Lockdown restrictions may ease as Premier Daniel Andrews promises ‘unprecedented’ budget

Victorians are hoping for a major easing of restrictions from midnight, but Daniel Andrews says he won’t be pushed.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton ahead of a daily Covid brief. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Daniel Andrews has told Victorian business owners to ask for help instead of defying COVID restrictions by opening their doors, flagging that next month’s state budget would provide “unprecedented” support.

Victorians are hoping for a significant easing of restrictions from midnight tonight, with the embattled Premier expected to make a major announcement about their futures on Sunday. Yesterday marked Melbourne’s 100th day in hard lockdown and patience is wearing thin, but Mr Andrews warned he “won’t be pressured” into doing the popular thing.

“I know businesses want to get back, not just for their profits but for their people, for their staff and customers, but you’ve got to do it safely,” Mr Andrews said when asked whether the government was concerned more businesses would resume trading in the face of ongoing lockdowns.

Pleading for patience, the Premier said that while the state’s severe lockdowns had been “challenging and painful”, his government would deliver a budget next month that would offer “healing” to the business community.

“There will be (healing) in a budget that will be unprecedented in the scale and the nature of the investments we will make,” Mr Andrews said on Saturday.

“The fact that we can have a debate about how we will open is a testament to the sacrifice and the hard work, the unique contribution that Victorians have made and the spirit and the strength that Victorians have shown.”

The Premier urged business owners doing it tough to reach out to the government, as there might be avenues of assistance they are unaware of and eligible for.

“I have seen people saying ‘I need to open because I have no money’, well there’s assistance there — you should ring and we’ll look after you if we can,” Mr Andrews said.

“Any support you need we’ll try and provide that to you.”

He said the maths “doesn’t add up” for businesses who are defying rules and opening, just to be slapped with a $10,000 fine.

“I feel for anyone who finds themselves in a position like that, of course we do, and that’s why there’s been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business support,” Mr Andrews said.

‘Opening up, all that will do is get you a fine’: Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“If there’s anything specifically we can do for a business like that then we’re more than happy to talk to them, not just as a business but as a person, if they’re in that sort of financial hardship there might be things that we can do, there might be things they’re eligible for they don’t know about. But opening up, all that will do is get you a fine, that won’t get you any takings or any profit, it’ll just get you a pretty hefty fine and it has to be that way.”

Earlier this week, the state’s treasurer Tim Pallas warned Victoria was “not yet at the worst” of its coronavirus recession, as Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed 36,000 Victorians lost their jobs in September.

The state government recorded a deficit of $6.5 billion in the past financial year, with Mr Pallas saying he believed the deficit would increase when he hands down the state budget next month.

“We will of course remain in deficit for some time and we will see growing debt as a consequence of the COVID-19 interventions the government sees as vital,” Mr Pallas said

Victoria’s net debt grew to $44 billion, up $18.8 billion dollars in the past financial year, to pay for the government’s COVID-19 response and infrastructure projects.

Premier Andrews on Saturday said whatever decision he made on Sunday to ease lockdowns, he would still be criticised by the federal government, slamming federal Health minister Greg Hunt’s claims that the state had met the epidemiological threshold to lift restrictions as “just wrong.”