Changes won’t be ‘massive’, Andrews warns

The eased restrictions to be announced on Sunday will only be ‘safe and steady’ steps.

An empty Southbank Boulevard at South Melbourne on Thursday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Daniel Andrews has warned Victorians not to expect “massive steps” when he announces a slight easing of coronavirus restrictions on Sunday, despite flagging on Wednesday that the announcement will go further than the measures outlined in his reopening roadmap.

Under the roadmap, Melburnians will be allowed to have public outdoor gatherings of up to five people from up to two households, childcare will resume, and a staged return to the classroom for Prep to Grade Two and VCE students will begin.

The threshold for this step is a 14-day daily average of between 30 and 50 new cases of coronavirus, with Melbourne’s 14-day daily average already well below that level, reaching 26.7 on Thursday.

Mr Andrews welcomed news that just 12 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Victoria in the 24 hours to Thursday, but signalled that Sunday would bring “steady and safe steps” and the relaxation of measures in some industries, with stay-at-home restrictions and Melbourne’s 9pm to 5am curfew still set to continue until at least October 26.

“These numbers are coming down. The strategy is working, we are well on track on Sunday to make some further announcements, and I just wanted to make the point that Sunday will not be a day of massive steps,” the Premier said.

He added: “We’ve got to be safe, we’ve got to be steady, we have to be cautious, otherwise those new settings simply won’t last.”

Mr Andrews said Sunday’s announcement would include the easing of measures relating to personal freedoms and industry.

No announcements on curfew

Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on Thursday. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Mr Andrews ruled out announcements on his controversial curfew, minutes before Victoria’s Supreme Court ordered his government to release the data upon which the move was based.

He refuted suggestions the curfew was partly to blame for record levels of family violence offences, with 88,000 crimes recorded in the year to July, according to data released by Victoria Police on Thursday.

“I don‘t agree with that assessment,” Mr Andrews said of the claims from family violence advocates.

“In relation to family violence, increased rates of family violence being a feature of this pandemic, I’m not arguing against that.

“That is a fact and that’s why we’ve boosted support and why Minister (for Prevention of Family Violence Gabrielle) Williams has been here on a number of different occasions to talk about, not just more money, as important as that is, but doing things differently and making sure that services can continue to provide care and support to women and children and any other members of families who might need support.”

Mr Andrews pointed to an increase in people, predominantly men, who felt they were in danger of committing family violence coming forward to seek help during the pandemic, as well as to his government’s $2.7bn investment in the sector during. That level of spending was better than “every other government in this nation combined”, he said.

A cyclist in South Melbourne has the road to himself. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Easing to take effect Sunday or Monday

Mr Andrews said authorities had yet to decide when the relaxed measures he announces on Sunday will take effect, “but we’ll be quick about it.”

“We’ll try and make sure that there’s the smallest amount of time between when we announce it and when they come into effect,” he said.

“I think that we are probably talking about the difference between midnight Sunday and midnight Monday.

Mr Andrews said he could not confirm whether more abattoir workers would be allowed onsite from Sunday but increases were being considered in a range of industries.

“There’s a number of industries … meat processing, which is obviously across all different streams, supermarkets, because distribution centres have been a really challenging environment for us, cool stores as well, and indeed construction is not at 100 per cent either,” he said.

“So all of those matters are being actively looked at, and when I’m ready to make an announcement act that, I will, but we’re certainly talking to all of those players.”

Asked whether he was likely to make announcements on Sunday about allowing one-on-one inspections of rental properties and homes for sale, Mr Andrews said: “I’d hope to be able to say more about the real estate sector, but I can‘t do that now because those decisions have not been made.”

‘We are not chasing zero cases every day forever’

Asked whether he was concerned about stubborn case numbers in aged care facilities and health workers delaying Victoria’s reopening, Mr Andrews said he was not “chasing zero cases every day forever”.

The number of active cases in health workers rose by 10 on Thursday to 83, and follows 24 of 28 of Victoria’s cases on Tuesday being spread across 11 aged-care facilities.

Under the Andrews government’s roadmap, Victoria needs have 14 days with no new cases before public gatherings will be permitted to increase from 10 people to 50, and the 50-person limit will not be lifted until there have been 28 days with no cases.

“There’s a reason why we are not chasing zero cases every day forever — because we know that there are, as you say, there are some very stubborn settings, they’re high risk for a reason,” Mr Andrews said.

“I’m confident that the arrangements we’ve got in place in those high-risk settings, and it’s not just clinical environments, it’s industrial environments, workplaces beyond health and aged care and the like, I’m confident that we’ve got good, strong plans in there, and we’ve seen significant improvement.”