Hunter residents are concerned about Sydney construction workers being allowed to travel and work in Newcastle despite Greater Sydney building sites being shut down to lower the spread of COVID-19.
The NSW Government announced on Saturday that all construction, non-urgent maintenance and repair work on residential premises would be put on hold in Greater Sydney between July 19 and July 30.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the decision was difficult to make but was a critical factor in preventing a further extension of the lockdown.
State Member for Wallsend Sonia Hornery and State Member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp asked Berejiklian and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard for “urgent clarification regarding workers travelling from Greater Sydney to Newcastle”.
“Closing construction sites in Greater Sydney could lead to companies redeploying their workforces to sites located outside of Greater Sydney, including Newcastle,” the letter read.
“The Newcastle CBD is currently experiencing a large amount of construction, and our communities are extremely concerned about the risk this poses.
“If these workers pose a risk on sites in greater Sydney, they pose a risk on sites in regional NSW, including in Newcastle.”
The Premier’s office gave an interim response, advising that workers from Greater Sydney could work in Newcastle and the Lake Macquarie area.
As construction work cannot be done from home, these workers have a reasonable excuse to leave their residence and work on a construction site outside Greater Sydney.
“The Newcastle Local Government Area has been COVID-19 free for almost 12 months, and one single case would have a catastrophic impact on the local economy,” Hornery said.
“Many local businesses are doing it tough with the current restrictions, with some being forced to close their doors for good, and others hanging on by a thread.
“Until the Greater Sydney restrictions ease, local sites should be using local workers.”
Due to the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Area being less than 50km from Greater Sydney, the workers would also not be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
“I have a couple of Sydney workers who were meant to be coming back to finish a job, but I’ve had to tell them not to come,” an owner of a Newcastle construction company said.
“We don’t want Sydney workers coming onto our sites. It only takes one case, and we are all shut down. So our plumbers, electricians and anyone working on our sites don’t want to risk that.
“I can’t imagine very many Newcastle bosses replacing a local worker with someone from Sydney if there’s a risk of spreading COVID, but the bigger commercial companies who have construction sites all over the place, well they’ll be able to just move all their blokes up here. I don’t think that’s right.”
Meanwhile, the NSW Health COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in the former Belmont Bunnings opened its doors to the masses today.
The new centre includes a waiting room able to hold 200 people, an observation room for 300 people, 35 vaccination bays, and the capacity to vaccinate up to 20,000 people a week.
The centre will also employ up to 100 nurses, 25 pharmacists and around 200 other support staff.
Both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine will be adminsitered. Bookings are required.
For the latest information on the COVID-19 vaccine, visit Health NSW.
Hayley McMahon
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