockdowns for the southwestern suburbs, the locus of the city’s infections, to revive economic activity elsewhere across Greater Sydney.

A bold move, and likely to be welcomed in some quarters, it would create a political minefield for a premier still contending with allegations of a two-tiered city: one in which western Sydney residents perceive authoritarian rule on their streets, and another in which it’s still possible to enjoy a guilt-free spot of acro-yoga on the Bondi promenade.

What seems clear is that the lockdown strategy should not continue in its present form. Useful as a short-term measure, it has become too blunt, too inflexible, and is not achieving its stated aim of reducing community transmission. Its ongoing use would be a lost opportunity for the Berejiklian government to make sensible adjustments, and would be consequential for student learning outcomes, delayed medical checkups, lost employment opportunities and other productivity metrics.

Is it really sensible for a lawn mower in Wollondilly to stay at home on disaster payments while their occupation allows them to work outdoors and have no contact with their clients? Should businesses on the northern beaches really stay shut while there is no trace of the virus in their region?

Questions need also be raised about the crisis cabinet. Only one of its six members has run a business. Three members do not have children and know little of the burdens of home-learning. As a politburo making big calls, it would be useful if it was more representative.