Radio host rips into Gladys Berejikilian’s ‘dumb decision’ to shut down Sydney’s construction – and says it could cost her the next election
- Radio shock jock Ray Hadley fired at Gladys Berejiklian for closing construction
- He called the decision ‘dumb’ and urged her to reverse it immediately
- Hadley said the decision would cost Ms Berejiklian the next election – in 2023
Radio shock jock Ray Hadley has fired scathing shots at Gladys Berejiklian for closing construction site during Sydney’s Covid lockdown, claiming it could cost her the next election.
The 2GB host said on Wednesday that the New South Wales premier made a ‘dumb, dumb decision’ to ban building companies from operating in an attempt to reduce the number of new infections in Sydney – which has ballooned by another 110 cases.
The decision to stop building projects has left about 250,000 tradies in Sydney without their usual incomes, instead relying on $600-a-week handouts.
‘I’ve supported you up hill and down dale but that support has now eroded,’ Hadley said.
‘This, Gladys Berejiklian, is your greyhound moment. This is what caused Mike Baird to lose the Orange by-election, this will cause your party to lose the next election.’
Ray Hadley (pictured) fired scathing shots at Gladys Berejiklian for closing construction down
In 2016, then-premier Mike Baird sensationally lost the Nationals their seat in Orange for the first time in almost 70 years after he tried to ban greyhound racing from NSW.
By January 2017, Mr Baird announced he was retiring from politics.
Hadley said the state has never recorded a single case at a residential site since the beginning of the pandemic, and urged Ms Berejiklian to reconsider her position.
‘You’ve made a massive blunder,’ he said.
‘They tell me you’re very stubborn – show the qualities I know you have and reverse your dumb, dumb decision today.’
But the premier defended the decision on Wednesday and told reporters the ban was absolutely ‘necessary’.
Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) said the decision to close building sites was ‘necessary’
‘This pause has to be in place…The two-week pause is necessary. I apologise for the angst it has caused people but it is a decision we have to take,’ she said.
‘You cannot argue against the health advice, you can’t argue against science or facts.
‘It would have been irresponsible for us not to have taken that pause, as difficult as it was. It would have been absolutely irresponsible.’
South-west Sydney has a disproportionate around of cases, and has been hit with harder restrictions than the rest of Greater Sydney.
It is also an area where one in 10 adults work construction industry, and are also pleading with the premier to allow them to work on residential projects while maintaining Covid-safe practices.
Housing Industry Association Executive Director NSW David Bare told Hadley a plan has been put forward for the potential re-opening.
The lockdown is set to end on July 30, but today Prime Minister Scott Morrison said NSW, Victoria and South Australia could go on for months. Pictured: An Australian tradie
‘Our industry is feeling a little bit hard done by, in terms of the implications that come out of the press conferences, that somehow we aren’t doing the right thing when we’ve shown for 15 months we can,’ he said.
He said site workers and business owners are more than willing to limit the number of workers on site, wear masks and make any necessary changes to ensure workers are safe.
The lockdown is set to end on July 30, but today Prime Minister Scott Morrison said NSW, Victoria and South Australia could go on for months.
‘It’s tough and it’s going to continue to be tough in the weeks ahead – and potentially months ahead – as we continue to wrestle with this new strain of this virus and we adapt our responses to fight it,’ he told the nation.
‘But we’re up to it and we’ll deal with it.’
On Wednesday NSW recorded 110 new cases of Covid-19, taking the state’s outbreak – which began with an air crew driver testing positive on June 16 – to 1,528 infections.