Covid isolation may be cut to five days

Anthony Albanese has left the door open to slashing the mandatory Covid isolation period at the national cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Anthony Albanese has left the door open to slashing the mandatory Covid isolation period at the national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, as premiers call on the rules to be eased and people allowed to return to work faster.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet led the charge for mandatory isolation to be reduced from seven days to five, declaring that it would be best if there was a ­nationally consistent approach.

“We will naturally discuss and debate those things tomorrow and hopefully we will have a strong outcome,” he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said “the time was right” for fresh advice on mandatory isolation. “No one enjoys isolation; no one wants rules on any longer than they need to be,” he said.

“I can’t tell you what that advice will say because it’s not coming from pollies. It’s coming from public health experts.”

Both premiers agreed on a continuation of isolation payments “as a must” and to keep the 50-50 funding split with the state and federal governments.

The Prime Minister said in July it was not the right time to consider reducing mandatory isolation from seven days to five, but revealed this week it would be revisited by national cabinet.

“We’ll have a discussion with all of the premiers,” he told 2SM radio. “Since we last met there’s been, fortunately, a reduction in the number of Covid infections and the impact that it’s having that was in accordance with the health advice we received. So we’ll be examining those issues.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he was open to the winding back of quarantine periods.

“I am open-minded to this change, subject to the health advice,” he said. “Since coming to ­office, I have made it clear that national consistency is a paramount consideration when it comes to Covid restrictions.”

There were close to 10,000 new Covid cases recorded on Tuesday, more than 4200 of which were from NSW and 2900 from Victoria. The two states recorded 55 Covid-related deaths.

Council of Small Business ­Organisations Australia chief executive Alexi Boyd said it was important to “move with the times”.

“I think there needs to be continual discussions around what is best for both the economy and for keeping people safe and healthy,” she said. “Small businesses have bent over backwards to try and ­mitigate the risk and do whatever they can to keep their community safe.”

She said that combined with worker shortages, having employees not work for seven days because of Covid isolation rules was “very, very difficult”.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said it was “about getting the balance right ”.