NSW Opposition demands release of suburb-by-suburb coronavirus statistics

The NSW Opposition demands release of suburb-by-suburb coronavirus statistics, saying there is a ‘lack of information’ about the pathogen in the community.

NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay.

The NSW Opposition is demanding health officials release a suburb-by-suburb breakdown of coronavirus statistics, saying there is a “complete lack of information” about the state of the pathogen in the community.

At a press conference at NSW parliament on Monday, opposition leader Jodi McKay and shadow health minister Ryan Park said the shortage of information had contributed to a state of panic in the community.

Mr Park said a suburb-by-suburb breakdown would reduce any false sense of security in areas experiencing higher rates of infection and create higher states of vigilance.

“We need to make sure our community is armed with the information, because when it’s not armed with the information, people panic, we get panic buying,” Mr Park said.

Currently, information about COVID-19 infections is released by NSW Health at staggered intervals through the day. The daily updates include the number of cases prevalent in the community, the number of deaths, cases under investigation, and the ages of newly diagnosed patients.

But the department has been guarded about revealing where these people reside, something Mr Park believes the community is entitled to receive. He said he wants the government to end its staggered press conferences and instead release any real-time advice it receives from health officials.

“We should know if there is clusters of coronavirus occurring within a community — that is important. You can almost shutdown or start to focus your testing in a particular area to try to track that virus so it doesn’t break through those geographical areas,” he said.

A NSW Health spokesman said publishing private details, such as the location of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, is “a breach of patient privacy and serves no public health benefit”.

Opposition Leader Jodi McKay said an additional concern was that much of this information was not being disseminated in a variety of languages. According to data compiled for the government, approximately 1.88 million NSW residents — 25.2 per cent — speak a language other than English at home, and between six and 40 per cent of these people cannot speak English well or at all.

“We do believe that when you put as much information out there as possible, it allows people to make informed decisions based on the evidence, and right now we have a lack of information,” she said.

Ms McKay said she would call on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to suspend NSW Parliament from sitting next week in order to set an example to the community about self-isolation strategies. Her party would also undertake a number of its own precautionary strategies — she said her shadow cabinet would no longer meet face-to-face and would instead hold teleconferences.

Ms McKay has also made the decision to cease visiting her 80-year-old mother in the mid-north coast town of Gloucester for the same reason.

“We will stay in touch with her by phone and we hope to set up some sort of teleconference facility with her, but it’s a decision I’ve made as an individual. It’s not an easy decision, it’s not an easy decision for her, but she understood,” she said.

NSW Labor is calling on the government to announce its planned stimulus measures for the state’s economy as a matter of urgency, and also to clearly define the criteria by which schools would be likely to close over the coming weeks.

Ms Berejiklian indicated on Monday morning that the stimulus measures were still being finalised and would be announced imminently.

“The community would expect weeks ago that we would have a stimulus package in place,” said shadow treasurer Walt Secord. “I will support any sensible measure, and I’ll get my colleagues together and we will get it through the parliament if legislation is required. We’re all in this together.”