'It's like Armageddon': Sydney mayor blows up about city's lockdown and says well-meaning residents are totally broken and fed-up with obeying the rules
- Cumberland mayor said some residents would 'not recover' from lockdown
- Steve Christou said his LGA already among poorest in NSW was being hit hard
- He said 19 months into Covid there should be more solutions than lockdown
A furious mayor in Sydney's west has let loose over the city's stifling lockdown saying his residents are completely fed-up and many will not recover.
Steve Christou, the mayor of Cumberland Council, said the announcement of another four weeks of lockdown on Wednesday was the 'point of no return' for his residents.
'For many, it's like Armageddon. This economically crippling lockdown will have effects for years,' he said in a statement.
A Covid testing facility at Auburn (pictured) in Cumberland LGA, one of the poorest areas in NSW
Cumberland Mayor Steve Christou (pictured) said his residents are struggling to get through Sydney's 'crippling' lockdown
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Wednesday stay-at-home orders would be extended for another month across Sydney and surrounding regions - with even harsher restrictions in place for eight specific local government areas in the west.
Residents of Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown Councils will from Thursday join those in Cumberland, Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, and Blacktown who cannot leave their LGA unless they are an essential worker.
Mr Christou said Cumberland - already one of the poorest areas in the state - was suffering the brunt of the restrictions.
Many residents have contacted him directly to say they are being ruined financially and the lockdown is 'wreaking havoc' on their mental health.
'Families are struggling to pay mortgages, rent, and put food on the table,' he said.
'They have struggled through the first four, five weeks of this only to be told they will be burdened with another four weeks.'
Residents in Auburn in the Cumberland local government line up at a vaccination facility
Mr Christou said families in his LGA are struggling to pay rent (pictured)
Construction will also remain suspended in the eight LGAs - with Mr Christou saying Cumberland's more than 10,000 tradies were being hit especially hard despite little evidence the construction industry was a source for spreading the virus.
He also took aim at state MPs he claimed were were 'tucked at home in their loungerooms and not doing the heavy lifting they've demanded of us'.
He added the government's vaccine rollout had also failed his constituents as the country has 'no resolution other than lockdown' 19 months after the virus first hit Australia.
After offering numerous 'well-staffed' community facilities to the state government with just the 'nurses and jabs' needed to turn them into vaccination centres, Mr Chrsitou said he had heard nothing back from authorities.
'Only this week NSW Health have setup five clinics in our area administering only 1,500 jabs between them. While I welcome them it's well short of what we need.'
NSW recorded 239 new local cases on Thursday, the highest number for the state since the pandemic began.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has raised expectations lockdowns will not be needed next year if all Australians are offered coronavirus vaccines.
The prime minister believes all people who want a jab will have the chance to receive one by year's end, barring unforeseen circumstances.
'I would expect by Christmas we will be seeing a very different Australia to what we're seeing now,' he told reporters in Canberra.
Around 17 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over have been fully vaccinated, leaving the nation well behind similar countries five months into the rollout.
But Mr Morrison is increasingly confident as vaccination administrations reach around one million doses a week.
The prime minister said immunisation offered governments more options despite his earlier warnings about countries with high vaccination rates recording major case numbers.
Eight LGA in Sydney's west are under tougher restrictions than other (pictured is Auburn)
'Lockdowns become a thing of the past when you're at that level.'
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said some people in the highest priority groups including aged and disability workers still hadn't been vaccinated.
'We're now 18 months into a pandemic. The government had two jobs to do - rolling out the vaccine and national quarantine,' he told Sky News.
'They've really fallen behind of both of those fundamental jobs.'
The federal government has announced coronavirus disaster support payments will be raised from $600 to $750 for people who lose more than 20 hour work because of lockdowns.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said construction will remain suspended in the eight LGAs
Welfare recipients, who had previously been excluded, can access $200 payments if they lose eight hours' work.
People who lose between eight and 20 hours will receive $450, up from $375 a week.
ACTU president Michele O'Neil said the government had been dragged kicking and screaming into increasing disaster payments.
'For many workers living in New South Wales who lost their livelihoods more than a month ago, it's come far too late,' she said.
Police talking to locals in Bankstown earlier this month after protests broke out in the area (pictured)
'It's also too late for workers in Victoria and South Australia affected by earlier lockdowns.'
While the expansion is designed to immediately help people in NSW, all Australians will be eligible for the new rates under future lockdowns.
But Victorian and South Australian residents who recently emerged from lockdowns were only able to access the lower rate.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the most senior Victorian in the federal government, said the increase was a result of Sydney and surrounds extending lockdown for a month.
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