NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says bureaucrats are "emotionally drained" from making life-or-death decisions each day, as he defended his state's strict border closure with Victoria.
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The Liberal minister also defended Victorian Labor Premier Dan Andrews, after a cabal of federal cabinet ministers broke ranks to criticise him in recent days.
State and territory leaders are under increasing pressure over border closures, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying "zero per cent [community transmission] is not a threshold for how borders should be managed".
"Australia wasn't built to have internal borders. The federation was not built to be run that way," Mr Morrison said.
"Australians need to be confident this is a last resort, that all other measures have been pursued before those restrictions come into place because borders do cost, they cost people's livelihoods, they cost people's jobs.
"We do not enter into having those borders lightly, nor should you, and you should be seeking ... all opportunities to seek to be in a position to lift them wherever you can."
Victorian MP Helen Haines accused the NSW government of taking too long to process compassionate exemptions.
"One constituent wrote to me yesterday to say his mother died before his compassionate exemption was agreed to," she said.
NSW Border Commissioner James McTavish said there were a number of compassionate approvals sitting with the Ministry of Health and the minister's office and "they'll go through a process internally to consider those.
Mr Hazzard told The Canberra Times he had only dealt with a minuscule number of exemption applications personally, with most handled by NSW Health.
Asked whether the system was working as intended, Mr Hazzard admitted it was a challenge.
"The current staff in NSW Health are working seven days a week - literally seven days a week - considering each application that comes in," he said.
"It's a challenge because many of those are very genuine and some of them are not, and the challenge is, we've recently seen some evidence in the media of what people will do to cross borders and what they'll say when they're wanting to cross a border."
Mr Hazzard said his staff were exhausted from making daily decisions that weighed up the risk to the community versus the needs of individuals.
"Obviously they don't want to get it wrong because NSW and the ACT have been doing a good job to date," he said.
"Obviously we've had our challenges but generally NSW and ACT residents have been kept as safe as is humanly possible in a one-in-100 year pandemic.
"The staff who are making decisions on these applications are I think quite concerned, extremely concerned, emotionally drained having to make decisions day after day that may actually not be the right decision and which could lead to the reintroduction of more of the virus into the ACT or NSW."
That pressure had weighed heavily on Mr Hazzard as well.
"It's just a virus that is very, very determined to get each and every one of us if we're not cautious and that obviously weighs on my mind as health minister," Mr Hazzard said.
"I know that same pressure, agony has impacted on every single leadership decision in every state and territory right across the country.
"I regularly deal with Labor and Liberal health ministers across the country and they have all been very, very committed to making the correct decisions - but of course you always wonder, is it the correct decision in a one-in-100-year pandemic?
"We don't know, not one single government has a crystal ball. I wish we did and we all know that whatever decision we make, if we get it wrong, there are going to be a lot of people pointing that out to us."
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His comments came as Liberal senator Zed Seselja became the latest Coalition politician to stick the boot into the Victorian government, accusing federal Labor of running a "protection racket" for Premier Dan Andrews.
Senator Seselja also accused Mr Andrews of acting "like a dictator".
"He had the toughest lockdowns and the biggest failings and the people of Victoria are suffering the consequences," Senator Seselja said.
It followed a jibe from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday that the Victorian government had "a lot of questions to answer".
However Mr Hazzard did not share the same sentiments.
"There's been a lot of argy bargy and blame, it seems to me the blame game is the most popular game in Australia at the moment," Mr Hazzard said.
"I certainly don't cast any blame on any government around the country, including the Victorian government because it's been a massive struggle to defeat what is a very determined enemy, a very determined enemy."