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Coronavirus Australia live update: Daniel Andrews says regional Victoria restrictions to ease in Covid press conference Coronavirus Australia live update: Daniel Andrews says regional Victoria restrictions to ease in Covid press conference
(32 minutes later)
Victoria records 42 new Covid cases and no deaths; SA may open border to NSW; and WA adds to pressure for federal quarantine. Follow all today’s newsVictoria records 42 new Covid cases and no deaths; SA may open border to NSW; and WA adds to pressure for federal quarantine. Follow all today’s news
Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos is asked about when elective surgery will re-open in regional Victoria: Does Victoria want the government to keep jobkeeper and jobseeker where it is?
Here’s the official statement:
Deputy CHO, professor Allen Cheng says it is not just case numbers authorities are looking at when making these decisions- it is where the cases are coming from, how much testing there has been in the community, and attitudes towards self isolation:
That’s something we are hearing about more and more from the nation’s health experts – that people who have this virus and recover are left with health problems, including neurological issues and nerve damage. It’s not a flu. If you recover, chances are you aren’t just getting on with life as you did before.
Asked about the news that no one diagnosed with Covid died in the last 24 hours in Victoria, which is the first time since 13 July that has happened, Daniel Andrews says:
Can Melbourne residents take some hope from this that they might see an easing of restrictions themselves soon?
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
What about in-betweenish areas, like the Mornington Peninsula. Q: The Prime Minister has told the hotels inquiry that he wrote to you three times offering ADF support. Why did you tell the Victorian Parliament that there was never ADF support for the hotel quarantine on offer.
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
Q: What’s going to be the protocols for making sure Melburnians don’t get into regional Victoria? Qantas wants to consolidate its headquarters to save on rent. Daniel Andrews says he has been chatting with Alan Joyce:
Daniel Andrews: Again, there are rules in place now in terms of who can travel. Those rules are not so much the rules themselves changing but the enforcement will be beefed up even further. Q: On policing more broadly. We’ve had the incidents you mentioned and a number of other incidents including earlier this month – an Indigenous man who I think was riding his bike to work on the metro tunnel. He ended up with his arm in a sling, his bike broken. Allegedly he was called a black C-word by police. Do Victoria Police have a serious cultural problem?
Q: What will that look like?
Andrews: What it will mean is that you’ll finish up with even more cars being stopped. We’ll come back on the exact figure, the exact percentage tomorrow, but it will – I’m sorry to say it will mean that there will be significant queues, there will be travel issues, but I think that regional Victorians understand, and regional Victorians – certainly the message I get is they jealously guard the low numbers, the low virus status that regional Victoria enjoys today and they want to keep it that way. So there will be a time later in the year when we can have that freedom of movement. We can’t have it now, because it puts at risk everything that is possible in regional Victoria because the numbers are low. We’ll also have a bit more to say about the likely fine that you would be issued with if you were to be in regional Victoria from Melbourne without a lawful reason. This is very serious, very, very serious. We cannot have people making unnecessary and unlawful trips to regional Victoria and potentially taking the virus with them. Regional Victorians have given too much and achieved too much to put that at risk. I which won’t allow that to happen. So I simply won’t allow that to happen. So we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure people are stopped, fined, turned around and set back to the metropolitan address they should never have left.
Q: Second property-owners still can’t move to their second property?
Andrews: Correct.
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
But you can’t move from Melbourne to regional Victoria. No, I don’t believe so. And no, I don’t think that police would concur with the way you’ve described that particular event. They would have a different version of events but that’s not for me to advance. That would be for them to advance and I’m not sure whether there’s a court process or any other person...
Q: Are you alleging that that person is voicing untruths about...
Andrews:
I’m not alleging anything. It’s not for me to allege anything. I said police would take up the view of events and you’re free to test that with them. Whenever I don’t speak about a specific case, it will be for a good reason and I have where I’ve been save 20 do so, I’ve spoken at length and I communicated directly with the constable in Frankston who, it will be alleged, savagely assaulted – I thought that was the appropriate thing to do.
In broad terms, and in very specific terms – just so there’s no doubt – Victoria Police are out there doing very important work. They do it with professionalism. They do it with skill. They do with a genuine concern to keep the community safe. I’m grateful to them, but where an individual incident occurs, which I don’t think speaks to culture, where an individual incident occurs, it should be properly investigated and I have confidence that that’s exactly what will happen.
Q: There have been numerous individual incidents, though.
Andrews:
Well, if you think about the number of - I haven’t got the numbers to hand, but pre-pandemic - and I don’t believe this has changed - pre-pandemic, the percentage of incidents, the number of incidents as a percentage of the total daily interactions that members of Victoria Police have with Victorians, it is a low number. Every one of those incidents is taken seriously and that’s why I’d make, perhaps, a different judgement about police culture than the one that you put to me. People are free to have a different view. But I’m here to make it very clear on behalf of the government that we think, notwithstanding any individual incident that needs to be and will be properly and fairly and frankly investigated, we ... My view is that Victoria Police are out there working very hard for all of us to keep all of us safe. And whether it’s Covid issues, or the youth gang push that was announced yesterday, I think Victoria Police have a very broad brief and they are working very hard to make sure that pandemic and afterwards, they’re out there fighting crime and keeping the community safe.
On the incident which has left a man in an induced coma and a police officer suspended (on pay) Daniel Andrews says:
Q: A lot of people are expressing their displeasure with you and what you’ve been doing over the last few months. There’s a “give Dan the boot” campaign, including photos of boots out the front of your father’s funeral. Is that stepping over the line?
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
If you are headed out in regional Victoria, here are the rules for food and drink establishments. Will Victoria restart hotel quarantine for returning travellers?
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
What exactly does that mean? Is the Victorian opposition right – are there now 100,000 people on the elective surgery waiting list?
Daniel Andrews says he doesn’t have the latest figures (so the opposition could be right):
Does regional Victoria now need to wait on metro Melbourne to take the final steps to a normal Covid-normal life?
Daniel Andrews:Daniel Andrews:
Daniel Andrews has some very welcome news: Given the size of some country pubs, why cap indoor dining at 20?
The Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry has heard the federal government has made a “voluntary” submission to the inquiry. Daniel Andrews:
It is similar to the voluntary submission the federal government made to the NSW Ruby Princess royal commission (and then subsequently didn’t get witnesses to appear before the inquiry). Victorian authorities haven’t decided on whether or not you can camp in regional Victoria yet, and gyms are still closed – all classes must be outside.
The submission has yet to be made public, but it was announced as Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp began giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday. Should people living in Melbourne feel like they are the only ones in Australia living under restrictions now?
As part of his evidence, redacted recordings of the state control centre meetings in late March will be tabled. Daniel Andrews:
These meetings were where the processes of hotel quarantine were established, including the decision to use private security firms.
Victorian police minister Lisa Neville is now also due to give evidence to the inquiry, as will premier Daniel Andrews next week.
This week Victoria’s chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton will appear, as well as police commissioner Shane Patton and former police commissioner Graham Ashton.
Closing submissions for the inquiry will be on Friday 25 September.
And here is your election line.
Scott Morrison:
I mean, he’s not wrong?
Or, as Murph says:
Scott Morrison has just got to the nub of his speech – and his government’s plan: