Sydney’s western suburbs are unfairly suffering punitive restrictions under a much harder lockdown than the rest of Sydney, a furious local MP insists.
Blacktown MLA Stephen Bali is outraged that his area has been singled out while rest of Sydney frolics on the beaches and runs to McDonald’s at 2am.
He claims the lockdown is already so suffocating, doctors are prescribing ‘an astronomical’ amount of medication just to get locals through the day.
But conditions are about to get even worse, with a 9pm to 5am curfew kicking in from 12.01am on Monday, along with other severe restrictions, in 12 local councils.
Mr Bali said the virus is likely spreading because some people can’t work from home (pictured: a man sits outside a shop in Blacktown)
Stephen Bali said it’s not a good look for people to be enjoying the beach in the east (Bondi Beach pictured) while people in the west can’t go anywhere near it (right)
Stephen Bali (pictured) is the MP for Blacktown and said the same restrictions should be enforced on the whole of Sydney
Hardware and garden stores like Bunnings will close, exercise is restricted to an hour a day, schools are totally online, and vaccine mandates in places for many workers.
Mr Bali believes the whole city should be under the same restrictions – be they as hard as in his electorate, or softer.
‘There should have been a short, sharp lockdown when the case numbers reached 50 in about June – people would have been fine with that, but it’s been going on for months,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It’s not a good look to have people enjoying themselves at the beach in the east and completely locked down in the west – the Sydney basin is the Sydney basin and people should be treated equally.’
Mr Bali said a lot of essential workers, like teachers, travel from western Sydney to the north and that ‘it doesn’t take much for the virus to get into the community and the whole of Sydney should be in the same lockdown’.
The MP also said doctors in the area have been prescribing ‘an astronomical’ amount of medication to locals to help them deal with the intensive lockdown, which is now entering its ninth week.
Pictured: People at Bondi Beach on Sunday, as Sydney’s west enters a stricter lockdown
Western Sydney has been subjected the a harsher lockdown because it consistently has the vast majority of the Covid cases every day. Pictured is a fruit seller in Blacktown
When asked about an incident last week when ‘Kill Gladys Hazzard’ was graffitied on the side of a train in nearby Bankstown, the MP said it was a clear sign of frustration.
The hateful words were aimed at the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and state Health Minister Brad Hazzard.
‘People, are lashing out,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t wish ill upon the premier or the health minister, but people are writing things that are obnoxious and antagonistic because they’re having a breakdown.’
Western Sydney has been subjected the a harsher lockdown because it consistently has the vast majority of the Covid cases every day.
Of the 830 new Covid-19 cases recorded in NSW on Sunday, 317 infections were registered in Sydney’s south-west alone, with the vast majority of the rest in other parts of the western suburbs.
The angry resident behind the graffiti is believed to reside in Sydney’s Covid-hit south or southwest as the city train arrived from Bankstown
People in Blacktown are angry about the tougher restrictions, Mr Bali said. pictured: A woman in Bondi on Sunday
Mr Bali believes the virus continues to spread like wildfire through the western suburbs because people who work in trades, health services and in food services can’t work from home.
‘We have a higher degree of social workers for elderly, but most of our workers are in logistics, food manufacturing, or food retail – work that can’t really be done from home,’ he said.
‘The solution is to get everyone vaccinated, but in Blacktown it’s hard to get an appointment and a lot of people can’t travel to a vaccination centre.’
Mr Bali said about 48,000 families in the area don’t have access to the internet so they can’t book a vaccine appointment, and many only have one car or don’t have easy access to public transport.
Hundreds line up to get tested for Covid in Auburn, another hotspot in western Sydney
Pictured: A worker with a face mask and hair net in locked down Blacktown
He also said that while vaccines are now available at GPs and pharmacies, there are only 89 in Blacktown that administer jabs for the 400,000 people in the area.
‘For someone who lives away from the railway station, it takes an hour and a half to get to the Homebush vaccination centre and the wait times are about six hours to get a vaccine, so it’s nine hours before you get home,’ he said.
‘You’re also going from one hotspot to another on public transport – we need more vaccine centres in the areas with high infection numbers.’
On Sunday, Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Worboys said at a press conference that tight restrictions would stop ‘young men wanting to leave their home and go about various engagements and activities through all hours of the night’.
‘This curfew will signal that this is the time that that sort of behaviour must stop,’ he said.
Pictured: People on Bondi Beach on Sunday. Sydney has now been in lockdown for nine weeks
A shop in Auburn warns customers of mask and QR check in rules in multiple languages
‘Police will be out and they will take action and we just hope that everyone makes some sense of this and realises that we all have a part to play on this.’
Mr Bali acknowledged that some people flout restrictions, but he added that a lot of teenagers who work nights at places like fast-food restaurants rely on their parents to pick them up after 9pm.
‘Truck drivers also have to leave the area at all times, but they often don’t know where they have to go until the day they have to leave – to get a work permit you have to apply with substantial information,’ he said.
‘I know we need to be stronger and harder with the lockdown, but health bureaucrats give out info that doesn’t match reality – it’s spreading because people have to work.’
On Sunday morning, Health Minister Brad Hazzard said 58 per cent of people in NSW have had one dose of a vaccine and 31 per cent have had two doses.
On Sunday morning, Health Minister Brad Hazzard said 58 per cent of people in NSW have had one dose of a vaccine and 31 per cent have had two doses. Pictured: People in Bondi on Sunday
When asked whether restrictions would be eased, Mr Hazzard said he was confident there would be ‘a lot more normality in our lives’ in just ‘weeks’.
‘If our community keeps getting their vaccines the way they are, NSW will look pretty good by October, November,’ he said.
‘I’m really encouraged by the positivity in the community in getting vaccinated.’
Of the 830 new cases, 317 are in the Western Sydney health district, 237 in the South Western Sydney district and 70 in the Nepean Blue Mountains district.
The majority of Sydney’s cases are in the south-west, in Blacktown, Greenacre, Guildford, Merrylands, Granville and Condell Park.
Three more deaths were also recorded overnight – two men in their 60s and 70s, and a woman in her 80s.