Melbourne coronavirus: Residents could be fined for exercise far from home

The Victorian Government has tightened up rules on where you can exercise which could lead to fines of more than $1600.

Melburnians are being warned they could cop a $1652 fine just for going for a jog on the other side of the city or loading their bike into the car to go for a cycle on their favourite track. That’s even if they remain within metropolitan Melbourne.

Residents of Melbourne and the neighbouring Mitchell Shire are currently in lockdown due to a spike of coronavirus cases and are unable to leave the metropolitan area.

Exercise is one of four permitted reasons to leave the house. It had been thought that residents were at will to travel to any part of the city.

However, while addressing the media today, Premier Daniel Andrews suggested the rules around exercise were made more explicit because people were trying to get around them.

“If you must ask yourself and give a lot of thought to whether what you are planning to do is within the rules or against the rules, chances are it is against the rules.”

He called on people to use “good judgement and common sense”.

“If you want to go for a walk then you can go for a walk close to home,” he said.

“If I want to go for a walk then I will go for a walk in Mulgrave where I live. I will not go to the Botanic Gardens (which is 23km away) nor drive 50km or 100km away from my home to do something that I would like to do. That is not compatible with stopping the spread of this virus.”

Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos urged people to limit their movements to only what’s absolutely essential.

“I want to impress on all Victorians need to be vigilant, to limit movements. You do not need to be exercising outside your local area. You do not need to go to the shops every day. Limit your movements, follow the rules and we will get through this.”

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Melburnians could be fined for exercising too far from home – even if within the city. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Last week, Mr Andrews urged Melburnians to remain within the city.

“You can’t be going fishing outside the metropolitan area, down into regional Victoria,” he said.

“Regional Victoria has very, very few cases and vast parts of regional Victoria have no cases. This is designed to keep it that way.”

Advice from the Department of Health website says Melburnians can leave their home to exercise alone, with household members or with one other person who is at least 1.5 metres away.

The advice also states that, “you should not travel further than you need to. Victorians must use common sense and consideration when it comes to their activities and stay close to home when they can”.

However, the department also says, for instance, members of golf clubs can travel across the metropolitan area to play at their course.

Since the lockdown there have been reports of large numbers of Melburnians travelling to less urban parts of the city – such as the Mornington Peninsula – to exercise and escape.

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The Herald Sun pointed to advice that now says “a person may only leave their premises … where it does not involve unreasonable travel or travelling to a place for an unreasonable period of time”.

“Unreasonable travel” is defined as travel within the “Restricted Area” to exercise or outdoor recreation where that type of exercise can be done closer to home.

“Travelling to an area outside the Restricted Area for exercise or outdoor recreation is prohibited under these directions.”

That information doesn’t appear to be on the main Department of Health website page offering general guidance on the restriction but is rather buried in a word document.

Not having a good enough reason to be within Melbourne but far from you home could land you with a $1652 coronavirus fine.

Victoria Police have issued $107,000 in COVID fines on Thursday for people outside their home for none of the four permitted reasons which include work, shopping and exercise.

Yesterday, 317 people were confirmed toy have contracted COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours in Victoria, the state’s biggest ever one day rise in cases.