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NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian voted in parliament while awaiting Covid test result

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, entered the parliamentary chamber for a vote while waiting for a Covid-19 test, it has been revealed.

Berejiklian told 2GB radio on Tuesday afternoon she received a Covid test around 4pm last Tuesday 17 November and received the result, which was negative, “just after six or thereabouts”.

The premier was present in the NSW lower house chamber for a division about 5.40pm, parliamentary records show.

Channel Seven broadcast footage from parliament on Tuesday night showing the premier bumping elbows with colleagues, “not knowing if she was Covid-clear”, as she entered the chamber to vote on 17 November.

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NSW Health guidelines state that anyone who has received a Covid-19 test must “go straight home” and self-isolate until they receive their test results. The failure to self-isolate is only punishable by law among positive cases and confirmed close contacts.

Earlier on Tuesday, Berejiklian had admitted she had failed to self-isolate, but she had not explained when she received her test result.

The lack of clarity prompted the Labor opposition to demand the premier reveal when she got the results back.

“Did she have the results before that division or did she walk into that parliament, with 90-plus MPs, not knowing the result of that test,” the Labor leader, Jodi McKay, said earlier on Tuesday.

Berejiklian’s statement to 2GB that she had received her test result after 6pm confirmed she was not aware of her Covid-19 status when she entered the parliamentary chamber about 5.40pm last Tuesday.

The premier’s office confirmed to Guardian Australia her comments to 2GB were correct.

While she did not tell 2GB she’d voted in parliament while waiting for her result, Berejiklian noted unprompted that the voting system in the chamber was now “different” due to Covid-19 and that when MPs voted they “have to be socially distant”.

“We don’t have seats when you’re voting, you just walk straight through, so that if someone does have the virus it doesn’t get passed on to anyone,” she said.

“We’re careful with all those things … I’m always really careful, I’m overly careful.

“Ironically, I thought I was being overly careful when I took the test, but I should have just gone that step and just completely sat in my office until the results came a couple of hours later.”

She said she regretted failing to self-isolate, adding: “I’ve got to cop that and I deserve it, and I appreciate why people would raise issues about that.”

When it was revealed Berejiklian had voted in parliament before receiving her result, McKay said in a tweet on Tuesday night: “To all workers who’ve taken days off work to wait for test results – thank you. To all businesses who’ve given their employees time off work to wait for test results – thank you. To the premier – who had meetings and voted in parliament with 90 MPs – shame on you.”

McKay had said earlier that Berejiklian’s explanation was unacceptable.

“She has tried to worm her way out of it but it’s black and white – the premier should have self-isolated,” McKay said.

“The premier shouldn’t even have gone to work that morning.”

Berejiklian told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday morning said she had undergone a test “in an abundance of caution” because she was losing her voice, but she “didn’t have any symptoms, no scratchy throat”.

She said that “perhaps in hindsight” she should have “closed my door and not seen anybody for that 90 minutes to two hours, but I didn’t”.