THE Victorian Government has been accused of not doing enough to stop people in lockdown areas from travelling into northern Victoria for non-essential reasons.
Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said she had received “constant complaints” about the government’s failure to monitor passengers on V/Line services or to stop people travelling for day trips and weekends at bed and breakfast accommodation.
Ms Lovell told State Parliament she wrote to Premier Daniel Andrews requesting additional screening measures be employed to reduce the possibility of the spread of COVID-19 into regional Victoria.
“In particular, I requested that the government do more to ensure those persons travelling from lockdown into non-lockdown areas within northern Victoria are doing so for essential reasons, that each person is properly screened for risk and that their movements are limited while in the non-lockdown areas,” she said.
“When will the Premier introduce additional and adequate screening of lockdown residents travelling to non-lockdown areas within northern Victoria to assist with preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus?”
Ms Lovell said one constituent had contacted her to suggest that temperature testing should also be included at vehicle checkpoints.
A Victorian Government spokesperson told Sunraysia Daily that Victoria Police was doing “an incredible job” patrolling checkpoints right around the state to ensure people are complying with the Chief Health Officer’s directives.
“I want to thank each and every one of them for their relentless hard work,” the spokesperson said.
“They’re out in full force with increased patrols monitoring exit and entry points to regional Victoria including train carriages, train stations and ferry terminals, as well as public transport departing from Southern Cross station.
“They’re also on our local roads and out in the community on foot making sure people are abiding by the directions of the Chief Health Officer.”
As part of Operation Sentinel, Victoria Police are monitoring the perimeter of the restricted region — including major transport hubs and arterials and V/Line trains and coaches — to ensure people are travelling for lawful reasons.
Breaches of these directions carry on-the-spot fines of $1652 for individuals and $9913 for businesses.
Operation Sentinel involves statewide resources including the public order response team, mounted branch, highway patrol, 24-hour mobile patrols and local police who are deployed wherever and whenever necessary.
Police checkpoints have been operating 24 hours, seven days.
Booze buses have been deployed to road stops and checkpoints to monitor traffic flow along main arterials into regional Victoria, and police are using automatic number plate recognition to scan registration details and identify the residential addresses of licence holders.
