Peta Murphy admits lockdown is weighing on her mind. Like many of her fellow Melburnians, on waking each morning the federal Labor MP immediately begins to think about how she'll spend her permitted hour of outside exercise.

Murphy and her husband have eight-month-old Labrador puppies, adopted just in time for the start of the harshest restrictions on free movement in living memory. Her hour of freedom involves taking the energetic Bert and Ernie for a long walk, and she has hired a spin bike to train in the lounge room.