Morrison warns Premier of federal review, says: your mess, you pay for it

Scott Morrison has accused the Andrews government of sentencing Victorians to a lockdown longer than necessary due to inadequate contact tracing.

Scott Morrison said the Victorian road map would have a significant impact on the October 6 budget and the nation’s ability to reboot the national economy. Picture: Martin Ollman

Scott Morrison has accused the Andrews government of sentencing Victorians to a lockdown longer than necessary due to inadequate contact tracing, warning the state would have to compensate businesses and workers for the extended economic crisis.

The Prime Minister, in condemning Daniel Andrews’s recovery road map, announced that commonwealth health officials would forensically review the plan to examine whether the prolonged restrictions were justified.

Mr Morrison’s comments came as companies and employer groups accused the Victorian Premier of hiding behind secret modelling to defend its lockdowns that would devastate businesses across the state.

John Gandel, the billionaire co-owner of the sprawling Chadstone shopping centre, said the strategy “has bought absolutely no certainty to the whole situation”.

And Flight Centre co-founder Geoff Harris said things would “definitely get worse in the first six months of next year when government subsidies run out and banks want their debts paid and everyday punters have to start repaying their mortgages”.

“If you’re a business owner wanting to invest in Victoria, will you deploy your capital here, interstate or internationally?” he said. “I really think this is killing the goose that laid the golden egg that is business in Victoria, which pays the taxes that help fund the health sector.”

Venting his frustration with the plan that delivered the prospect of indefinite lockdowns for Melbourne, Mr Morrison warned Mr Andrews not to “create a burden that is too great to bear”.

Mr Morrison said the Victorian road map would have a significant impact on the October 6 budget and the nation’s ability to reboot the national economy.

He also warned of “ripple effects” across Australia.

In the first intervention of its kind since the start of the pandemic, the commonwealth will conduct a review of the road map and the data underpinning it.

Mr Morrison said the question of whether Victorians would be out of lockdown sooner if their contact tracing was as good as in NSW needed to be asked.

He also said the Victorian government had not released to the commonwealth the detailed modelling that informed the restrictions.

“What I can’t help but be struck by is that, under the thresholds that have been set in that plan, Sydney would be under curfew now,” Mr Morrison said.

“Sydney doesn’t need to be under curfew now. They have a tracing capability that can deal with outbreaks.

“One of those key assumptions, which not only are we asking about, is the assumptions that have been made (by Victoria) about the efficacy of contact tracing,” Mr Morrison said.

“And whether improvements in contact tracing would enable that plan to be bettered and to see Victorians having their livelihoods and their lives restored sooner.

“The mental health of Victorians will be sorely tested. The plan that was outlined yesterday, I hope, is a worst-case scenario.”

Setting up a flashpoint for ongoing conflict between the Victorian and federal governments, Mr Andrews on Monday evening rejected comparisons with NSW.

“I don’t think that’s a particularly valid comparison, and not a worthwhile one,” Mr Andrews told the ABC’s 7.30 program.

“We have got a set of unique circumstances that apply to Victoria and a road map to safely and steadily ease out of these current rules, these current restrictions, to find a COVID normal, to open up and stay open,” he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Mr Andrews flagged measures to support business in the state, and said he would “spend these next few days, this next week or so, consulting” with various sectors.

Mr Morrison had earlier increased pressure on the Victorian government to provide support to businesses and families in the state beyond federal schemes.

“The situation we have in Victoria is very specific to Victoria, and I’m seeking to see what the Victorian government will be doing in taking actions to mitigate the economic impact of the decisions the Victorian government has made regarding the restrictions and the plan that they have set out,” Mr Morrison said.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents major employers, labelled Victoria’s controversial recovery road map “an elimination strategy in all but name” and warned businesses would leave the state to invest elsewhere.

Melbourne will move to stage three of the government’s road map on October 26 if there are less than an average of five new daily cases across the state over the previous fortnight and less than five cases with an unknown source.

There will need to be no new cases in the state for a fortnight to reach the fourth step, which is expected to be around November 23.

Under the fourth stage, cafes and restaurants can seat groups of up to 20 people with a maximum of 50 patrons.

Fifty people would be allowed at weddings and funerals.

Mr Andrews on Monday took aim at the practicality of proposals for more limited postcode-by-postcode lockdowns, saying they wouldn’t work unless there was a bar on everyone going in or out — including police, nurses, doctors and retail workers.

The Victorian government has, however, left the door open to relaxing restrictions more quickly if case numbers fell rapidly.

This was also disputed by Mr Morrison, who said it was possible to lockdown hotspots so the rest of the state could begin to re-open.

Labor’s deputy federal leader, Richard Marles, said the road map had been put forward by the Victorian government to “provide a sense of guidance” but conceded that it “obviously makes for difficult reading”.

“The truth is we’re in a difficult situation,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: RACHEL BAXENDALE, ROSIE LEWIS