We are not the virus Two-tier COVID-19 Delta lockdowns divide Sydney

"It's like a shock for them as they believed they arrived in a free country and they say, 'we face same what we face in our (home) country'," she said.

"Some of them told me, 'we are not the virus'."

New South Wales Police declined a request for comment, although it has said publicly the 300 defence force personnel helping with "compliance checks" are trained in community engagement and unarmed.

Tim Soutphommasane, a former federal race discrimination commissioner, called western Sydney "the heartland of multicultural Australia".

"If we don't get this right, we will undermine the social fabric of this city for years to come," he said in an email.

BUSINESS BUST

The tougher lockdowns have also dealt an economic blow the federal government - facing its weakest polling in years and with elections due by early 2022 - has said may contribute to a second recession in two years.

The west, where three-quarters of residents in some suburbs are overseas-born, contributes about 7 per cent to the A$1.6 trillion (US$1.2 trillion) national economy, with major logistics and manufacturing hubs there, according to Business Western Sydney (BWS), an industry association.

Before the lockdowns, three-quarters of the area's 1 million workers left their neighbourhoods daily to go to jobs.

"These workers have gone from earning a wage to, for many of them, lining up for welfare for the first time in their lives," said BWS Executive Director David Borger.

The state government has said it would let the 80,000 construction workers from the west return to job sites once fully vaccinated, but with supply shortages and changing advice about vaccines for people under 40, less than a sixth of young Australians have had both shots, government figures show.

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