We are battling a new wave of the Delta variant, as to why these measures are being brought in now it's because of two reasons:

1) NSW vaccination rates are very low. As of today only 19.6% of citizens are fully vaccinated and 37.4% are partially vaccinated. This is in part because our PM didn't secure a large enough supply of the Pfizer vaccine, and the government then sent very mixed messages about Astra Zeneca vaccine that led to a lot of people waiting for more pfizer doses.

2) The NSW government failed to take strong enough steps early in the delta outbreak to prevent this long protracted lockdown. Instead of going through a short sharp few weeks of lockdown, we are now in the 6th week of lockdown and cases have continued to rise. It seems likely at this point until we will remain in lockdown until the 80% vaccination rate is reached in late november.

TL:DR, both Federal and State governments made poor decisions, and now they're rushing to stem the outbreak as it continues to worsen in the face of their half measures.

The Australian federal government didn't order enough vaccines or a wide variety. They were overly dependent on locally manufactured AZ then their health advisory group recommended most of the population not take AZ. And the only other vaccine they had approved was Pfizer and they didn't order enough.

Most of the states have kept covid cases hovering around zero so vaccination availability hasn't been a huge issue. Fortress Australia could hold out for years if needed. Until the NSW state government unilaterally decided not to take an outbreak seriously.

The Government acted reasonable well and was lucky (discounting Victoria) early in the pandemic which led to the government/public/business getting complacent.

Now that the circulating strain is more virulent and such a low percentage of the population is unvaccinated Australia is now in a more perilous position than it was than last year.

Yes there's a surge, the Delta strain at that. Not many are vaccinated because our federal govt. messed up securing enough vaccines, and so there isn't enough for everybody. You know how to pull some strings if you really want the vaccine and aren't within the groups they are curreny allowing to get the vaccine. The Pfizer vs Astrazenica debate is basically still ongoing in the general public as well.

I've noticed a rise of people unashamedly being anti-mask. I've also noticed an uptick of people pushing that vaccines aren't the solution/too risky/too early.

Australia has a lower vaccination rate than most other western countries, having ordered fewer vaccines early.

Australia is experiencing a surge of cases, yes.

yes cases are surging and vaccination rate in Australia is low but even with higher rates the country wouldn't be as laissez-faire, Australia has a markedly lower tolerance for the disease. Successfully one might add given that the country has only registered 900 deaths during the entire pandemic.

Yes but it is more about exerting control over the population because that is how career politicians maintain their legitimacy

What do you mean yes. In what way are “most people” in Australia or even Sydney vaccinated now?

I'm saying yes to "is there a spike in cases", which is true that there is, and I suspect it is because the data is showing the vaccine is not very effective against the delta variant.

You mean the vaccine that ~half the population haven’t had any shots of yet?

Funny how it’s not effective when you haven’t had it.

Why is it that in other countries most of the people in the hospital have already been vaccinated?

"In other countries"..

You're gonna have to be more specific than that chief.

Which countries? Which vaccine(s) did they use? What's the efficacy of those vaccines? How many doses have the patients been given?

You know.. some actual information about the topic.

While I don't know the specifics for Australia because I am not Australian, I can say that I've seen news articles that say "unnamed Biden officials have said the Axios report is a wake up call, because the Pfizer vaccine efficacy rate against the delta virus is 42%" in a population of 35,000 individuals, many of whom are over 60.

While the vaccine may prevent the severity of the illness, it is having a hard time preventing the spread of the illness.