Victorian pubs lose out to NSW under virus restrictions – MP

PUBS, cafes and restaurants on the Victorian side of the Murray River should be opened up to 50 people per room, just as they are on the NSW side.

That is the belief of Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell, who has written to the Victorian Premier calling for “trading bubbles” in country regions where there have had low, or no, active cases of coronavirus.

Ms Maxwell said establishments in Victoria were losing loyal patronage and revenue across the river due to Victoria’s strict restrictions.

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“I personally don’t like gambling, for instance, but publicans I have talked to are losing these gamblers to venues across the river and they are worried that they won’t come back,” Ms Maxwell said.

Club Merbein owner Sharan Scase wrote a letter to Sunraysia Daily this week questioning how the Victorian Government could keep venues under such strict restrictions with interstate venues operating in such close proximity.

“How can it be unsafe to operate our venue when a venue only 7km away is operating safely?” she asked.

“Small, struggling Victorian border venues are being destroyed even though they have had no COVID cases for 10 weeks.”

Ms Maxwell said statewide restrictions were a heavy burden on regional areas that small businesses and residents felt was “disproportionate to their case numbers”.

“Cross-border towns across Northern Victoria are further impacted by inconsistent restrictions between Victoria and New South Wales,” she wrote in a letter to Mr Andrews.

“As a result, patronage and income simply travels across the border, often only a very short drive away, where restrictions are lower.

“For many businesses, it is simply not viable for them to operate under the current restrictions.”

She said the trading bubbles would allow local venues to open up to 50 people, if they lived within that local government area, where there had been so few cases.

“I understand the lockdowns in Melbourne, but in our rural areas, particularly on the northern border, let’s just show some common sense,” Ms Maxwell said.