The latest government edicts by New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian are proof that one can lose all the good faith and political capital accrued over the last 16 months, by going a step too far. 

True believers have now lost hope thanks to the call to extend the Greater Sydney lockdown.  

And if the rumours are correct, that this could extend till well into August, then Gladys Berejiklian may as well brace for protests. 

Those in regional areas, think Kingscliff or Tamworth, are slapped with a mask mandate and are limited to five visitors to their home at any one time but multiple visits are allowed. Who dreams this stuff up? 

Where is the public health evidence which proves that unlimited groups of five arriving at your home is the balm that washes away coronavirus? 

The answer, there isn’t any.  

People in regional communities are suffering mentally and economically from restrictions but there has been no coronavirus risk. Well may we ask where is the National Party? Speak up for your people! 

And can we stop Dr Kerry Chant channelling her inner school principal? At the weekend she said, “We know everyone is human and makes poor decisions.” Does this patronising comment apply to her public health orders which are upending lives?  

When asked last Friday whether we will see lockdowns in Greater Sydney end anytime soon, the Premier answered not until the cases were at zero or near zero levels.  

Is this a joke? You cannot eliminate a virus. The NSW Premier is on the record telling us we must learn to live with it. 

Why has she now changed her tune? 

Endless lockdowns now beckon so long as there are three, five, or nine daily positive cases. What’s the number? What is the end game?  

When will government stop obsessing over the “cases” of one disease?  

But here is the rub. The Premier is on a salary of over $400,000 and is spinning this theme that all of us are “in it together”, claiming she understands the financial hardship NSW citizens are experiencing due to her lockdowns. Please! 

Politicians have not, during the last 16 months, surrendered a single dollar and nor have the public servants. 

The working-from-home class have never had it better while tradespeople, retail and hospitality workers, have gone without pay. 

The Delta variant is not the “game changer” the Premier claims it is. Yes, it is a highly contagious strain but a world authority such as Baylor University’s Dr Peter McCullough from Texas, the most highly cited physician on the early treatment of COVID-19, has reminded us regularly that the Delta strain is far weaker. 

This lockdown stems from an unvaccinated, unmasked limo driver who slipped through Brad Hazzard’s Covid rules.  

In the world of ministerial accountability, he would be gone. 

Let’s suspend all political and public servants’ salaries until this lockdown ends. See how they would manage then. 

One thing is certain which seems to escape those who call these daily scare conferences. The public is at breaking point.