Easing restrictions in Victoria in a COVIDsafe way is vitally important so that more Victorians can get back to work and resume their normal lives.
Today’s announcement is a small but further important step in that direction. The removal of the curfew, the ability of sole traders to operate garden maintenance and related services and the improvements in supermarket capacity and manufacturing are all welcome.
It will be important that more be done in the weeks ahead to safely ease more restrictions.
We note that at similar case levels NSW was fundamentally open while remaining Covidsafe due to a world class contact tracing facility.
As many epidemiologists have encouraged, we would support Victoria in reviewing the trigger of five and zero cases with regards to the third and last steps.
As it stands this lockdown is already longer than that faced by residents in many cities around the world. We remain deeply concerned about the mental health impacts of a prolonged lock down on Melbourne residents.
The Morrison Government has already delivered more than $27 billion in economic support to Victorians during this crisis and we have extended JobKeeper for another six months which is estimated to see an additional $16.8 billion be paid to Victorians in the December and March quarters.
The Government will continue to support Victorians during these challenging times.