Greater Sydney communities feeling ‘pain’ through lockdown

Mental health advocate Pete Shmigel says “pain” is being felt across communities within Greater Sydney during lockdown. “What is happening in the community is pain, real pain,” Mr Shmigel told Sky News host Chris Kenny. Mr Shmigel said Lifeline calls on Monday hit an “all-time high” with a 50 per cent increase in emergency department admissions amongst young Australians aged between 12 and 17 years. “2019 to 2021 everything is up, exponentially up," he said. “I really wonder about the logic of policies that are inflicting this amount of pain in the community and I’m starting to even worry whether or not they are cruel.”