Barr says Prime Minister's Sydney trip 'not a particularly good look' as Chief Health Officer defends ACT exemption system
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says Prime Minister Scott Morrison is "ultimately accountable to the Australian community" over his decision to travel to Sydney over the Father's Day weekend.
Mr Morrison took a RAAF VIP jet to Sydney on Friday and spent the weekend in his home city before returning to Canberra yesterday.
As an essential worker, Mr Morrison received approval from ACT Health to return to the capital, without having to spend two weeks in quarantine, subject to conditions such as regular COVID-19 testing.
Despite the exemption, Mr Morrison has been criticised by parliamentarians and by members of the public for the trip, because both the ACT and NSW are in lockdown.
Federal Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said this morning that Mr Morrison had shown "appalling judgement", while NSW South Coast resident Clare Hooper described her anger at learning Mr Morrison had been able to see his family when she was denied permission to travel for her mother's funeral.
Mr Morrison this afternoon defended his travel, arguing criticism of the trip was nothing more than a "cheap shot", and saying he did not need an exemption to return to his home in Sydney, only to travel to Canberra — which he was granted.
The Prime Minister also insisted he had not tried to mislead the public by posting an older photo of his family on Instagram to mark Father's Day, when he was in fact in Sydney.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-07/act-barr-says-morrison-fathers-day-trip-sydney-not-a-good-look/100440528
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