MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster has written to Premier Daniel Andrews, asking him to overturn his decision to lockdown Sunraysia and Victoria’s regions, labelling the move “unjustifiable”.
Dr Webster said she had the backing of many of the Mallee’s mayors, with the significant detrimental impact on local economies, education and residents’ mental health.
“The policy settings need to have some long-term strategic perspectives so we need a measured approach rather than doing a blanket ban lockdown of regional Victoria,” she said.
“We’ve had a targeted approach to Colac and Melbourne, which is in Stage 4 lockdown.
“I absolutely take seriously the health threats of COVID-19 for our communities, therefore if we’re going to be living with COVID-19 in the long-term, we need to have an ability to lockdown areas which are affected.”
Given the low case numbers and zero community transitions in the Mallee, Dr Webster said the decision to go into lockdown, which would further isolate communities and potentially decimate the food bowl of Victoria, was unfounded.
“Mallee is nearly a third of the state of Victoria and in Mallee we’ve had 16 cases which are all tested, traced and isolated.
“There is no community outbreak anywhere and for 16 cases to cause Stage 3 lockdown where businesses will close, where the economy is going to be significantly threatened, where school kids are not going to be going back to school, is unjustifiable in my view.
“Mallee is the food bowl of Victoria, we cannot afford to have food not grown, to have food not being able to be processed, meat works not to be able to function and deliver their meats.
“It’s not unreasonable to seek evidence for the basis of this decision. There should be medical data and evidence that has advised the premier to make this decision and for (Victoria’s chief health officer) Professor Brett Sutton to make this decision.”
Dr Webster said given communities would likely be living with the threat of COVID-19 until a vaccine is created, there needed to be a reasonable and sustainable approach not a “one size fits all” mentality.
“We understand that people are anxious, that there’s a great sense of unknown about how long this will go for, therefore need sensible policy settings which allow regional communities to be able to get on with their lives.
“Victoria is being spoken about as though we’re all Melbourne, we’re not Melbourne.
“The policy setting needs to be respectful of the work that is being done in regional Victoria and the cases which are so low in regional Victoria that this particular disruption is unnecessary.”
