Don't risk it: Adam Marshall says parliament must be put on hold until after COVID-19 crisis

The member for Northern Tablelands, and state Agriculture Minister, is the first MP to call for the NSW parliament to be put on hold as a result of the latest outbreak.

"I'm certainly not going to set one foot back in Sydney until there are absolutely no cases and no cases for at least a week," Mr Marshall told the Leader.

"And I would have imagine that would be the attitude of all my colleagues, country MPs.

"Because it's not just about protecting your own health, it's about protecting our own communities, because when you go down for parliament you've got to inevitably come home, don't you?"

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Mr Marshall contracted the Delta strain of the virus at a Sydney restaurant during parliament's last sitting week in June.

He spent 19 days in hotel quarantine in the state's capital before returning to his electorate.

NSW Parliament next sits in a fortnight, on August 3.

The MP said it isn't worth the risk of a parliamentary outbreak a second time, and that all but emergency COVID-related legislation should be put off, with anything that does need to be urgently legislated rapidly passed on a bipartisan basis by a parliament of Sydneysiders.

"Despite me getting COVID, myself and the parliament dodged a massive bullet last time parliament sat. I didn't infect anyone else in the parliament, but if it was 12 hours after, everyone probably would have got it in the building," he said.

"That's something I'm not prepared to risk again. Got lucky once, I don't think that luck happens twice."

The standing orders of the house don't allow NSW parliament to hold a sitting over Zoom.

Commonwealth and state parliaments closed for months last year during the first COVD-19 lockdowns.

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