COVID-19: Melbourne/Greater Victoria Re-Opens

If we went back to the settings we had last week then thats fine - i suspect there will be more which are unnecessary.

The twitter army is loud - there is one side that will slam any critiscim of Dan Andrews which isn’t right - governments should be held to account and not all journos/media are evil. You know the government haven’t been completely clear and transparent when the ABC is asking questions.

Leigh Sales is an excellent and respected journo.

2 Likes

There is a right and wrong way the media go about things. Sure the Government has fucked up on a few things and they’ve since acknowledged that and questions have been asked.

However, from the very start they’ve been undermining the Government’s response to the pandemic. News Corp especially. Giving air time to the tin foil hat brigade, fear mongering, spreading false information. Always looking for a gotcha moment.

The media calling the Premier, ‘Dictator Dan‘. If you want to know what a Dictator’ is, go live in North Korea.

The Government have since shown they’ve improved contact tracing, protocols and procedures etc, yet the media have continued to undermine the Government’s response.

We’ve not seen this in any other state with the media undermining that Government’s response. Three other states have entered into a second lockdown due to a HQ leak with the UK strain, simply can’t find patient zero which started an outbreak or allowed people to get off a boat and go about their lives, yet they’ve been given a free pass by the media.

Victoria entered into a third lockdown due the UK strain (as three other states have done the same thing) and the media are acting like the sky is about to fall in. It’s getting beyond to joke now. Just seems whatever Victoria does it’s causes an outrage by the media.

6 Likes

that’s what dan indicated on Saturday

yes to a degree i agree. but when we had the ring of steel up . there was word going around here in ballarat that people from melbourne were finding ways of being up here for unlwaful reasons . there was a rumor that a person from melbourne lied to a police officer and got his carwheels changed here in ballarat and was suppodly going shoppping

As expected.

Totally agree we are all scratching our heads as why we are still in lock down. Yes straight away was fine as their was the unknown but come today they should be confident nothing has spread from Melbourne.

I agree.

I find it quite ridiculous that those from communities in regional Victoria, especially those bordering on New South Wales such as Mallacoota, Wodonga, Echuca etc. are subject to some of the conditions such as takeaway service only, compulsory wearing of masks, no gathering in homes, non-essential retail shops shut etc.

It is ruining the economy and people’s mental health.

3 Likes

What the Holiday Inn Cluster currently looks like - not including today’s new infection.

Regional Vic was just dragged along because they could not setup checkpoint areas fast enough.

because I suspect he would have had to draw police from the police stations and police from HQ in other words he didn’t have enough resources

Completely agree. But not every question is a having a ‘go’ at him and his direction.

Don’t you think the Government has undermined their own response though by going into a lockdown? There are always going to be questions when you think you need a lockdown to help assist the contact tracers and provide a ‘circuit breaker’.

1 Like

You’re a infectious diseases expert now?

Exactly. Where’s the tabloid horror headlines of an unknown super-spreader freely roaming Sydney’s streets because of the government’s failure to find the index case?

I’m all for tough questioning of governments, and most of the questions today were great; journos just trying to clarify & understand the thinking & reasoning behind the decisions. The responses were generally good too; some frustration, but I’ll give Victoria’s premier credit because he stays there for over an hour, answering every question he can, he accepts he’s responsible for what his government does, unlike the prime minister who is constantly evasive & just walks off.

It’s just 5 days, so let’s not exaggerate the impact; the government had to draw the line somewhere, and the state border is an obvious, albeit not ideal one.

As the premier said yesterday, if it was a longer lockdown then they’d setup the restrictions elsewhere, but for this quick one it keeps it simple & means there’s no point in people trying to sneak out of Melbourne to the regions, potentially bringing COVID-19 with them.

3 Likes

The things that she was asking I feel were what a lot of us are thinking today. The contact tracing team has done an outstanding job to keep this to where it is and it further increases my confidence in them. The risks have reduced significantly over the weekend so it’s perfectly fair to ask the sort of questions that she did.

I think we will go back to the settings that we were in last week. Nothing indicates that further measures are needed. We might just expect wider mask use etc for a period.

Those sort of comments are not undermining the Governments response. I think it’s a full props that the tracing team have the capabilities that they have today. That is exactly why though it’s not unreasonable for people to ask questions regarding the continuing Lockdown, when the last few days have proven that our contract tracing team appear to be well on top of this outbreak.

These lockdowns affect everyone differently so you need to understand that there are other perspectives. It was a particularly tough weekend for the economy to have to shut down given the range of events in Melbourne, so for some people this lock down was very much like the sky falling in.

3 Likes

Yes, actually I am, like many here :roll_eyes:

That comment is my take hence the word “suspect” every single time the Vic Gov have been overly cautious hence why we live under the strictest rules of any state in the country even when we went 60 days without a case. I’m happy to eat my words if we revert back to last weeks conditions.

I assume you have a secure, well paying job and becaus it doesn’t impact you, you take the approach that it is an exaggeration. Lucky for me I am in a very secure job that pays me very well, others aren’t so fortunate.

Lets look at 5 days shutdown and its impact on one individual and I’ll use the example of my friend (who is real) who works in events mgmt casually for Federation Square. She was booked to work Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and as a result of the lockdown and the Sat>Mon shifts being cancelled she has lost out over $1,200 in wages. This hurts moreso because she has largely been out of work since March last year and is already immensely struggling with affording anything as she isn’t eligible for job keeper as the work in event mgmt is largely contractual and she moves from gig to gig

3 Likes

I totally agree, evidence suggests that no further measures are needed… lets live in hope.

1 Like

Why? What’s the point of it’s under control? Zero point.

Media would grill him. O’Brien would get a leg up here

This tweet from Seven News producer Matt Thompson sums it up well:

https://twitter.com/MattThompson/status/1360533430144913409

We can’t forget that whether it’s 5 days or 5 weeks, it’s still going to make a big impact on people’s livelihoods either way.

2 Likes

I agree. Zero point. I have lost faith and confidence that they will revert to previous settings.

I hope I’m wrong and I am happy for people to call me out of that.

https://twitter.com/CT____90/status/1360535313370685440

Lol

1 Like

well, dan did say on Saturday we could go back to Thursdays settings. and looking at Perth and Brisbane’s post lockdown restrictions for the 2 weeks its was somewhere to where we were last Friday before the lockdown. but mask-wearing everywhere was still a feature in both

2 Likes