Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been almost 1,300 new community acquired cases of COVID-19 in New South Wales today. There are spikes in the eastern suburbs and on the north shore, yet the New South Wales Premier and the health minister have said that workers in those areas will be asked to make sure they're complying with COVID-specific safety measures. Yet in the west and south-west and in my electorate of Macarthur workers are being forced to apply for permits—which they can't even navigate the website to get—in order to move out of their areas for work. The New South Wales government is providing funding for an extension of a cycleway in the eastern suburbs, costing millions of dollars, for those workers who have to go to work from the eastern suburbs into the city.

Unfortunately, this is a New South Wales Liberal-Nationals government that doesn't treat this like we're all in it together. It is highly discriminatory in its policy and is putting people at risk of mental health issues, with lack of health care, and of poor outcomes because of its highly differential and discriminatory policies in this pandemic. Clearly, the New South Wales government doesn't think we're all in it together and is happy to provide such discriminatory policies to Sydney and the rest of New South Wales. It must do better.