NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet says Australia needs to move away from mandatory public health orders, amid a proposal to reduce the isolation period of COVID-19 from seven to five days.
Medical director Paul Kelly and other medical officials are studying the possible change, Perrottet told ABC RN Breakfast.
“Obviously, we have to do it to find the balance because, at the moment … not only our casual workers are affected by these requirements. They are also our front-line workers. We have so many medical staff being fired across the country at our public hospitals, ”he said.
“We certainly don’t want health care staff, teachers or police officers to go to work when they’re sick.”
Perrottet said Australia needed to get to a point where there was greater acceptance that people would stay home with flu-like symptoms.
“This has been culturally something in the past, but I think we need to put more emphasis on it. [as] we continue to put downward pressure on the healthcare system, ”he said.
“We have to get away from these forced public health orders and get to a point where if you’re sick, you stay home. If you’re not, you’re going to work.”
The prime minister was among those who pushed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reverse the expiration of the COVID-19 permit payment, set by the former federal government, for casual workers who needed to isolate themselves.
Perrottet said if governments forced people to stay home, they had a responsibility to provide financial support.
“I think it’s just a fair thing in the circumstances,” he said.
Perrottet said he did not support the recovery of extensive mask mandates and said people should take responsibility for their own health, especially when they were in crowded indoor places.
He said he had seen many more people masked in the mall due to the spread of variants BA.4 and BA.5.