Daniel Andrews has taken another hit at the New South Wales premier for refusing to put a 'ring of steel around the city' and clashed with reporters while declaring Sydney's lockdown will go on for months.
The state premier took aim at Gladys Berejiklian during his Covid update on Sunday, declaring the situation currently unfolding in NSW was completely out of control.
Mr Andrews defended plunging his state into a snap five-day lockdown while once again demanding a 'ring of steel' be placed around Covid-hit Sydney.
'I'm not doing it for people to like me. I'm doing it because it's important, to save lives. Look at what's happening in Sydney,' the premier said.
The state premier took aim at Gladys Berejiklian during his Covid update on Sunday, declaring that the situation unfolding in NSW was not just an outbreak
'I think people know and understand that what's going on in Sydney is not an outbreak, it's going to go on, it would seem, for months and no one wants that here, we've been through that and we don't want to do it again.'
The premier said the fast-spreading Delta variant meant people now know: 'You can't wait, you've gotta lock down real fast' in a slap in the face to Ms Berejiklian's response at the start of the outbreak.
Mr Andrews said Victorians wanted a hard border with NSW and 'as many restrictions as possible' to keep NSW residents 'out of their state'.
'That's why I've said a ring of steel around Sydney is something that should happen, that's what we did last year [in Melbourne] and it worked, it protected country Victoria and it protected the rest of the country,' he said.
'That's not going to happen... so we'll just have to make sure our permit system is hard as it can be - that'll be inconvenient for a lot of people.'
The premier said that before the national cabinet meeting on Friday, he didn't have any expectations of having to 'cough up' vaccine doses for NSW
The premier noted that as case numbers continued to climb in NSW, the risk of people entering Victoria from Sydney would grow.
When asked if he supported former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten's call for other less Covid-ravaged states to send unscheduled vaccines doses to NSW, Mr Andrews seemed to be lost for words.
'Well... national cabinet will determine where vaccines are allocated, with the plan that's agreed by national cabinet,' he said.
The premier said he fully supported a JobKeeper-type arrangement in NSW, which he said 'was only fair' considering
