Tick, tock … It’s time Gladys Berejiklian trusted us

TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz, 26, has injected a bit of humour into NSW’s lockdown by ‘predicting’ the state’s daily Covid-19case numbers. Picture: John Feder

What’s the big secret, Gladys?

At 11am every day, the NSW Premier tells us how we are all in this together — then deigns to let us in on the crucial Covid numbers the state government has been sitting on for 15 hours.

The public is tiring of that game.

The government knows by 8pm the previous day how many new Covid cases have been reported and how many have been infectious while out and about in the community.

It’s important stuff.

It’s called public health information for a reason.

But for reasons no one can ­explain, we can’t be told until the government sees fit.

No one would deny the Premier the chance for her own North Face moment in front of the cameras; Dan can’t have all the fun.

But then along comes TikTok guy and steals the show.

So-called comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz spent last week “predicting” the exact number of new cases reported in the daily press briefings every day — and posting clips on TikTok for his rapidly multiplying hordes of fans.

Based on an unlikely and satirical set of mathematical calculations — one factor is the number of households in Fairfield with more than 11 children — his “Kairouz Probability Theorem” produced startling accurate results.

The source of this predictive genius is uncertain.

Some claimed a leak from within the Health Department.

Tik Tok sensation Jon-Bernard Kairouz. Picture: John Feder

Kairouz, 26, has accumulated 300,000 followers.

Mr Kairouz has a better explanation: when he was younger he had a crayon lodged in his brain. “Once I had that removed, my IQ went up 50 points and it allows me to make these calculations.”

No wonder NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard wanted to ­silence him.

A comedian has become a threat to public health because he isn’t putting any “context” around the daily messaging.

Here’s a news flash: information fatigue is setting in. People – especially young people – are tuning out of the daily message. And just when we need them to be thinking about staying safe and getting vaccinated.

Yet TikTok man has accumulated 300,000 followers and more than three million hits in just a few days by injecting a bit of humour and theatre into the arena.

It says a lot about the government’s commitment to transparency that their first reaction was to hunt for a leaker.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, left, speaks to Premier Gladys Berejiklian in Sydney on Monday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

There was talk they would try to stitch up Mr Kairouz by feeding out false numbers. Then on ­Monday, his figures were wrong. He predicted 109. It was 98.

The 26-year-old marketing employee from Canterbury was philosophical about his short-lived run as Sydney’s latter-day Nostradamus.

“I’ve enjoyed the week, it’s been a lot of fun,” he said.

As reports began surfacing about unsavoury comments Mr Kairouz has posted in the past, his moment in the sun is likely to be brief. While it lasts, he’s making the most of his 15 minutes of TikTok fame.

“It’s funny to see they went to these kinds of lengths, it’s actually amusing.”

Mr Hazzard still wasn’t seeing the funny side. He didn’t deny the hunt for the leak, but rejected claims the government had set up a sting to unmask the culprit.

“Can I say it was a disappointment that something as serious as our messaging to the community in a pandemic, clearly someone in the system was feeling the need to disclose those figures to somebody who was not an appropriate person to be making commentary about it,” Mr Hazzard told the morning press conference.

So now the community is safe once again, waiting for the government to decide the appropriate time we can be trusted with public health information.

Here’s another thought: trust works both ways.