MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has called on the Victorian Government to reinstate the “ring of steel” around Greater Melbourne in the event of an extended lockdown.
Ms Cupper wrote to Health Minister Martin Foley yesterday, stating “for the record” her community’s preferred approach should the lockdown, which is scheduled to end on Friday, be extended beyond seven days.
Her request came as the state recorded three new coronavirus cases, all in Greater Melbourne, on Tuesday.
“Given my electorate has been COVID-free for more than a year, it is our strong view that in the event of an extended lockdown, the most appropriate and proportionate approach would be to reinstate the ‘ring of steel’ around Greater Melbourne,” Ms Cupper wrote in a letter seen by Sunraysia Daily.
“This would help our business community survive and assist with maintaining critical cross-border access to NSW and SA.”
Mildura Mayor Jason Modica said Mildura Council had advocated to both Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison for consideration of an easing of restrictions in the region.
“It’s important to respect the lockdown, but if Thursday comes and we still don’t have any cases we really need to be considered as an isolated pocket of Victoria and how we get a consistent national approach to regions that haven’t had cases,” Cr Modica said.
“I’m supportive of looking and as mayor, and also the previous mayor on council, wrote letters to the State and Federal governments looking for that sort of consideration last year and we’ve done that again earlier this year.
“The Murray River Group of Councils have also done the same thing — really talking about that nationally consistent approach so if we don’t have a case we can still tick along with our economy and get our kids off to school and make sure we’re living the best life we can.
“The ring of steel is an option, but also being 400km from Bendigo, how do we implement an easier and more palatable version of working through the COVID problem?”
Cr Modica said the current lockdown restrictions had been “a huge ask from anyone”, especially in regional areas that have been largely COVID-free.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have had a couple of different versions of lockdown, but if we continually see no cases there is going to be a point where the community just shrugs their shoulders and says, ‘We can’t commit to this’,” he said.
“But there’s the proviso that if we have an outbreak, we need to pull our heads into line.
“We haven’t had a case here for more than 12 months now so we very much need to have a more nuanced approach to what we do.”
