Fury as Victoria enters five-day snap lockdown

Daniel Andrews' announcement that Victoria will enter a third lockdown to avoid catastrophe has been met with outrage by businesses and residents alike.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' announcement that his state will enter a third lockdown at 11:59pm tonight to avoid “potentially devastating” circumstances has been met with outrage by businesses and residents alike.

Until the same time on Wednesday, the entire state will enter a five-day “circuit breaker”, Mr Andrews told reporters this afternoon, “because this (the UK “mutant” strain of COVID-19) is so infectious and is moving so fast”.

If Victorians wait for the “theory – that it might be out there, there might be more cases than we know about – if we wait for that to be proven correct, it will be too late”, the Premier said, adding Victoria could then face “months” of being locked down.

“I know it’s not the news that Victorians want to hear today. I know it’s not the place that we wanted to be in. However, we’ve all given so much, we’ve all done so much. We’ve built something precious, and we have to make difficult decisions, and do difficult things, in order to defend what we’ve built,” Mr Andrews said.

“I am confident that this short, sharp circuit breaker will be effective. We will be able to smother this. We will be able to prevent it getting away from us.”

But many have been quick to criticise the decision, asking why “a small outbreak in Melbourne means everyone from Mallacoota to Mildura has to go into lockdown?”.

RELATED: Victoria’s 5-day lockdown rules revealed

Daniel Andrews announced Victoria will enter a five-day snap lockdown. Picture: David Crosling/NCA NewsWire

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott slammed the move. Picture: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

More “stop-start restrictions will be a bitter disappointment” for the whole Victorian community, Business Council Australia (BCA) chief executive Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.

“We can’t go on managing the country like this. This is the second lockdown caused by Victoria’s hotel quarantine system, it must not be as long and destructive as the last. We must get hotel quarantine working properly,” she said.

“Even a very short lockdown will have monumental social and economic costs.”

Ms Westacott said the lockdown will force small businesses to make “decisions about whether to lay-off staff or destroy inventory” and airlines to cancel “thousands of flights and shifts”.

“New outbreaks shouldn’t be a surprise – this is a highly contagious virus, but we know now that we have to live alongside it,” she added.

“New and more contagious strains make getting contact tracing, hotel quarantine and local management right even more important, they are not an excuse for throwing an entire state into hardship … The Victorian Government must now explain why this step is necessary and exactly how this will work for each and every business across the state.”

RELATED: Vic lockdown a huge blow for Aus Open

Like clockwork... pic.twitter.com/2ITv7S0thi

— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) February 12, 2021

.@michaelobrienmp says every Victorian has a right to be bloody furious with the failure of the Vic Govt on hotel quarantine that let the virus out of the bag again.
“The government stuffed up hotel quarantine again” @abcmelbourne

— Richard Willingham (@rwillingham) February 12, 2021

Premier: “I can’t do it on my own”

Mate, you can’t do it at all

— David Hodgett MP (@DavidHodgettMP) February 12, 2021

#DictatorDan quickly began trending on Twitter in Australia, while one news.com.au reader asked, “Why do Victorians put up with this garbage?”

“What has become abundantly clear is that the VIC Government is completely inept at managing a quarantine program and we need to stop all our international arrivals to Melbourne permanently. We, the residents of Victoria, are the ones making the sacrifices due to the failures of this quarantine program,” wrote another.

“Why does it have to be the whole state when the cluster is in a part of Melbourne? My wife and I were going to go away for our anniversary this weekend but unfortunately it ain’t going to happen!!! Thanks for nothing!!!” one man commented, while another labelled it “typical Melbourne attitude”.

RELATED: States slam borders shut to Victorians

Again: it is possible and even fine to be disappointed, upset, or frustrated at this lockdown WHILE AT THE SAME TIME accepting & supporting its necessity and acknowledging how very well Australia is doing compared to many other countries.

— Susan Carland (@SusanCarland) February 12, 2021

There’s nowhere in the world that tackled a second wave like Victorians.

There’s nowhere in the world that can stop a third wave like Victorians.

You’ve got this, Victoria. Australians are with you. pic.twitter.com/42ZS55wzu5

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 12, 2021

Lockdowns are tough. But as we've seen, they work.

The last fortnight in WA was only a very small taste of what Victorians went through in 2020.

Our thoughts are with them as they confront another lockdown and we hope for good news in the coming days.

We’re with you, Victoria.

— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) February 12, 2021

Can't say I'm thrilled to be going back to stage 4 lockdown but with the growing number of cases in Melbourne it makes sense. Hope a short sharp lockdown prevents further spread of #COVID19. Certainly prefer a proactive response a wait and see approach. #IStandWithDan

— DrNic (@Immunity_Lab) February 12, 2021

But for every outraged Victorian, there was one who acknowledged why such action needs to be taken.

“I wish Boris (Johnson) had the stones to implement such a lockdown,” one reader in the UK wrote.

“We had 13k new cases yesterday. I’d much rather your 13. Send Dan this way please!”

“Again: it is possible and even fine to be disappointed, upset, or frustrated at this lockdown WHILE AT THE SAME TIME accepting & supporting its necessity and acknowledging how very well Australia is doing compared to many other countries,” Monash University social scientist and UNICEF ambassador Dr Susan Carland tweeted.

“There’s nowhere in the world that tackled a second wave like Victorians,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese wrote.

“There’s nowhere in the world that can stop a third wave like Victorians. You’ve got this, Victoria. Australians are with you.”