Premier Gladys Berejiklian throughout the outbreak has repeatedly said all decisions were based on “health advice”,including the decision to enter a second lockdown and to close construction sites.
However,Dr Chant and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard both confirmed on Monday it was ultimately the government’s decision to introduce critical measures such as forcing more than a quarter of a million construction workers to down tools until July 30.
“Our objectives of decreasing workplace attendances,decreasing the opportunity for interactions,is what we need to achieve. The matter for how that is done is really a matter for broader government,” Dr Chant said.
“Clearly we’re not the experts in logistic chains and other things and so we need that whole of government approach to determine what things are critical,what things are not.”
Dr Chant said that,while health authorities could define public health objectives,it was a “matter for how the whole of government puts input into it”.
Ms Berejiklian announced on Saturday that construction would be paused for two weeks effective from Monday,in a move that goes further than any previous lockdowns anywhere in Australia.