My sources are telling me Sydney is in lockdown for another two months at least. Hence, the following is completely bonkers from the state and federal Coalition:
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is refusing to publicly lobby the federal government for the return of JobKeeper despite Sydney’s lockdown being extended by four weeks and new data revealing spending across the city is at the lowest levels since the pandemic began.
Industry groups, unions and NSW Labor have joined NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet in pushing for JobKeeper to be reinstated as Sydney’s Delta outbreak recorded its worst day on Tuesday, with 172 new COVID-19 cases.
Ms Berejiklian will on Wednesday announce an extension of the lockdown, with concessions to allow construction to resume from Saturday in non-hotspot areas and rapid antigen testing of year 12 students meaning they can return to school. There are no plans for face-to-face learning for students in other years.
You can’t force people to stay home and not pay them to do it as their jobs go up in smoke. Pretending that the lockdown will end earlier so you can dodge the responsibility of financial fallout will trigger a revolution.
