MEMBER for Northern Victoria Tim Quilty has called on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to resign due to his “abysmal” handling of the coronavirus crisis.
The Liberal Democrats member made the comments after Mr Andrews announced the closure of the border between Victoria and NSW on Monday as a result of the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in Melbourne.
“This is a knee-jerk reaction of the very worst kind, made with absolutely no consideration of regional Victoria,” Mr Quilty said.
“Andrews has completely let down all of regional Victoria and should be handing in his resignation immediately. His handling of this situation has been abysmal.
“As for his Labor colleague Jaclyn Symes, who claims to be a member for Northern Victoria – supposedly representing our interests, not those of Melbourne, she should be facing the residents of regional Victoria to explain how we have ended up in this mess.”
Mr Quilty emphasised how regional Victoria is made to suffer the consequences of decisions made in Melbourne, for Melbourne.
“While I understand that Melbourne is showing a rise in the number of cases, this is a Melbourne problem and restrictions should focus firmly on Melbourne,” Mr Quilty said.
“Regional Victoria should not be paying the price for mistakes in Melbourne.
“We haven’t had a case in the regions for three months – and all the cases we had before then came out of Melbourne.
“Yet again, the idea of Rexit – a separation of regional Victoria from Melbourne – makes absolute sense.”
The closure will be effective from 12.01am Wednesday, 8 July.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the decision was made after consulting with the NSW Chief Health Officer and discussions with the Prime Minister and Mr Andrews.
There will be provisions in place for residents of border regions, such as Mildura and towns on the NSW side of the Murray River.
Special conditions will be in place for freight operations and other critical services.
