Birthday partygoers hit with fines as Victoria tallies 14 new coronavirus cases
Dozens of Victorians have been slapped with hefty fines for breaking lockdown restrictions, after police conducted over 1000 spot checks. It comes as the state recorded 14 new cases in the past 24 hours.
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Police have slapped fines on another 35 disobedient Victorians flouting the state’s strict stay-at-home lockdown directives.
Those targeted include multiple private gatherings including a birthday party as well as several people committing criminal offences.
Victoria Police conducted 1032 spot checks across the state in the past 24 hours as part of Operation Sentinel.
It comes as Victoria experienced another coronavirus spike, recording 14 new cases — 13 of these are connected to the Cedar Meats outbreak in Melbourne’s north, including seven workers and six close contacts.
Premier Daniel Andrews moved to calm concerns over the cluster, saying he was very “proud” of the work of contact tracers and the public health team.
“They follow up every lead and they do it diligently,” he said.
The state now has 1454 total cases, 105 of which are active.
More than 106,000 tests have been carried out in the past fortnight while eight Victorians remain in hospital with six in ICU.
Mr Andrews also detailed how the results of the government’s lofty mass testing goals would impact just how and when restrictions would be pulled back.
“I want to be clear with you we’ve got about 70 per cent of the results back from those swabs and I’m pretty confident, be so bold as to suggest that Victorians having got tested would want us to wait to get the results of those tests before we necessarily made a whole lot of changes to our rules,” he said.
The premier also confirmed he did not plan on making announcing pulled-back lockdown restrictions until the state of emergency expires on Monday, May 11.
“If I have any other announcements to make, particularly following the National Cabinet meeting tomorrow, I will be before you making them,” he said.
Mr Andrews also stood firm on his decision to keep restrictions in place through Mother’s Day on Sunday, noting the state’s number of cases put it ahead of many jurisdictions.
“I’m not going to criticise people for wanting to spend time with their mum on Mother’s Day. I don’t think that would be fair.,” he said.
“We’ve had some debates in Victoria that many world leaders wish they were having … (New York) Governor Cuomo wishes he was having a discussion about golf.
“We don’t want to get to the position of temporary morgues, tragic scenes that you can’t unsee.”
The latest figures come as an McDonald’s Australia confirmed a staffer at their Fawkner outlet tested positive to COVID-19 and is self-isolating at home.
The company told the Herald Sun the employee last worked at the restaurant on April 30 and there was no suggestion the employee was exposed to coronavirus in the restaurant.
The busy store at the intersection of Sydney Rd and Mahoneys Rd remains open today.
“The health and safety of our people and our customers is our priority,” a statement said.
“We have notified all restaurant employees and received official confirmation of a positive diagnosis from the Department of Health this morning.
“McDonald’s response, including its communication with its employees and sanitisation procedures, is above and beyond the Department’s requirements and the restaurant is approved to remain open.
“McDonald’s Australia implements strict cleaning, quality control and hygiene procedures throughout every shift at each of its restaurants.”
HOW INTERSTATE MOVE COULD DERAIL VICTORIA’S MOTHER’S DAY
Lockdown restrictions in New South Wales are set to stay in place until at least Mother’s Day, a move that all but confirms Victorians’ weekend will unfold similarly.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s announcement comes ahead of Friday’s National Cabinet meeting, which is expected to advise states to ease gathering rules.
“Without wanting to be the bearer of bad news, whilst National Cabinet is considering easing the restrictions from Friday in terms of the national guidelines, I doubt that NSW will be in a position to implement anything before Mother’s Day,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Just three new cases of the virus were confirmed in NSW yesterday while 17 were recorded in Victoria.
However unlike Victoria, NSW allows two adults – and children – to visit other people’s homes, which the Premier says makes celebrating Mother’s Day possible.
“That’s a huge step forward from what would have happened a month ago. To all mothers out there, please know that you will be able to accept those visitors,” Ms Berejiklian said.
The announcement comes as Victorians urge Premier Daniel Andrews to start easing restrictions on their everyday lives, with strong support to reopen playgrounds, kick off non-contact sport and get kids back into classrooms.
An exclusive Herald Sun/YouGov poll of more than 1000 people also reveals 58 per cent of Victorians want strict coronavirus rules to be relaxed so families can celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday.
Three-quarters of those surveyed believe the time is right for outdoor sports such as golf, fishing, tennis and bowls to be given the green light, while 56 per cent say playgrounds should be reopened for kids as long as parents maintain social distancing.
The National Cabinet is expected to decide on Friday on a plan to start lifting restrictions, with a specific three-step framework agreed for each industry which the states can move through at their own speed.
READ THE FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY, HERE
VICTORIAN PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO REOPEN FOR FEDERAL FUNDS
Almost 50 Victorian private schools plan to have students in class by June 1 to claim early funding from the Federal Government.
One in five independent schools have agreed to resume on-site learning against state medical advice to access their share of $3 billion.
The Federal Government offered to bring forward a quarter of annual funding to private schools that reopened this term, with half of their students to be in classrooms by the end of the month.
The Herald Sun understands the Victorian Catholic sector did not take up the offer for its 500 campuses, while 46 out of more than 270 independent campuses did agree.
That means just 6 per cent of the state’s private schools signed on to the Federal Government’s incentive.
Independent Education Union general secretary Deb James said more than 80 per cent of Victorian’s independent schools “made the principled decision to reject this irresponsible federal funding proposal”.
“We applaud them for doing so,” she said.
“The decision to bring students back to school campuses should be consistent across our state and should be based on the health and safety of students and staff, not on divisive deals for early access to funding.”
The Herald Sun understands some private schools applied for the early funding on condition that their return was consistent with advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer.
ANGER OVER MOTHER’S DAY BORDER DIVIDE
Families on the Victoria-NSW border are preparing for a divided Mother’s Day.
For mums like Leanne Mansell in Wodonga, social distancing measures mean she can visit her family in Albury but they can’t come round to see her.
Mrs Mansell said ordinarily they would catch up for a big Mother’s Day lunch, but amid the uncertainty she was now simply planning to spend the day at home.
Different lockdown rules between the states mean anyone north of the Murray River can have up to two visitors at a time, plus their children, provided they are socially distant.
In Victoria, people have been encouraged to keep all celebrations virtual, with strict stay-at-home measures to remain in place until at least Monday — the day after Mother’s Day.
Mrs Mansell grew up in Albury, where her parents and brother still live, but moved to Wodonga eight years ago with her three children.
She said the different lockdown restrictions between the neighbouring cities had been challenging.
“I would like it if it started to relax and if there was more consistency,” she said.
“It’s hard, it means part of the family can catch up and the rest of us can’t. You’d usually think ‘I can easily pop in and see Mum’, but now you can only call or text, it’s challenging.”
Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie said there was confusion on both sides of the border as to whether people could cross over to visit mums on Sunday.
“People are uncertain about what they can do. It makes it incredibly difficult here when you have some people able to visit families, and those 10 minutes away who can’t,” she said.
AVIATION WORKERS LOSE SAFETY NET
Rule changes to JobKeeper payments have more than 1000 Victorians fearing for their livelihoods after being told their employers were no longer eligible.
DNATA, which employs more than 4000 staff, and other businesses associated with the aviation industry have been blindsided by the policy change.
The companies, which had been told they were eligible in April, are partly owned by the Dubai government and are classified as “sovereign entity”.
Emirates Leisure Retail Australia and Cabin Services Australia are also believed to have been affected.
DNATA has urged the government to reconsider.
Transport Workers Union state secretary John Berger said the government move had “pulled the rug” from under thousands of workers.
“DNATA workers perform crucial functions in the aviation industry, from catering to ground handling, to cargo,” he said.
“DNATA workers pay their taxes to Canberra and they must be supported by this government that supposedly represents them.”
A Treasury spokeswoman said criteria for JobSeeker payments had been expanded for the next six months.
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