NSW Premier refuses to admit she broke her own rules by not isolating after COVID-19 test
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has refused to admit she breached her own rules by not going into quarantine while awaiting her coronavirus test results.
The premier maintains she started to lose her voice and took a COVID-19 test "out of precaution" even though she had "no other symptoms".
"My voice was starting to go, I had no sore throat, no scratchy throat, no other symptoms but I thought, in an abundance of caution, I should take the test, I was told the test would come in between 90 minutes and two hours and I didn't change my schedule," Ms Berejiklian told Today host Karl Stefanovic.
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stopped short of admitting to breaking her own rules by not properly isolating after getting a COVID-19 test. Nine/Today
The premier has come under fire for not properly isolating inside her office at NSW Parliament while she was awaiting her results, which came back negative.
Ms Berejiklian doubled down when pressed on the matter by Stefanovic.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with you saying, 'you know what? The rules where there I got on with it, I broke them, I'm very sorry,'" Stefanovic said.
Karl Stefanovic pressed the state premier on the failure to self-isolate. Today
The premier insisted she thought she was "doing the right thing."
"In hindsight I should have closed my door and not had anything to do with anybody, but I didn't because it all happened so fast and it was Budget day," Ms Berejiklian said.
"I thought I was doing the right thing because I was being overly cautious.
"In hindsight I should have shut my door and not had contact with anyone for 90 minutes but I didn't do that, I just acted normal."
She admitted to having contact with numerous people in the time when she was potentially infectious.
"I would have definitely been in contact with people during that time, I'm being overly honest."
She blamed her loss of voice for "talking too much, which is part of my profession".
Meantime, Ms Berejiklian confirmed NSW had recorded no new cases of community transmission today for the 17th consecutive day.
She also welcomed the potential reopening of Queensland's border with NSW, saying she'd be "absolutely thrilled" if the hard closure came to an end.
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