MILDURA Council will continue to lobby the Victorian Government to ease COVID-19 restrictions more quickly.
Mildura Mayor Simon Clemence said while Premier Daniel Andrews’ “Roadmap” out of restrictions did provide a pathway forward, the Sunraysia community needed more immediate relief in the face of ongoing restrictions.
“There are many in our community, whether they be residents or business owners, who are doing it extremely tough at the moment due to the current level of restrictions, despite very few cases of coronavirus in our region since this whole pandemic started,” Cr Clemence said.
“While there will be some easing of restrictions here in a week … these measures will provide minimal, if any, relief to key sectors of our business community who need help the most.”
Cr Clemence said those sectors — including hospitality, tourism and accommodation — would be forced to wait longer to resume their operations based on the current “Roadmap”.
Meanwhile, Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster said the Andrews Government’s decision to class all regional Victoria as a single unit was “beyond belief”.
“To put all of regional Victoria’s diverse communities into one basket is ridiculous,” Dr Webster said.
“It is no better than making our roadmap the same as Melbourne — we were promised significant steps forward, but we have been forgotten once more.
“We are being treated as nothing more than an afterthought.”
