NSW MP Tony Burke Said Class Is The Reason COVID Cases Are Higher In Western Syd & Fkn Finally

Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke has called out the NSW government for its slow response to the initial Bondi COVID-19 cluster, saying that the class differences between the eastern suburbs and western Sydney are the reason case numbers are still rising.

Speaking to ABC Insiders, Tony Burke (whose electorate is largely in the Bankstown-Canterbury area of Sydney) said people in western Sydney feel that if Bondi had been locked down early on during the second wave, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

“You increasingly hear the frustration that, for the restrictions, the sickness and the deaths that are starting to come through in the community, [they feel] it would not have happened if they had locked down Bondi, and there is a huge frustration about that,” Burke told ABC Insiders on Sunday.

"It would not have happened if they had locked down Bondi."

WATCH: @Tony_Burke on why he thinks case numbers are still rising in Sydney #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/VfHoX6MBV2

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) August 14, 2021

“We also know it would not have happened if we had a proper quarantine system, it would not have happened if we had a proper vaccine rollout in the country,” he said.

But the part of the interview that was most important to me, was Burke’s acknowledgement of the class differences between the eastern and western suburbs of Sydney, and how this affects transmission of the virus and rising case numbers.

When asked how western Sydney communities would feel if restrictions were eased in the eastern suburbs earlier, Burke said western Sydney residents would be “furious”.

A REMINDER: this is the PM on June 24 when the Bondi cluster hit 36 with 11 new cases & epidemiologists were calling for hard lockdown.

"My fellow Sydneysiders can feel very confident that if anyone can get on top of this without shutting the city down it is the NSW government."

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) August 15, 2021

“We are the home of essential workers,” Burke said.

“We don’t have that many people who can do their work at home from a laptop. We have to go out into a whole lot of different parts of Sydney to work, to do essential work, to stack shelves, to drive vehicles, to work on logistics, to work in aged care.

“People work multiple jobs, they live in large households, they’re trying to homeschool in many instances where there are more people than rooms in the home.

“The frustration of a double standard – yeah, there would be fury.”

I don’t think people quite understand how bad the mental health situation is in western Sydney. Every single person I’ve spoken to in the past week told me they’re on the verge of a breakdown. It feels like the entire region is collectively on their last nerves.

— Mostafa Rachwani (@Rachwani91) August 10, 2021

It’s a point that’s seen major contention between middle and lower classes during the pandemic – because the truth is, being able to safely isolate and still maintain an income is not possible for everyone. And when it comes to choosing between staying home or paying rent, are we surprised that some choose the latter?

Working from home is a privilege, and as Tony Burke pointed out, there are people in western Sydney that don’t just work essential jobs which require movement — they sometimes work multiple jobs, too. Which means more chances of exposure, and more difficulty isolating.

Pair that with Burke’s claims of people living in more populated houses, and it’s a perfect storm for rising cases and a catastrophic outbreak.

It seems Brad Hazzard doesn’t realise people in western Sydney are the essential workers who support the rest of Sydney (and the country) in jobs where they cannot work from home. It’s not compliance – ppl can’t stay at home otherwise east Sydney doesn’t get fed #insiders

— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) July 31, 2021

The NSW government only just introduced payments for those who must sacrifice work or income to isolate for COVID results, but as we wrote previously, that’s a ticking time bomb which has already exploded.

This is not to say people aren’t flouting restrictions — they are, but that’s the same anywhere in Sydney, or even across Australia. In western Sydney, the COVID situation is way more complex than just non-compliance or telling people to stay home.

To pretend that class isn’t a huge factor in why it’s easier to control cases and ease restrictions in Bondi than the western suburbs is honestly just ignorant, and I’m glad someone is finally saying it.

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