‘New approach’ flagged for Covid restrictions

Booster mandates would be ruled out and density limits scrapped under the opposition’s “new approach” to tackling the deadly Covid pandemic.

Booster mandates would be ruled out, density limits scrapped and workers led to the office in force under a bold new state opposition plan to get Victoria moving again.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy will on Sunday call for the state government to adopt the plan which would also include suspending QR code check in requirements for low-risk settings and ruling out future lockdowns under any circumstances.

Masks would also only be mandated in high-risk settings like healthcare, public transport and in schools for staff and secondary students.

The face coverings would be encouraged in other settings where social distancing is difficult.

Struggling hospitality and entertainment venues, currently crippled by the recent Omicron outbreak, would be able to return to full capacity with no density limits indoors or outdoors.

And the Liberal-Nationals have joined the City of Melbourne in calling on the Victorian public sector – and the wider community – to return to the office to help bring life back into the city and surrounds.

While not a direct order, the state government has strongly recommended over summer that people work from home amid the spike in cases.

In a bid to increase Victoria’s stalled booster rollout, the opposition says the state government must also immediately redirect its major project advertising into a “comprehensive vaccination advertising campaign”.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy plans to scrap mask mandates except in high-risk settings. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

But under the opposition’s pitch, booster shots would not be required to be deemed fully vaccinated, despite Premier Daniel Andrews flagging that would soon become the norm.

Mr Guy said the Victorian Liberal-Nationals plan would give families, businesses and local communities the certainty and support they needed to recover, rebuild and move forward from the pandemic.

He said now was the time for a “new approach” with over 93 per cent of eligible Victorians fully vaccinated and fewer than one in every 2000 positive cases currently needing a ventilator to breathe.

“Victorians won’t recover and rebuild under more back-to-the-future mandates, lockdowns and restrictions. Now is the time for a new approach,” Mr Guy said.

“For two years, families and local communities have trusted the system and followed the rules. Now is the time for the government to trust them and let them get on with their lives.

“Victorians need a new approach that treats them with respect and backs them – not berates them – to make the right choices.”

Nationals leader Peter Walsh said regional Victorians could be trusted to “continue to do the right thing by themselves, their families and their communities”.

“Communities across regional Victoria have led from the front throughout the pandemic, and played their part when asked to roll up their sleeves,” Mr Walsh said.

“We have all done what has been asked of us, and it now time to allow all Victorians recover and rebuild so we can make Victoria number one again.”