The NSW government should reveal advice from its health authorities about plans to ease COVID restrictions at 70 per cent vaccination rates, Labor MP Tanya Plibersek has said.
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Ms Plibersek called for greater transparency from Gladys Berejiklian about the competing advice the state government received on reopening, after the NSW Premier announced last week she would stop daily press conferences on the coronavirus outbreak.
"I would be much more confident about the 70 per cent target if it was clear that the Premier was getting health advice that backed it, and that it was clear that those other things that the Doherty modelling talks about, like tracking, tracing, the capacity of our hospital system to cope with the number of sick people, if those things were taken care of," Ms Plibersek told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.
"We're not going to get answers to those questions because the Premier has suspended Parliament and cancelled the daily press briefings that she was giving."
A reopening plan unveiled last week showed the NSW government would lift stay-at-home orders for fully vaccinated adults from the Monday after the state passes the 70 per cent double dose target.
Up to five visitors will be allowed in a home where all adults are vaccinated, and hospitality venues, retail stores, gyms and other services and venues will be able reopen subject to spacing requirements, while domestic travel, including trips to regional NSW, will be permitted.
It has been reported that the NSW chief health officer backed a more cautious plan for reopening at 80-85 per cent vaccination coverage, to avoid the state re-entering lockdown after easing restrictions.
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Ms Plibersek said the national reopening plan agreed by states and territory leaders last month left room for interpretation, and said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should work with first ministers as they planned to ease restrictions according to their local situations.
"We've got a Prime Minister who's urging states to open up, lift all restrictions, get on with it, but not prepared to take any responsibility for his role here," she said.
"The reason we're in this second lockdown is because Scott Morrison failed on the vaccine rollout and quarantine."
The Labor education spokeswoman backed the NSW government's decision to mandate vaccinations for teachers.
However she said state and territory governments should give teachers the opportunity to be vaccinated first before making it mandatory.
"It's really important that front-line workers get vaccinated and the real problem here is we've got thousands of front line workers including teachers and school staff who are desperate to get vaccinated, who haven't had the opportunity to do so," Ms Plibersek said.
"Ultimately, I believe if you're a front-line worker, you should be vaccinated. Teachers risk their own health, but they also risk the health of the people they go home to and the kids if they're not vaccinated."
Ms Plibersek said the nation should look at school based COVID vaccination programs for children.
She also called for the government to look for vaccine supply for younger children from companies testing vaccines for young age groups.
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