Premier: New Freedom But Precaution Needed

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian said while today was a good day with the easing of restrictions, people still needed to take the level of precaution that suits their situation.

She was heartbroken thinking about the 221,000 people who have lost their jobs in New South Wales and collectively we need to maintain vigilance so that we can get back to job creation.

“Today is a good day for New South Wales and I hope it will be a good few weeks and really the way we move forward now is up to us,” said Premier Berejiklian.

“If we all respect the restrictions, if we all do good social distancing if we all appreciate that even if we are waiting in a cue or catching up with friends or loved ones that we maintain that social distance that will be part of our lives until there is a vaccine or a cure, we just have to accept that,” she said.

“But we can also appreciate that our time staying at home in the main has I think made all of us appreciate what matters most and this new found freedom I know we’ll all treat respectfully to make sure we get more of it in the future.

“If some businesses go over and above the health advice good on them because that means they are making their customers feel comfortable.

“In speaking to friends and extended family members that even though we’ve eased restrictions today some people will still chose not to exercise some of those freedoms because they are concerned.

“If you’re someone who lives with a vulnerable person, or you live with a vulnerable person yourself you are going to heed that cautious warnings about what is safe for you.

“So even though we’ve eased restrictions, it doesn’t mean they’ll take them up, they’ll assess their own health concerns, they’ll assess their own level of degree and comfort and they’ll act accordingly.

“Our focus in New South Wales is absolutely about getting people back to work.

“It broke my heart yesterday to think about the 221,000 people in our state that lost their jobs in April,” she said.

“I meant that’s 221,000 individuals and families who have to worry about the mortgage or the rent or about kids school fees and we don’t want to see more of that, in fact we want to try and reverse the trend, but that comes to all of us doing the right thing,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Health Update

• 8 new people positive
• 12,212 people tested
• 103 people treated
• 7 people in ICU
• 5 people on ventilators

Of the eight new people diagnosed, three people were in a family group in hotel quarantine. One person in their 90s whose illness was a couple of months ago and was a close contact of a family member with covid-19. Three locally acquired cases of men in their 30s from Waverley, Bondi and Penrith. One person was an overseas traveller, who had flown into Brisbane, completed quarantine and then flew to Sydney. The flight was QF537 on Tuesday, May 12 which landed at approximately 4:05pm and contact tracing of passengers is underway.

NSW Ambulance

There are another 456 new paramedics entering the workforce, representing an entire years recruitment forward in an eight week period.

There has also been 89 new ambulance vehicles at a cost of $17million with state of the art equipment, to ensure there is the best trained people with the best equipment available.