As people all over NSW woke to a whole heap of new freedoms, the good news kept on coming on the morning of October 11. For the first time since Aug 14, NSW recorded less than 500 cases in a 24-hour reporting period, between 8pm on October 8 and 8pm on October 9, with just 467 cases recorded in the state. However, premier Dominic Perrottet has warned that the decline in numbers is unlikely to last now lockdown measures have begun to lift.
At the premier’s press conference on the morning of October 11, the messaging was squarely focused on the state's economic recovery. Hosted at Watson’s, the newly refurbished pub in the Entertainment Quarter which was opening its doors for the first time, Perrottet encouraged Sydneysiders to embrace the opportunity of returning to pubs, bars and restaurants, which was seconded by deputy premier Paul Toole, who dubbed the first pints poured on October 11 as “the freedom frothy”.
Although the term is seen by some as double-edged, with concerns that it can promote complacency during a period where there is still a significant risk of spread in the community, Perrottet nonetheless declared October 11 as “freedom day,” saying, “I see it as a day of freedom. It is freedom day. Businesses are opening up. But that means it needs to be done in a measured and safe way. Let’s not get caught up in semantics about how we want to classify the day. What is most important is for the first time in a long time, people are getting the opportunity to go back to work.”
Perrottet said that he was committed to reopening the state not just to the rest of Australia, but to the international community as well. “We cannot remain a hermit kingdom. We need to rejoin the rest of the global,” he said.