NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet staggers to the inevitable, announces tighter restrictions

Omicron has forced Australia's hand, as NSW and Victoria return to many of the restrictions they have leant on throughout the pandemic. But its rapid spread, accelerated by an open Christmas, threatens to undo much of the work done since early 2020.

Dominic Perrottet has the verve and impatience of a man in a hurry. His sudden promotion saw the "medical advice" miraculously change overnight, in line with the more laissez-faire approach he reportedly promoted behind closed doors as treasurer.

He ripped away the state's last remaining restrictions in mid-December, the same day his Health Minister was warning of 25,000 daily cases by late January.

We would have to learn to live with the virus. A new era of personal responsibility was dawning.

But COVID-19 defers to no one, and reality is mugging the Premier.

Daily case numbers are edging to 40,000 by early January, even as official data captures fewer and fewer infections.

Experts have been warning a reversal to tighter restrictions is inevitable, one even betting $1000 on new measures in the next fortnight.

And Mr Perrottet is not so much bowing to the inevitable, as staggering slowly to it.

Nightclubs are again shut, singing and dancing banned in hospitality venues, and elective surgeries suspended.

It's the second admission NSW is not keeping pace with Omicron, after a brief flirtation with restriction-free life ended in masks and QR codes returning at Christmas.

Mr Perrottet accepts the measures were designed to ease pressure on the fraying hospitals which, at the same time, he claims "stand strong". It's a hard sell for a system already propped up by health staff working diabolical hours.

NSW's reputation for unshackling has had no bigger cheerleader than its most powerful resident, Scott Morrison. Facing an election within six months, the Prime Minister is urging Australians to "ride the wave" and trust the market.

But had Omicron arrived in July, or even at Christmas in a non-election year, caution may not have been thrown to the wind so readily.

And if the calculation was a vote-winning festive season, it seems to be backfiring. Chaotic test queues, thousands plunged into isolation, travel plans disrupted.

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The fix? An abrupt jolt to relying on rapid tests we don't have and, for the most part, the federal government won't pay for.

COVID-19 press conferences have had a way of sobering premiers throughout the pandemic. Mr Perrottet was less cocksure on Friday, regularly stopping to check his notes, his tone deflated.

But the Prime Minister chose a friendlier setting. Nestled next to Adam Gilchrist in the SCG commentary box, he again reached for the glib in a crisis.

"We've got many challenges there, but this is Australia living with the virus ... and Australians taking wickets in the virus," he said.

For the second day running, sport was his distraction from the situation on the ground.

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