Coronavirus restrictions to remain in place for at least next four weeks: PM
Baseline coronavirus restrictions will remain in place for at least the next four weeks as the government works to improve testing, tracing and response times.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia had made real progress over the past month in getting the virus under control but these three measures had to be in place before it could move to an environment with fewer restrictions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned Australians to prepare for some "very sobering" economic news in the months head. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"A positive thing to say is we have often found ourselves, as we have now, in a better place ahead of
time, and if we are able to achieve that well and good but we want to be very clear with Australians, baseline restrictions we have in place at the moment there are no plans to change those for the next four weeks," he said after a meeting of the national cabinet on Thursday.
Mr Morrison noted that some states had imposed restrictions that others hadn't and said they would make their own decisions about whether to change any of those over the next few weeks.
Mr Morrison also warned Australians to prepare for some "very sobering" economic news in the months head and flagged a "different world" on the other side of the virus.
"To make sure we can achieve growth that will be necessary for our economy to get people back into work, economy back on track, it will be a different world on the other side of the virus and there will be many challenges," he said.
Mr Morrison noted the modest rise in the March unemployment rate to 5.2 per cent was largely based on a period before tough restrictions were put in place across the economy, saying while it was welcome "we know that is the best figure we will see for some time".
"That is a figure we can note but it is not one we could expect to be held going forward, and in saying that we do need to prepare ourselves as a country for some very sobering news on the economic front in months ahead," he said.
On the health front, Australia remained in the "suppression" phase of the virus and was doing "relatively very well" especially over countries that are using even more extreme forms of lockdown. But he cautioned against overstating that success.
Mr Morrison also said he would be talking to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese about having a trial week of Parliament in May, returning to normal business, with the hope of establishing a "workable" pattern beyond that.
No sitting weeks had been scheduled until August in a revised schedule made once coronavirus spread through Australia. A reduced number of federal politicians returned for a special sitting day last week to pass the $130 billion JobKeeper legislation.
"We want to send the very clear message that we are well ahead of where we thought we might be at this point," he said.
More to come