Coronavirus: Gladys Berejiklian slams Daniel Andrews over ‘hasty border shutdown’

NSW is pushing for the Victorian border to reopen early, with Gladys Berejiklian hitting out at other states for closing too hastily.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks to the media during a COVID-19 press conference in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

The NSW government is pushing for an early reopening of the border with Victoria, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian hitting out at other states for closing their borders too hastily and without consultation.

With NSW recording only three new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and the northern beaches lockdown ending, the Premier expressed her frustration that the border remained closed, with Victorian Premier Dan Andrews suggesting only that he “hoped” to open it sometime later this week.

Asked about the closure of the Victorian border, Ms Berejiklian said: “I would simply say to other state leaders — firstly, please talk to us in NSW before you close the border because we can explain to you the situation that’s going on. Sometimes when there is an unexpected breakout, you do have to see where it goes for the 24 or 48 hours before you make a decision like closing a border.”

Victoria closed its borders to Sydney and central coast residents just before Christmas in response to the northern beaches outbreak, and then to wider NSW before New Year’s Eve, causing massive disruption and traffic chaos as holidaying Victorians rushed to get home before the border closed.

Ms Berejiklian contrasted her decision to shut the border to Victoria only when it was approaching hundreds of cases a day, with Victoria’s decision to close the border when NSW had only a handful.

“When NSW closed its border with Victoria, I spoke at length to the Victorian Premier, I spoke to the PM, we had a three way conversation, it was a big decision for us to take — and I’d just ask that other state premiers extend the same courtesy where NSW is concerned. Asked whether any of her fellow premiers had extended the same courtesy, Ms Berejiklian said: “Look, this is this is not about he said, she said, but I think it would be appropriate to have discussions before those major decisions are made.

“I appreciate the health and medical officers are talking daily to each other but at a political level I think we should also talk to each other if there are major decisions being made about borders,” she said.

Victoria’s Health Minister contradicted the Premier, saying NSW was well aware Victoria was going to shut its border ahead of the December 31 closure ­announcement.

Martin Foley said then acting Victorian premier Jacinta Allan had reached out to Ms Berejiklian several times and he had spoken to his NSW counterpart, Brad Hazzard, when the decision was made to close the border.

“I didn’t see the NSW Premier’s comments but if she’s of the view that when NSW put a hard border on to Victoria for some many months ... that was preceded by conversations with Victoria ... I can assure her the same was reciprocated at the Victorian end,” he said.

NSW government sources, however, were adamant that contact was made only after Victoria made the decision, with no discussion beforehand.

The NSW opposition said the Premier should have been more proactive. “Gladys Berejiklian has been quick to condemn other premiers about border closures in the past, and if you do that you have to be willing to pick up the phone yourself,” said acting opposition health spokesman Paul Scully.

Some epidemiologists back Victoria’s cautious approach to re-opening the border. “It’s probably not wise to open up the border yet until we have a couple of days of zero cases,” said University of NSW epidemiologist Mary-­Louise McLaws. “We haven’t had 14 days, which is at least one maximum incubation period, since New Year’s Eve, so we’re still not safe enough to open the border up.’

NSW recorded three new cases of community transmission and three acquired overseas in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, with nearly 24,000 people tested.

Two of the locally acquired cases, a man and woman in their 30s, had close contacts with a previously reported case from the Berala cluster and one was a close contact of someone from the northern beaches.

Victoria reported no new cases.

Professor McLaws said it was particularly important to be cautious because of the cultural and social differences between Melbourne and Sydney.

“You don’t want to further seed Melbourne where they’ve got a lot of young people, a lot of entertainment out in restaurants and coffee shops, and they tend to go further around the Melbourne area, given that they’ve really good transport; whereas in Sydney we travel widely for work but we mostly stay within our area for entertainment.”

Australia’s AstraZeneca vaccine rollout will begin next month with the exact dose still be to be determined, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on Sunday.

Some evidence suggests that a half-dose followed by a second full does may be more effective, Dr Kelly said, but the emergency auth­orisations granted overseas were for two full doses.

The TGA would determine the best dosage, he said.