Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says his Government is yet to decide if it will lift the "ring of steel" travel border around Melbourne when coronavirus restrictions are next eased.
Key points:
- Melbourne's roadmap lists the travel ban as lifting once the city reaches the next step in the restrictions roadmap
- But the likely date for the next step has been brought forward, and the Premier says it could be too early for intrastate travel
- Regional tourism operators say the travel ban is hurting their businesses
The Victorian Government hopes to move Melbourne to the third step of the city's roadmap out of restrictions on October 19, if case numbers drop enough.
That roadmap, which was released on September 13, lists intrastate travel as an allowed activity once the city reaches the third step.
But Mr Andrews yesterday said he hadn't made a decision on whether that would in fact be allowed.
"Whether it is safe to have free movement into regional Victoria without rules, that matter has not been settled but we are turning our mind to that," he said.
"We will be very clear with people on or about the 19th when we can hopefully take that next step in metro Melbourne; we will be very clear with people about what travel opportunities there are."
Regional Victoria wants to protect low virus numbers: Andrews
The Premier said he understood many families split between Melbourne and regional Victoria were keen to be reunited.
But he said travel options would depend on the level of virus transmission in Melbourne.
"Certainly all the regional Victorian leaders, and all the others I speak to, are very keen to make sure we don't do anything that compromises the very low virus state," he said.
He flagged the possibility of an expanded list of reasons why Melburnians could travel out of the city under the third step.
"That might not be a smart thing to do at that point.
"But that shouldn't also be read to mean that for all of the second half of October and all of November that those rules would stay in place, it might be a shorter period."
'Massive' losses still a reality for regional businesses
Regional Victoria moved to step 3 of its roadmap on September 16, meaning dining in restaurants and intrastate travel have now been allowed for two weeks.
But while some regional Victorians have used the new freedoms to travel across the state, many businesses are still struggling to survive without access to Melbourne customers.
Brae restaurant owner Julianne Bagnato said about 85 per cent of visitors to her Birregurra business were from Melbourne.
While she was adamant no-one wanted to see coronavirus spread into a region that had seen so few cases, she believed the public and governments were underestimating how devastating the financial impacts had been on family-run businesses.
"We can only fill three days a week so we're really still restricted to about 40 per cent of our normal trade," she said.
Ms Bagnato said she supported the Premier's efforts to reduce the virus's spread.
"But we all know now that hospitality businesses can operate safely; they're doing it in New South Wales," she said.
"Why can't we get to a point where we can do the same here in Victoria? It's time."
Holiday bookings from Melburnians already strong
Tracy Carter, from Visit Geelong and the Bellarine, said holiday bookings for the September school holidays had been slow.
Usually, about 70 per cent of domestic overnight visitors to her region were from Melbourne, she said.
"The sooner we can get them back the better, but obviously we have to balance that with the community health elements of making sure it's safe."
Ms Carter said bookings were already looking strong for the Melbourne Cup weekend in early November, more so than the Grand Final long weekend this month.
"I think [Melburnians] definitely were looking at the roadmap and seeing when the steps were likely to happen and banking that things would go well," she said.
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2020-10-01 20:32:00Z
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