Coronavirus Australia live: Melbourne cafe staff abused over Dan Andrews sign

A Melbourne cafe has drawn the ire of locals for displaying a sign which 'charges' supporters of the Premier an extra dollar for their coffee.

Locals have lashed out at a café in Melbourne's south-east over a sign which jokingly purports to charge supporters of the Premier an extra dollar for their coffee.

The sign displayed in Moorabbin cafe Acrobar reads: "Do you support Dan? Add $1 to your order".

But while the cafe's management tells 9newsit was meant in jest, some people are not amused. 

Co-owner Franz Madlener told the outlet the sign has incited so much abuse aimed at staff, he has been forced to hire security.

Online, 200 people have slammed the café with one-star reviews on Google, with one online troll even threatening to throw a brick through the store's window.

Mr Madlener assure the publication the sign was not "anti-Labor" or politically motivated, but the "equivalent of a swear jar" for people who had taken to lecturing staff about how "lucky" they were to be able to reopen in November.

"We're just not going to be lectured to … 'be grateful you can have 10 people in two weeks' time' – no I'm not grateful at all," he said, adding that the business has lost thousands of dollars during the difficult period.

He added that the 'surcharge' on the tongue-in-cheek sign is by no means enforced to customers.

It comes as several other retail and hospitality industry figures have criticised Mr Andrews for his cautious approach to reopening the city, given many had hoped for reprieve before the end of October.

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