Gladys Berejiklian reacts after NSW Health advice on Sydney lockdown released

Gladys Berejiklian has spoken publicly for the first time since bombshell emails were released about Sydney’s lockdown.

Gladys Berejiklian has said she’s “not interested” in talking about the Sydney lockdown in her first comments since secret coronavirus advice was released to the public.

The former NSW premier, who was in charge for most of the city’s recent 15-week lockdown, brushed off questions from an NCA NewsWire reporter outside her Willoughby electorate office on Tuesday.

Ms Berejiklian declined when asked if she wished to set the record straight on the emailed health advice sent by chief health officer Kerry Chant during the height of the coronavirus crisis.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian outside her electoral office in Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Ms Berejiklian kept her thoughts on the lockdown to herself. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

“I’m not interested in talking to you,” Ms Berejiklian said.

One of the newly released emails, sent by Dr Chant to Health Minister Brad Hazzard, recommended the government apply “consistent” rules across the city.

Although the email was sent on August 14, and while Ms Berejiklian frequently argued her lockdown decisions were based on NSW Health advice, the city’s western and southwestern suburbs remained under tougher restrictions until September 20.

But when asked why she didn’t take that piece of advice, Ms Berejiklian said again: “I’m not interested in talking to you.”

Gladys Berejiklian is the MP for Willoughby. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Ms Berejiklian was NSW premier until October 5. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Ms Berejiklian was also asked about comments that Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres made earlier in the morning.

Mr Ayres defended the decision to lock down Sydney’s west harder than the rest of the city and said he didn’t want to perpetuate a “victim mentality”.

“I’m no longer the premier, have a lovely day,” Ms Berejiklian replied to a question about Mr Ayres’ comments.

Ms Berejiklian quit as premier on October 5.

She remains the MP for Willoughby in Sydney’s north shore and has said she will resign from that position once a by-election can be arranged.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres defended the lockdown policy on Tuesday. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Dominic Perrottet, who took over as Premier and who was a senior member of the government committee that made lockdown decisions, defended the government’s decisions earlier on Tuesday.

The Premier accused the opposition of “playing games” with the emails and said while there had been mistakes made in the pandemic management, the extra-tough lockdown in the west was not one of them.

“Our number one role in the government has been to keep people safe and to balance that with the economy – the alternative was to shut the entire state down,” Mr Perrottet told reporters on Tuesday.

“There were heavier restrictions in certain places where we looked at the advice and needed to keep the virus at bay. And it worked … It kept people safe.”

Mr Ayres, who represents Penrith in western Sydney and was integral to the pandemic response as Jobs Minister, said jobs in the west were saved by the rest of the city being more open.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard and chief health officer Kerry Chant. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

“I’m really over the victim mentality. This is a group of people that muscled up, rolled up their sleeves, got vaccinated, did everything we asked them to – and because of what they did, that’s why we’re in a strong economic recovery position,” Mr Ayres said.

“The western Sydney I know is full of hard workers, families that build communities, people that really did it tough during the pandemic, to make sure the rest of the city stayed open and vibrant and active as much as we possibly could.

“If we shut down the whole city, those people don’t go to work. That’s a terrible outcome for western Sydney.

Gladys Berejiklian declined to comment. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

“We took the decisions based on all of the information that came to us from health. That information told us to aggressively target where the virus was.”

Several mayors in western Sydney, who have been consistent critics of the way the lockdown rules were written, earlier called for Mr Perrottet to publicly apologise, claiming he lied to them.

Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour said on Tuesday the rules were “absolutely unfairly targeted” and accused the government of deliberately lying about being “all in this together”.

“I think Premier (Dominic Perrottet) needs to come out today and publicly apologise for the treatment of our communities,” he told Sunrise.

“I think a public inquiry needs to be held. We don’t want this ever happening again.”

He said he had a new-found respect for Dr Chant, who he claimed had been “bullied” by the government into keeping quiet about her advice.

The NSW government kept most of Kerry Chant’s advice secret. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The NSW government kept most of Dr Chant’s advice secret until Labor MPs recently managed to access parts of it through an order in parliament.

Sydney’s latest lockdown began in the last weekend of June after an airport transport breach caused the Delta variant to spread throughout the city.

Although the outbreak began in the eastern suburbs, the spread soon got worse in the city’s west, where police began a major crackdown by the second week of July.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet stood by his pandemic management. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

By the time Dr Chant wrote her August 14 email, the rules had tightened several times in an expanding area of western and southwestern Sydney, where the virus was spreading the fastest.

“Implement consistent measures across greater metropolitan Sydney with outdoor masks, consistent 5km rule and authorised workers only,” she wrote in a list of recommendations in the email.

Former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian consistently said she was acting on health advice during the Delta lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone said on Tuesday he wasn’t surprised that western Sydney had been “divided and treated differently”.

“It’s not like there was a magical wind from Bondi that brought Covid in or blew it over,” he told Sunrise.

“There is no doubt that at 11am every morning, we were getting told this was the health advice but it was clear this was the political advice.

“People were treated differently. This had repercussions on our communities and what I’m interested in is making sure the government now fixes the problem.”

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Monday revealed that parts of Sydney subject to the toughest restrictions emerged from the lockdown with the highest rates of unemployment in the city.

Mr Carbone said it was important the government did not forget about western Sydney now that the lockdown was over.

“Out here in Fairfield, we have a hospital that has been rundown and did not cope when Covid hit. We need a big investment in jobs,” he said.

“During a pandemic, politics should be left aside, people should be treated the same and Covid has not gone away. We need to be united in the fight and tackle it together.”

Originally published as Gladys Berejiklian reacts after NSW Health advice on Sydney lockdown released