The federal government has rejected the idea there is a “double standard” in the heavy police presence around southwest Sydney to ensure residents comply with lockdown restrictions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton both defended the police operation on Friday morning amid criticism the residents in the largely multicultural neighbourhoods were being treated differently to the way residents in more affluent Sydney suburbs of Bondi or Avalon had been.
At least 100 extra police officers have been deployed to southwest Sydney to ensure compliance with COVID-19 health orders.
The police response includes additional general duties officers as well as mounted police, the dog squad and PolAir surveillance.
The mayor of Fairfield, Frank Carbone, said he felt his area was being unfairly targeted.
“It's a misunderstanding of the communities out here, Western Sydney. We are not the wild west, we are the working west,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.
Mr Morrison said it would be unfair to suggest police were targeting specific residents.
“I think it would be an unfair conclusion to draw on the behalf of the police to suggest anything other than them just trying to do their job and respond to the situation as it is emerging,” he told Nine.
Mr Dutton also denied there was a double standard being applied to residents of different regions.
“There is just no double standard. There is an enforcement of the law,” he told Nine.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also batted away suggestions people in Sydney’s southwest were being treated differently.
"I don't want anyone to feel like that," she told reporters on Friday. "But what you should feel is if you are not doing the right thing, please know that we will have to have the law come down on you, because the simple fact is, people doing the wrong thing means that all of us suffer."
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon has described the police operation as a "very balanced, very fair and very measured approach".
An empty plaza is seen in the southwestern suburb of Liverpool in Sydney on Friday, 9 July, 2021. Source: AAP
He said previous outbreaks in other areas also prompted a heavier police presence.
"The fact we've doubled up in southwest Sydney is a reflection of the serious nature of the spread of this virus at the moment ... this is the time for the police and the community to come together," he told Nine on Friday.
"This is not about discrimination. This is not about racism. This is about enforcing the health order and we will do that fairly."
The crackdown comes after Ms Berejiklian hinted this week the Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool council areas could soon be subject to special COVID-19 restrictions.
The move was criticised after it was announced.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said there was no logical for “targeting Sydney’s black and brown communities”.
Democracy in Colour head Neha Madhok said it was "thinly-veiled racism" that targeted people of colour and working-class communities.
Southwest Sydney community leaders have flagged language differences are making it harder for some residents to know what the most recent health advice is.
Ms Berejiklian said the NSW government was doing “multiple things” in “all communities” to make sure that people understand the rules.
“Whether it is elderly communities who have had specific messaging … or people whose second language is English, there are lots of different parts of the community that we have specifically targeted messages to. I don't want anybody, anywhere in New South Wales, to feel that they are being somehow singled out,” she said.
after announcing a tightening of restrictions across Greater Sydney.
Since 5pm Friday, residents have been banned from exercising more than 10 kilometres from their home, and only in groups of two people or with their household.
Funerals in these areas are also capped at 10 people. Browsing at shops is prohibited, and only one person per household may leave the home for shopping each day.
Ms Berejikilian said all residents across Greater Sydney are now "in the same situation".
“If there is one message I want people to take out of today, do not leave your home unless you absolutely have to do. That is the bottom line,” she said.
SBS has coronavirus news and information available in 63 languages at .
With AAP.
