Victorians fed up with lockdown as it enters its 12th week, survey finds
Disgruntled Victorians believe the lockdown rules were necessary but their patience is waning, new data shows.
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Exclusive: Disgruntled Victorians believe the lockdowns were necessary early on but have been taken too far.
New independent research compiled by the Institute of Public Affairs revealed Victorians’ patience with the long-running lockdown was waning.
More than 1000 Victorians were quizzed in the first week of October and the results found 48 per cent agreed the lockdowns were justified and necessary but had gone too far, while 35 per cent disagreed.
Stage 4 restrictions were implemented across metropolitan Melbourne on August 2 and are now about to enter their 12th week.
Victoria recorded two new COVID-19 cases today and the state has 157 active cases.
There have been 816 deaths in Victoria.
Melbourne’s rolling 14-day average is 8.7 — higher than the 5 cases average or less that was hoped for two weeks straight by Sunday.
Millions of Victorians are anxiously awaiting Premier Daniel Andrews’ announcements on Sunday where it’s expected there will be some easing of restrictions, but predominantly relating to social not business.
He said Victorians could be “optimistic” and “are well placed to take significant steps on Sunday”.
“On Sunday I very much look forward to giving people a sense of what the coming weeks look like,” the Premier said.
“Having dealt with the health challenge, we can turn to in unprecedented ways to the economic repair."
But IPA’s director of communications Evan Mulholland said many Victorians were fatigued with the restrictions and needed urgent change.
“Mainstream Victorians are over lockdown because in terms of lost jobs and closed businesses they are no longer worth it,” he said.
“People are over it.
“The Andrews Government has disfigured Victoria with more lockdowns to deal with the second wave unleashed by his catastrophic ineptitude with hotel quarantine and contact tracing.”
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said Victorians “have had enough”.
“They want their lives and freedoms back just as every other state has done,” he said.
“Victorians have sacrificed to pay for the government’s mistakes but some are losing hope. “Families desperately need something positive to get them through this dark time.”
Among the speculation around changes includes removing the 5km limit or even extending it out to 20km.
There’s also predictions home visitors of up to five people per household might be allowed.
However it remains unclear what if any restrictions will be eased for businesses, with many holding out hope they may be able to get back to work.
The research also asked Victorians if they thought NSW had done a better job at managing the COVID-19 pandemic than Victoria – 59 per cent agreed, while 16 per cent disagreed.
Today, NSW recorded five new cases and officially opened its borders to all travellers from New Zealand under its new one-way travel bubble arrangement.