Coronavirus lockdown Victoria: Tim Smith labels Premier Daniel Andrews “incredibly cruel”

A Liberal MP has labelled Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews “incredibly cruel” for keeping strict lockdown restrictions in place on Mother’s Day.

Liberal MP Tim Smith has slammed Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for refusing to budge on the state’s strict lockdown restrictions after National Cabinet released its road map on Friday.

Mr Andrews has kept the state in lockdown this weekend, explaining that no changes will be made until a testing blitz is completed and the state of emergency is lifted on Monday.

The decision has garnered harsh criticism from MPs, with Mr Smith, the member for Kew in Melbourne’s east, issuing a scathing tirade on Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise, calling Andrews “incredibly cruel” for barring people from celebrating Mother’s Day.

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He went on to say the premier was “obsessed with telling people how to live their lives.”

“The only people that can’t visit their mother’s today on Mother’s Day across Australia are criminals locked in jail and the good people of Victoria,” he told Weekend Sunrise.

“Why? Because Chairman Dan, the premier of Victoria, is obsessed with telling people how to live their lives.”

Over on Twitter, he called Andrews “a fear mongering doomsday propagandist.”

Chairman Dan is a fear mongering doomsday propagandist.

Today he simply refused to tell Victorians how we can live our lives in a Covid-normal state.

The arrogance of the man is breathtaking.

Even the dunce up in Queensland had enough sense to let them know what’s going on https://t.co/QNPZOJ91Ss

— Tim Smith MP (@TimSmithMP) May 8, 2020

On Sunrise, Mr Smith said he was “extremely concerned” about the mental health impacts of lockdown.

“I’m concerned that this sort of an extreme lockdown ensures great harm is being done to people right across Australia and it should be lifted, it should be lifted now and it should have been lifted on Friday.”

It’s not the first time the Liberal member has lashed out amid the pandemic.

Kew member Tim Smith has been highly critical of the Victorian state government’s handling of the pandemic. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Last month he ripped into Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, on Twitter, accusing him of giving “bullsh*t” advice.

The ugly spat was in relation to playing golf.

Mr Andrews asked Victorians to “stay patient while we wait for test results” on Friday, as he wants to be certain Victoria has the coronavirus under control.

Part of that process means waiting for the results of last week’s testing blitz that saw 127,000 Victorians screened for COVID-19.

On Friday, Victoria’s Police Minister Lisa Neville confirmed an increase of 13 cases in the state bringing the total to 1467.

Eight are from Cedar Meats abattoir, and the total of cases related to the cluster is now 71.

The state’s today death toll from the virus stands at 18.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled National Cabinet’s three-stage road map for lifting restrictions Friday, with some states acting immediately to ease lockdowns.

Victoria’s state of emergency expires on Monday, which is when Andrews is expected to address a timeline.