Consumer stress rising in lockdown, NAB boss Ross McEwan tells vaccine rollout now critical to confidence and freedom

Australians are becoming more financially and mentally distressed with half the population locked down at home and worried about their futures. 

As the restrictions drag on, the National Australia Bank's consumer stress index out this morning shows households are anxious about paying their mortgage, funding retirement nest eggs while those on lower incomes are struggling just to pay the rent. 

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan tells ABC's Peter Ryan that a faster vaccination rollout is the only way to avoid more economically damaging lockdowns.