The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson calls out ‘mistakes’ in Sydney’s lockdown

Lachlan Guertin
·Senior Entertainment Reporter
·2-min read

Today marks day one of Victoria’s snap five-day lockdown, where Premier Daniel Andrews said the state had “no choice” after the total number of COVID cases has risen to 18.

The Project hosts each commended the Victorian Premier’s decision to make it a “hard” lockdown.

Lisa Wilkinson and Daniel Andrews.
Lisa said that Daniel Andrews has recognised the ‘mistakes’ made in Sydney’s lockdown. Photos: Channel 10/Getty

Mr Andrews made a few not-so-subtle digs towards NSW in yesterday’s press conference, saying that “you only get one chance to go hard and go fast”.

“If you wait, if you hesitate, if you doubt, then you always will be looking back wishing you had done more earlier,” he continued.

“I am not prepared to avoid a five-day lockdown now only to find ourselves in a five-week or a five-month lockdown.”

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The comments didn’t go unnoticed by The Project hosts, with Waleed Aly acknowledging that his speech was “quite pointed” towards NSW as both states have taken very different approaches to the Delta strain.

“‘We’re not waiting, we know what happens when you wait.’ There were constant references to Sydney. It’s like a head to head experiment,” he said.

Waleed Aly.
Waleed Aly remarked that NSW and Victoria were currently going ‘head to head’ on how to lock down properly. Photo: Channel 10

Lisa Wilkinson chimed in, saying that NSW “didn’t want to be the test case” in dealing with the more contagious variant.

“But good on Daniel Andrews for recognising the mistakes that have been made here in NSW,” she remarked.

Lisa continued, saying that while it should be recognised that the number of COVID cases in NSW has dropped down from over 100 a few days ago, the number of infectious people in the community is still too high.

“That doesn’t seem to be shifting and that’s what we’re all worried about,” she said.

The five-day lockdown, which is Victoria’s fifth lockdown since the pandemic began, will also include shutting down retail stores.

“Just for clarity, retail is shut,” he said while describing the lockdown measures.

“It’s not open. There will be no browsing, it’s click and collect. That’s what it has to be. That’s what is safe. That’s what has worked before in Melbourne and it is what will work again.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been criticised during the most recent lockdown by having retail stores still open.

She explained the reason behind her choice on Thursday, saying: “We always base our decisions on the best health advice and on the best information available.”

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