Businesses warn Daniel Andrews not to delay reopening

Victoria’s top business groups are demanding the state government stick to its roadmap after Daniel Andrews flagged a new spike in Covid cases could delay reopening.

Leading business groups are demanding the state government sticks to its roadmap after Premier Daniel Andrews flagged another spike in cases could delay reopening.

Mr Andrews again lambasted weary Victorians for flouting lockdown restrictions, blaming illegal grand final long weekend gatherings for a dramatic surge in cases.

New infections rose by almost 500 to a record of 1438 on Thursday, with authorities warning numbers could hit the Burnet Institute’s worst-case predictions.

The shock prompted Mr Andrews to threaten that a sustained spike could slow the state’s release from lockdown.

“We are not turning back, we are finding a way to push through and get this place open, we’ve got to do it. This is a plan to open up,” he said.

“However, it would be irresponsible for me to say that we wouldn’t for instance have to pause, we wouldn’t have to modify things. It isn’t sustainable for people to act like we’ve hit 70 per cent double dose when we’ve yet to hit 50 per cent double dose.’’

Mike Russell has shut his two shops after all 50 of his staff were forced into isolation because of a positive covid case. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Admonishing footy fans who attended grand final parties, he said: “If we continue to see this sort of behaviour, we’ll continue to see these sorts of numbers. If you get this each day every day for a week, all of a sudden you’re putting avoidable pressure on all sorts of different systems.”

While Victoria had already been on track before the grand final weekend to surpass NSW’s highest daily case tally of 1599, it could now happen within days.

Mr Andrews said on Thursday: “I’m not here to make comparisons with NSW.”

The spike comes six weeks after he justified Victoria’s harsher lockdown by declaring: “I don’t want us to finish up like Sydney, where it has fundamentally got away from them.”

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said any further delays to reopening would be catastrophic.

“The government has committed to its roadmap and must deliver what it promised Victorians,” Mr Guerra said.

“Businesses have remained shut long enough, workers have gone without jobs and children have been kept home from school.

“Victoria now needs to look forward, not back. We have done the hard yards and the fact that 80 per cent of us have had at least one Covid-19 vaccination shot demonstrates Victorians’ appetite and commitment to getting back to doing what we love.”

VECCI chief executive Paul Guerra says further delays to reopening will be catastrophic. Picture: Mark Stewart

Mr Frydenberg said state leaders must ask themselves if they could ease restrictions more quickly once they reached 80 per cent vaccinations.

Mr Andrews had already signalled they would watch the reopening of NSW, he said, where restrictions at 70 per cent were similar to Victoria’s at 80 per cent.

“It’s incumbent, I would have thought, on the Victorian government to catch up to NSW, and to ease those restrictions as quickly as they can,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“They’ve been particularly cautious. Ease restrictions as soon as (it’s) safe to do so.

“Allow people to get back to work and kids to get back to school because it’s not just the economy that’s been hurt by the lockdown. It’s also the wellbeing of so many Australians.”

Australian Industry Group Victorian director Tim Piper said business desperately needed an injection of hope and certainty.

The government’s failure to fully commit to the plan was “dispiriting” and had a hugely negative impact on the community, he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged another spike in cases could delay reopening. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“It’s pulling the rug out from under us, when there wasn’t really a rug there in the first place,” he said.

“What we complained was that we weren’t being given enough hope.

“That little hope we did have was dispelled by the Premier again.

“Business is at its wits’ end and we look to the north and we see some action being taken which we think is much more acceptable.

“I had a call from the CEO of one of Australia’s biggest companies, based here in Melbourne, who said ‘what the heck is going on?’

“People are struggling to maintain the discipline and some simply don’t want to.”

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said any suggestion of extending lockdown must be erased from the Premier’s thinking.

“The last thing that small business families need from the Victorian government as they endure week 10 of Melbourne’s ‘seven-day snap lockdown’ and face further weeks of harmful lockdown is threats from the Premier that if his naughty children in Victoria continue to disobey what he dictates that he may extend the lockdown,” Mr Lang said.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the national cabinet plan was a “contract with every Victorian” and must be followed. “By backflipping now, the Premier is robbing Victorian workers, families and businesses of the hope and certainty they need,” Mr Guy said.

Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said the spike marked a “significant setback”.