Adam Marshall tests positive, Brad Hazzard in isolation after being identified as Covid close contact
Brad Hazzard #BradHazzard
The NSW Parliament has been thrown into chaos after Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall attended a budget speech and a dinner with other MPs while he was unknowingly infected with the coronavirus.
There are fears the Tuesday night dinner hosted by the NSW National Party at Parliament House to celebrate the state budget could have acted as a “superspreader event” even though there have been no other confirmed infections among attendees as of Thursday morning.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard was told by his own department to self-isolate because he is a possible close contact, and Deputy Premier John Barilaro has voluntarily gone into isolation because he was in the same room with Mr Marshall while he was potentially infectious.
Mr Marshall said it was likely he picked up the virus at a dinner at Christo’s Pizzeria in Sydney’s Paddington neighbourhood on Monday night.
The eatery has been added to NSW’s exposure site list as a close contact venue, and anyone who was there between 5.55pm and 8.30pm should immediately call NSW Health, get tested for coronavirus, and self-isolate for two weeks regardless of the result.
He joined the rest of the cabinet and the vast majority of all MPs at the Treasurer’s budget speech the following day, sitting in the front bench for about half an hour.
Many cabinet ministers and MPs also attended the Nationals dinner held at Parliament House on Tuesday evening.
A Nationals source described the situation in parliament as “uncharted territory”, as politicians brace for the possibility the highly contagious virus could have spread further among their ranks.
Mr Marshall was joined at the Monday night pizza dinner by three other Nationals MPs – Trevor Khan, Steph Cooke and Ben Franklin – who were also forced into isolation.
Mr Marshall confirmed he had been formally advised by NSW Health “just after 8am” on Thursday.
“I have been in isolation in Sydney since late Tuesday night, when I received a text message from NSW Health advising of my attendance at a close contact venue on Monday evening, and the need to present for testing,” he said in a statement.
“To everyone who has contacted me this morning, thank you for your thoughts and well wishes – I’m doing fine and will continue to strictly follow the advice of health authorities.
“To our wonderful NSW Health staff, who continue to do an amazing job in these challenging times, thank you for your support and efforts keeping all of us safe and well.”
It comes as the state reported 11 new local coronavirus infections on Thursday.
Brad Hazzard told ABC Breakfast he had woken on Thursday morning to a message from NSW Health that a case had been detected as a “likely positive” and that he was a “possible close contact”.
He believes the suspected positive case is someone who works in the NSW parliament, but that the “majority of people” will be either no contact of casual contacts.
“That’s still being worked through,” he told the program.
“And Health has asked me to obviously be cautious until they are able to give me further advice,” he said.
“I think it’s a message to everybody. If the NSW Health Minister can get a text message during the night and wakes up to that, then obviously we all have a serious issue at the moment with the Delta virus.”
The confirmation the coronavirus may have been spreading inside Parliament House has thrown the place into chaos, with meetings being held on Thursday morning to decide how to proceed with business.
The opposition and crossbench in the upper house are likely to rubberstamp some essential parts of Tuesday’s state budget, sending only a skeleton crew of MPs into the chamber to vote so as to minimise the risk.
“We’re setting up systems to minimise the possibility of spreading the infection,” upper house Opposition Leader Penny Sharpe said.
The parts of the budget that would have otherwise been the subject of amendments, such as increased funding for the Independent Commission Against Corruption, will be dealt with when the chamber next sits in August.
“There’s a general agreement everyone is going to limit the numbers in the chamber to a bare minimum,” Greens MP David Shoebridge said.
Mr Hazzard said he was not suffering any symptoms, but that the likely case was someone he had come into contact with at Parliament House.
“I believe that was after an interview that occurred with a person who may be positive,” he said.
“I’m not talking about a journalist. I’m talking about somebody who works for NSW parliament who may be a positive case.
“They’re working through those issues … They’ve got to ascertain and confirm with the usual scientific requirements that the case is actually a positive case.”
In an interview on Today later that morning, Mr Hazzard said other MPs could be affected.
“I think that is likely … But, I would imagine that the majority of people will be casual contacts or perhaps no contact at all. It is a big place,” he told Today.
“I think the Premier is fairly safe.”
Mr Hazzard also said he “doesn’t believe” Sydney will go into lockdown.
“The health advice is that the new orders that came into play yesterday afternoon are proportionate to our risk,” he told ABC.
“But people do need to be extremely cautious.
“Our community have been fantastic here. They have responded each time to each of the messages.”