NSW Premier’s warning to other states

Premier Gladys Berejiklian today announced home gatherings would be cut to a maximum of 20 people and masks would be mandatory across all indoor settings, including public transport.

The response is due to a man in his 50s and his partner testing positive to coronavirus. They had visited a number of venues around Sydney in the days before their diagnosis.

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The Premier faced a barrage of questions over the new restrictions, telling reporters her Government’s response was “extremely proportionate” and compared the decision to other states.

“Can everybody just be a bit calm today please,” Ms Berejiklian said, as reporters scrambled to ask her a question.

“Other states, they would have locked down the whole city, they would have closed businesses, they would have stopped events, they would have said you can’t dance at weddings. We’re not doing any of that,” she said.

“This is a proportionate response to the risk. If we’d been able to identify the case in between, the missing link or links, of course we would have taken a different approach.

“But, we know for a fact there’s at least one person, if not more, walking around with the virus, not knowing they have it or potentially having attended many events and venues and that’s why it’s important for us to have a proportionate response.”

Ms Berejiklian said the Government was “not shutting down anything in NSW”.

“So any other premier shouldn’t even think about [shutting us out], absolutely not.”

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‘Business as usual’ for Mother’s Day weekend

Ms Berejiklian slapped down suggestions the restrictions would ruin Mother’s Day, imploring people to go out and support their local restaurants and cafes.

“People can still enjoy Mother’s Day. They can go about their business. Outdoors, you can do what you do now. If you’re in an indoor setting, know that that’s high risk. Wear a mask. If you’re going to the supermarket, wear a mask. These are precautionary measures until experts find information.”

One reporter suggested the restrictions would “infuriate people” across the state.

“Why have you gone so hard so fast? Why have you had to use a Palaszczuk-McGowan response to two cases?” the reporter asked.

“We’re not suggesting that (people can’t go about their business because of restrictions),” Ms Berejiklian responded.

“If you’ve got a booking, go to the booking. Enjoy Mother’s Day. Do what you would normally do. This is the opposite approach. We’re saying to businesses to keep doors open,” the Premier said.

“I’m happy for people to criticise me or question what we do. But the strongest message we send is business as usual for businesses. From time to time we’ll ask them to wear a mask.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic.

“What happens if tomorrow we find 20 cases? People (will) say we haven’t gone hard enough.

“What if we find 10 cases on Monday? People will say we didn’t go hard enough.

“Our decision is based on advice. It’s proportionate. If this was Queensland or WA or anywhere else, they would have shut down the whole city, they would have shut down businesses.”

The restrictions will be in place until 12am on Monday.

“We recommend if you’re in a position to be able to adopt these changes from now, from upon hearing of them and learning of them, please make sure you do that,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We’ve been careful not to impact unnecessarily businesses and others who might have already made arrangements over the weekend but we ask citizens and workers to be extra cautious and adopt compulsory mask wearing.”