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A new report by the Catholic University of Australia claims that the COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney was unequal and unfairly “targeted” blue-collar and immigrant communities.
Report (pdf) used data modeling to claim the New South Wales (NSW) government’s biggest contributor to COVID during the coronavirus delta wave in Australia (June 21 to October 24, 2021) We found that said-community infection rate was the percentage of residents working in blue-collar occupations.
Specifically, a high proportion of residents are employed as engineers, tradesmen, machine operators, drivers, and laborers, followed by foreign-born workers who primarily speak a language other than English at home. Increased number of COVID-19 cases in areas with high rates.
The NSW Government has used this model as a reason for the ‘punitive approach’ it has taken to lock down Sydney’s 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs), targeting them with tougher restrictions and criticizing public reactions to restrictions. It is alleged that he showed little sympathy for .
These LGAs included Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbeltown, Canterbury Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Strathfield, and several suburbs of the Penrith LGA. rice field. All of these areas had high percentages of residents working in these occupations or being immigrants, according to the report.
“Residents of these LGA suburbs faced tougher stay-at-home orders, curfews, and more overt enforcement by government and police officials,” the report’s authors said.
The lockdown has prompted the state government to significantly expand the number of police in the LGA, mobilizing around 300 Australian Defense Force (ADF) personnel to enforce the stay-at-home order. This prompted police and the military to roam the streets of Western Sydney in July and August 2021, knocking on doors and inspecting residents’ homes for any violations of lockdown rules.
Additionally, residents of these areas have been permitted by state governments to leave LGA to work only if they have a rapid antigen test (RAT) kit at work or have received their first injection of the COVID-19 vaccine. I was told it would. End of August 2021.
Western Sydney residents felt targeted by lockdown
Interviews with LGA residents found that they felt targeted by the government. One of her residents, named Lydia, of Canterbury-Bankstown LGA, tells the author that the experience has been extremely stressful.
“[It] It was stressful…so many people [said] ‘police [will] Get out and be careful.” [police] helicopter. [They] We were flying around at night … making sure no one was on the street,” she said.
Another Blacktown resident named Michael, who worked in manufacturing, said he felt targeted by harsh government restrictions.
“They targeted us. I’m not happy at all. Why? [Western Sydney] different from others [places in Sydney], especially the eastern suburbs? People can go out there.if they [had] Locked down the eastern suburbs from the start [in June 2021]that [would not have] spread over western Sydney. [It’s] mistreated… [have] full lockdown [for the whole city]?” He said.
On the other hand, some feel that the lockdown was racially motivated.
“[This] The Canterbury and Bankstown LGAs are one of the problems referred to as ‘plague centers’. I thought that was really, really unfair…Sydney City Council, [the] Eastern suburbs…why aren’t they as well?and to listen [in the media] Chief Health Officer Suggests Lockdown [all of] It was Sydney, but the government decided ‘no, it was just these’. That was a little too blatant…there are no two ways about it. He was racist,” Lydia said in an interview.
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Victoria Kelly-Clark is an Australia-based reporter focusing on the national politics and geopolitical environment in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Central Asia.
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