Pressure on to lift Mornington Peninsula lockdown and stop visitors bringing virus to the region
Melbourne’s metro lockdown is meant to stop the spread of COVID-19 but there are growing concerns restrictions will make virus-free Mornington Peninsula more vulnerable to a resurgence in infections, sparking a push to “urgently review” the decision.
South East
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Mornington Peninsula is at greater risk of an outbreak under the latest lockdown, the region’s mayor fears.
Sam Hearn said including the region in the blanket Stage 3 restrictions thrown over metropolitan Melbourne on Wednesday night was devastating to local business and could encourage more visitors.
He said the wider community may interpret the decision as a reason to travel to the Peninsula and “put our local community health containment at risk”.
“A better approach to ensuring public health and safety on the Peninsula would be excluding it from the metro area to ensure that there couldn’t be travel from the areas with high infection rates in suburban Melbourne,” Cr Hearn said.
“We encourage everyone throughout Greater Melbourne to do the right thing and stay away from the Peninsula for the next six weeks.”
He said the council was committed to seeking a response from the State Government about the region’s including in the lockdown.
Cr Hearn’s concerns were echoed by Shadow Attorney-General Edward O’Donohue who called on Premier Daniel Andrews to ask the Chief Health Officer to “urgently review” the decision.
“The current situation is the worst of both world’s for the Peninsula,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“People from Melbourne are permitted to travel to the area for any of the permissible reasons under the directions and therefore run the risk of importing COVID-19 to the area, while on the other hand the businesses on the Peninsula are unable to make the most of these extra visitors because you have forced their closure.”
There were still no active cases on the Mornington Peninsula as of Thursday.
The region’s business owners were furious about the lockdown and wanted to know why the Peninsula had been included when it was business as usual in Geelong.
The Green Olive at Red Hill owner Greg O’Donoghue said being forced to close again was devastating.
“We were booked solid until the end of August and we had school holiday programs running and the first of our birthday parties organised,” Mr O’Donoghue said.
“The cool room is full in readiness.
“It’s crazy that we will have to lock out gate at 5pm tonight.”
Mr O’Donoghue said he could maintain his business – which offers dine-in tapas and wine, accommodation and cooking classes – serving only Mornington Peninsula customers.
Premier Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday that the government had to draw “a hard border” between the metropolitan and regional areas.
“We are doing the hard work to look at options to accelerate opening in regional Victoria for regional Victorians,” he said.
The Mornington Peninsula is not classified as regional.
Cr Hearn and Mr O’Donohue said the State Government needed to change the area’s status as soon as possible.
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