Broadcaster Ray Hadley says he will still wear a mask to the supermarket but noticeably failed to criticise NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet for rolling back Covid restrictions in the state.
The 2GB morning host has been a staunch critic of Mr Perrottet’s approach to rolling back public health rules, and recently confronted the premier on-air over reports he had called the veteran jock a ‘bedwetter’.
On Friday Hadley detailed the rollback of NSW Covid rules announced yesterday, which includes dropping density limits, QR code check-ins and working from home from today, with next to no criticism of the decision.
2GB host Ray Hadley has offered no criticism of the latest decision by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to drop Covid restrictions, despite slamming Mr Perrottet over earlier decisions
Mr Perrottet announcing most Covid-19 rules will be dropped in the state yesterday, including density limits, QR code check-ins and working from home
Face masks will also be dropped from Friday, February 25, when they will only be needed on public transport, in airports, aged care and disability facilities, jails and at indoor music festivals with more than 1000 people.
‘Plenty of people will still wear a mask and I may still be one of them,’ Hadley told his audience.
‘If I go to the supermarket I may still wear it. International research shows you’re 53 per cent better off in relation to catching the [virus] than if you’re not wearing a mask.
‘That’s a decision for you but you wont have to do it.
‘But masks will still be mandated in some settings.’
Singing and dancing will again be allowed at all NSW venues, apart from music festivals, where it will recommence on February 25.
Lifting of the restrictions was brought forward from February 28 due to declining rates of hospitalisation in NSW as the Omicron surge subsides.
Hadley said he will likely still wear a mask when going to the supermarket. ‘That’s a decision for you but you wont have to do it,’ he said
Face masks will be dropped in NSW from Friday, February 25, when they will only be needed on public transport, in airports, aged care and disability facilities, jails and at indoor music festivals with more than 1000 people
Density limits at indoor venues and working from home are other restrictions to be dropped in NSW
Hadley also agreed that QR code check-ins ‘probably had to go’ as few people were still using the Service NSW app.
Hadley had previously been highly critical of Mr Perrott’s decision to end the mask mandate and other Covid rules in mid-December.
In an interview with Mr Perrottet in January, Hadley claimed former premier Gladys Berejiklian had directly told him Mr Perrottet was part of ‘a team’ who pushed for most Covid restrictions to be dropped on December 15.
Mr Perrottet was subsequently forced to backflip on the decision when the Omicron variant spread rapidly in the state.
On December 22 Mr Perrottet announced the mandatory wearing of masks would be extended until the end of January.
Hadley said during the January 17 interview with Mr Perrottet that NSW had been the ‘blue chip’ of controlling the virus before Mr Perrottet took over as premier from Gladys Berejiklian.
Hadley agreed that QR code check-ins ‘probably had to go’ in NSW as few people were still using the Service NSW app
In the interview Mr Perrottet denied he was referring to people like Hadley when he said he would not ‘give in to the bedwetters’ by re-introducing Covid restrictions.
‘I don’t know where that’s come from, I haven’t made those comments in cabinet at all,’ Mr Perrottet responded.
‘It’s been reported directly to me that you’ve called people like me bedwetters,’ Hadley responded.
‘It’s no good denying it, I know you said it,’ he said.
On January 20 Hadley accused Mr Perrottet of ‘telling lies’ about the state’s health system after nurses protested outside Westmead Hospital over staffing shortages and overtime during the Omicron surge.
‘Stop telling lies or stop being misinformed … we are not coping,’ Hadley said, as he read out personal accounts from fatigued healthcare workers at Sydney Hospitals.
‘He’s either misinformed by the bureaucrats or he’s just plain lying, take your pick, one way or another he’s doing the wrong thing.’
‘He needs to talk to people at the front line,’ he said.
NSW announced 9,243 new Covid cases and 15 deaths on Friday, with 1,381 people in hospital and 92 people in ICU.
