Covid-19: Melbourne’s observation wheel closes amid pandemic

Melbourne Star’s observation wheel may never to turn again, with the owners deciding to call it quits after six lockdowns.

Melbourne Star’s observation wheel. Picture: Brendan Francis

Melbourne’s famous observation wheel may never turn again, with the owners deciding to call it quits after six lockdowns and losing more than a year of income.

Victoria recorded 246 cases on Monday as pandemic fatigue continued to drive small breaches of lockdown rules across households in the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne.

In a sign of the toll Covid-19 has taken on Victoria’s capital, Melbourne Star general manager ­Nicole Hill said the 120m high tourist drawcard would be closed permanently and operating company MB Star Properties would be placed into liquidation.

“Unfortunately, the global Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions and sustained shutdowns, adding to pre-existing challenges of operating amid increased high-rise development and changes in the Docklands area, has made it impossible to sustain the business,” she said.

Costing about $100m to build, the Melbourne Star has been problem plagued since it opened at the end of 2008. Within weeks, it was forced to shut after cracks appeared in the structure and then again ­almost 10 years later, when almost 100 passengers were stranded mid-air.

There was more troubling news for the city on Monday, with Victorian Covid-19 logistics chief Jeroen Weimar saying that small breaches of lockdown rules, such as babysitting, by large families and transmission at small businesses in the northern and western suburbs were fuelling rising case numbers.

He said health authorities were working to engage with communities in the north and west but more people were spending time in the community while infectious and leaving behind complicated chains of transmission.

“I think everybody in Victoria has had enough of this entire discussion and everybody Victoria wants this to be over,” he said.

“We are absolutely seeing ­people saying, it’s just too hard, I can’t do this anymore. And we’re seeing small breaches here and there of all those rules that have held this (Covid-19) back for so long.”

About 80 per cent of Monday’s cases were recorded in the northern and western suburbs, 126 and 71 respectively, while 83 per cent were in people under the age of 50.

Deakin University chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett said compliance with restrictions had dropped but it was crucial people held out for the next couple of weeks while vaccination rates increased.

“Our reproduction number is higher than Sydney so it is a critical time that we don’t relax too much,” she said. “At the moment we are not holding it quite as well as we probably need to.”

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said 60.9 per cent of Victorians had received their first dose of vaccine as the state crept ahead of the September 23 target while the regions were on track for an easing of restrictions next week.