Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The figures I have are that there are 297 people in New South Wales who are currently in hospital, 60 in ICU and 28 on ventilators. There were 356 cases today.

I addressed this matter in a question recently when the same matter was raised. It has been the case that, in the past, New South Wales has had success in being able to contain outbreaks and remain open. That is true. They were able to do that. New South Wales has been acknowledged as having one of the best testing, tracing, isolating and quarantine systems not just in Australia but in the world. But there have certainly been lessons learnt over the course of these many past weeks, and the government doesn't deny that. That's why, when we came together as a national cabinet, we came to the agreed position right across the national cabinet that, in phase A of this national plan, short, sharp lockdowns are what is necessary in response to the delta variant. That is the response that the federal government supports—

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