Andrew Bolt: Why is Victoria still not actually free?

After months of lockdown in Melbourne so many bans still remain. And while Premier Daniel Andrews says we can’t rush things, it’s just a reminder of how much the Victorian government still cannot get right, writes Andrew Bolt.

Wednesday was freedom day in Melbourne! More than three months of lockdown ended and it felt so … not much.

I wanted to celebrate at my local restaurant, but Rob still needs more time to prepare after so long shut.

I’d love to go down to our favourite beach with our friends. But I still can’t leave the city or even travel more than 25km from home.

I wanted to finally have that dinner party that got called off when the lockdown was slapped on, but more than two visitors are banned.

Victorians still have to wear masks. David Crosling

I wanted to rip off my mask and soak up the sun, but that is still banned, too.

So many bans still remain. Restaurants and pubs still can’t have more than 20 people inside – too few for some to open.

Churches, curiously, can have only 10 people. Cinemas, art galleries and museums, none at all.

I know, Premier Daniel Andrews says we can’t rush things. But this is a reminder of so much that the Victorian government still cannot do properly – or trust itself to do.

Victoria has had just two new infections in three days. NSW has had one. Essentially identical.

But in NSW, you can go to the movies, or to a church, restaurant or wedding with 300 people. You can travel all over the state and ditch the mask.

It’s not that Victoria’s health system is more overrun than NSW’s. In fact, NSW has eight virus patients in hospital, and Victoria has even fewer – just five.

So why is Victoria still not actually free?

We still can’t leave the city or even travel more than 25km from home. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

One reason is political. Andrews simply cannot afford to make another mistake and have a third wave of infections. He’s been forgiven an awful lot, but there is no more patience to count on.

The second reason is related. Andrews, I suspect, cannot trust his bureaucracy as the NSW Premier trusts her own – to trace and isolate the sick in the inevitable outbreaks we will face until a vaccine arrives.

This is the system that failed so badly in the early days of the second wave. We are told, but not by Andrews, it has improved much since then, particularly after the capable Jeroen Weimar, the state’s former transport boss, was put in charge. But has Andrews been too scarred to put it to its biggest test – and open the state?

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Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Why is Victoria still not actually free?