Video conference with the Hon John Barilaro MP, Deputy Premier of New South Wales

The NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro MP insisted the NSW government was “proud” of its reputation for keeping businesses open, denying the reversion to lockdown was a “knee jerk reaction”.

“You’re better off going into a sharp, two-week lockdown than having this slow death by a thousand cuts of restriction after restriction,” he said.

“On the data that we’ve seen, we’ve made a decision to do this. I know a lot of industry leaders that we’ve been in touch with would rather a two-week lockdown.”

The government would “re-evaluate” the situation “at the end of the first week”.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry in conjunction with Business NSW held a zoom conference with the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry, Trade and Leader of the NSW Nationals.

At this zoom session, the Deputy Premier provided an exclusive update on the current situation in NSW with regards to the COVID19 outbreak and the response of the NSW government.

The Deputy Premier also participated in a Q&A which was facilitated by Daniel Hunter the Chief Exective Officer of Business NSW. He also answered questions from business leaders from across NSW.