Victorians grounded as Daniel Andrews stalls roadmap out of stage-four lockdowns

Daniel Andrews has flagged continuing travel restrictions for Melburnians within Victoria for weeks.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews arrives at his daily coronavirus briefing in Melbourne on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

Daniel Andrews has flagged continuing travel restrictions for Melburnians within Victoria for weeks to come, declaring he wants to “jealously guard” low virus numbers in regional areas.

Ahead of a national cabinet meeting on Friday that will discuss a hotspot plan pushed by Scott Morrison as a way to free up interstate movement, the Victorian Premier is also holding off until Sunday on detailing a roadmap out of stage-four lockdowns, saying daily coronavirus case numbers in the state remain too volatile.

Mr Andrews flagged continuing restrictions as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would not bend on her determination to keep her state’s borders closed despite the looming national cabinet discussion on the Prime Minister’s national “hotspot” system.

However, Ms Palaszczuk ordered the creation of a new border exemption unit to deal with “distressing” cases of northern NSW patients denied medical care in Queensland.

The Australian reported on Monday that Tweed Heads teenager Sean Rice, who survived a double-lung transplant, missed a crucial check-up in Brisbane because of the border closure. Last week, it emerged that Ballina woman Kimberley Brown’s unborn twin died after she was forced to travel 750km to Sydney for treatment rather than being operated on in Brisbane.

“(We will) set up a unit where they can deal with these specialist appointments in a co-ordinated manner … it is a very distressing time for families,” Ms Palaszczuk said, adding that she had not seen the federal government hotspot proposal but would maintain her current policy.

“Queensland will continue to have our borders closed to keep Queenslanders safe, I’m not going to be moved on this, so the federal government can throw whoever they want at that … fundamentally the health of Queenslanders is my number one concern,” she said.

“ … I’ll look at the (Prime Minister’s) papers, but I’ll not be changing my position on keeping Queenslanders safe.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is determined to keep her state’s borders closed. Picture: Attila Csaszar

The Prime Minister has called for an end to COVID-19 restrictions and border closures by Christmas ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting which will discuss the plans to implement hotspot definitions.

The Australian understands Mr Morrison’s proposal for a national standard to be applied to coronavirus infection hot spots, rather than blanket bans, is expected to be released later this week but was unlikely to be finalised at Friday’s meeting.

Mr Morrison wants to take the current “heat” out of federal-state debate on border closures and economic recovery and seek more engagement with national cabinet leaders to “focus on the way back and work together”. He said it was time for the country to “focus on the road back”.

“The restrictions and arrangements we have today are not things that we want to see by Christmas,” Mr Morrison said.

“We need to continue to work together to ensure that we can open up the economy safely, just as we were doing in May and June and as we were going into July.

“We cannot retreat, we must always go forward when it comes to battling this virus.”

While Mr Morrison has not publicly criticised state and territory leaders, senior colleagues including Josh Frydenberg and Michael McCormack launched fresh attacks on Monday over Victoria’s economic road map delays and state border closures.

Mr Frydenberg released “devastating” Treasury figures highlighting the state’s economic crisis and called on Mr Andrews “to release a definitive plan” about lifting Stage 4 restrictions.

“What has transpired in Victoria has been like a slow-motion car crash. This has to be the biggest public policy failure by a state government in living memory,” the Treasurer said.

But Mr Andrews gave a clear signal that travelling outside lockdown areas was unlikely at least until after the school holidays that end in early October.

“I think that we will jealously guard the low numbers in regional Victoria, and I think every regional Victorian would want us to do that,” Mr Andrews said.

“People in Melbourne know and understand that Melbourne is in a different place. The presentation of the virus is very different in metropolitan Melbourne than it is in regional areas and keeping those numbers low in regional areas is very, very important.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison during question time in the House of Representatives in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Mike Bowers.

More than four weeks into the six-week Stage 4 lockdown and with case numbers falling, the Premier acknowledged people in Melbourne and its surrounds were crying out for clarity. He said his roadmap out would include a range of continuing restrictions including density limits in public settings, the continued use of face masks and working from home wherever possible.

But he offered some hope.

“When it comes to cafes, bars, restaurants, pubs, I think the improving weather and the part of the year we’re moving into does give us some options we simply didn’t have last time,” he said.

“So the notion of more outdoor eating, outdoor service — we’re looking at that very, very closely.”

The Premier admitted there was a chance the Stage 4 lockdowns could continue beyond September 13. He didn’t disagree with national Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth who said he couldn’t see the Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne and surrounds ending on time given the continuing high number of cases.

“We know every Victorian wants certainty about the future, for them, for their family and for their work,” he said.

The state recorded 73 new cases on Monday, the lowest number of daily cases since July 3.

Mr Andrews said he was focused on ensuring Victorians could celebrate Christmas Day “as normal” as possible.

Speaking in question time, Mr Morrison said Australians wanted to know what would happen not just in September but in October, November, December and January. Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee had discussed borders but “in terms of specific advice to the national cabinet that has not been given by AHPPC”.

“Those decisions have been made by individual states,” Professor Kelly said.