As Treasurer and deputy Liberal party leader under Gladys Berejiklian, Dominic Perrottet was a constant gadfly urging the then-premier to err on the side of liberty when it came to Covid restrictions. As premier, Perrottet is set to make quicker easing of restrictions among the first acts of his new government.
NSW has been one of the most lenient states in Australia: if not exactly Sweden, then certainly not Victoria. Certainly, Berejiklian imposed lockdowns and even a curfew but when crowds gather at Bondi beach, as they repeatedly have, they aren’t greeted with teargas and rubber bullets.
NSW is also the only state to wholeheartedly commit to PM Scott Morrison’s “roadmap” to re-opening Australia. Perrottet is fast-tracking it.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced “major changes” to NSW’s roadmap out of COVID-19 lockdowns, as the state recorded 587 new locally-acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday.
Naturally, the changes are focussed on pandering to the vaxholes. Such is political reality in Australia, right now. But Perrottet is moving faster than any other premier – and NSW remains locked in to removing restrictions for all, vaccinated or not, by 1 December.
The vaxholes will have just seven weeks to revel in their superiority complex.
Fully vaccinated adults are due to get a swathe of new freedoms from Monday — including do things like eat at restaurants and go to the gym, which have been off limits in some areas for more than 100 days.
While the settings around hospitality and retail remain unchanged, Mr Perrottet announced several major departures from the previous blueprint.
These include doubling the number of adults allowed to gather in homes, increasing the number allowed in public spaces from 20 to 30, doubling the cap on weddings and funerals to 100, reopening indoor pools, and even reversing the ban on singing at religious services.
By the end of October, face masks in buildings will be optional, gathering limits doubled again, and students will be able to return to schools in lockdown areas.
Of course, looking over that list, the first thing that would strike anyone waking up from a two-year coma would be astonishment that such things were ever restricted in the first place. But that’s the reality Australians have found themselves in, thanks to the state premiers. None have been able to stand up to the wave of panic induced by public health bureaucrats and the mainstream media: indeed, most have happily surfed it, notably the Labor premiers in Victoria, Queensland and WA.
It says something depressing about the state of Australian politics that the best we’ve been able to get is a premier who locks down later and lighter than the rest – or that her replacement is notable only for easing restrictions faster and earlier.
“It’s a major relief for parents and their sanity and I think this is an important decision today and I want to thank all the teachers who are are there getting vaccinated to ensure that we can open our schools as safely as possible,” Mr Perrottet said […]
Mr Perrottet said the loosened restrictions his government will be introducing from the beginning of next week were “sensible and measured”.
ABC Australia
It’s notable that, by contrast, the Queensland and WA premiers are digging their heels in and refusing to budge an inch on border closures in particular.
Although I’m sure that’s got nothing to do with the fact that both have let their states’ hospital systems come to the brink of collapse, even without Covid.
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