Gladys Berejiklian Urged Ppl To ‘Tell The Truth’ Before Police Announced A Shit Tonne Of Fines

gladys berejiklian tell the truth police fines

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian‘s earnest plea to people to “tell the truth” to contact tracers followed by NSW Police announcing a shit tonne of fines they’ve issued in the last 24 hours is giving me whiplash.

Earlier today at this morning’s daily COVID press conference, NSW Health confirmed 50 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 today, 26 of which were infectious in the community. At least 13 of those total cases are under investigation, which prompted Berejiklian and NSW Chief Medical Officer Kerry Chant to call on people in NSW to tell the truth to contact tracers.

“Please tell the truth from the first minute rather than after repeated conversations, because otherwise, you put your closest family and friends at the greatest risk, and that is something we don’t want to see,” Berejiklian said.

“Can I please urge people to look inside themselves, to really dig deep into their own consciences and do the right thing, if not for yourself, think about your closest loved ones.”

“Think about the rest of us. If you truly care about the loved ones, those closest to you, you will refrain from doing anything which is outside the rules.”

But, in a weird turn of events, the Premier’s appeal to the public was then followed by an announcement by NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys that police have issued 167 personal infringement notices to people who have breached stay-at-home orders in the last 24 hours.

Now, IDK about you, but earnestly urging people to be honest with authorities shortly before detailing the punishments for people who’ve done the wrong thing and have allegedly come forward seems like maybe not the best idea?

Maybe, instead of encouraging people to come forward, having these two moments play after one another will actually make people feel more anxious about telling the truth and be less likely to come forward?

Idk, it’s just a thought but one that several people on Twitter seem to have, too.

In one tweet, Change.org Executive Director Sally Rugg wrote: “Insane watching Dr. Chant say, ‘all humans make bad decisions sometimes,’ desperately urging people in NSW to tell contact tracers the truth ‘the first time!’, only to be followed by [a] Police Commissioner listing all the fines cops handed out to people breaking rules.”

In another, The Guardian‘s Gabrielle Jackson wrote: “This makes no sense. An impassioned plea from the chief health officer to tell the truth followed by a police officer announcing fines.”

Yesterday, Premier Berejiklian announced a new set of stricter restrictions were in place in Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Wollongong from 5PM last night. We heard all of your pressing questions and asked NSW Health about them here.

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