NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has conceded the state government underestimated the spread of COVID-19 in Sydney’s west before the city plunged into lockdown, saying "different decisions" could have been made “with the benefit of hindsight”.
Dr Chant and Health Minister Brad Hazzard were quizzed about their handling of Sydney’s current COVID-19 crisis at a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday.
Dr Chant said the government was not fully aware of the extent of the outbreak stemming from a "superspreader" party in West Hoxton when it waited to lock down parts of the state.
“That wasn't recognised at the time," she told the inquiry.
"It was thought that cluster had been identified very early but there were issues around containment of that that weren't appreciated.
"Obviously with the benefit of hindsight, there are different decisions that can be made."
The West Hoxton party was the catalyst for the decision to impose a lockdown.
Just over 30 people attended the party on 19 June, before the eastern suburbs were subsequently locked down on 25 June.
Greens MP David Shoebridge asked why this was the case.
"The initial intelligence was the West Hoxton party was effectively controlled, everyone immediately contacted within the timeframe," Dr Chant said.
"There were subsequent emerging issues associated with that and I'd be happy to reflect on the thinking at that particular time."
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann asked why Premier Gladys Berejiklian had announced the state could ease restrictions after 50 per cent of people were vaccinated, contrary to advice from the Doherty Institute.
"The Doherty Institute modelling shows 50 per cent, 60 per cent, or even 70 per cent levels of vaccine coverage would not allow for relaxed restrictions unless we're prepared for a massive uptake in hospital admissions and death," Ms Faehrmann said.
"Professor Doherty himself said if we open up at 50 per cent that would be insane."
But Mr Hazzard said the premier was trying to give the community a sense of hope and drive up vaccination rates, and they were taking advice and would need to know more before easing public health orders.
The health minister disputed suggestions the government had not listened to the health advice regarding the "moving feast" that was the COVID-19 Delta strain outbreak.
He repeatedly reminded the committee the pair had volunteered their time and were not obliged to answer any questions.
"It would be the first time in history that in the middle of a war, a parliamentary committee called an inquiry to ask us, 'how did you make your decisions?'," he said.
Mr Shoebridge said the NSW government was less transparent than Victoria's after Premier Daniel Andrews was available "for the better part of a day" to answer questions.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge. Source: AAP
NSW reported a record 356 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 and four further deaths related to the current outbreak on Tuesday.
The new deaths reported include a man in his 80s, a woman in her 80s and another man in his 70s. A returned traveller in his 80s unlinked to the current outbreak also died. None were vaccinated.
Sydney and surrounds are in lockdown until at least 28 August, while the Hunter, Byron Bay, Armidale and Tamworth are enduring snap lockdowns.
SBS is providing live translations of daily NSW COVID-19 press conferences in Arabic, Assyrian, Cantonese, Khmer, Mandarin and Vietnamese. You can stream those live translations at SBS Arabic24, SBS Assyrian, SBS Cantonese, SBS Chinese, SBS Khmer, and SBS Vietnamese Facebook pages.
Additional reporting by SBS News.
