Aussie state lawmakers call to scrap all COVID restrictions in Victoria

02/01/2022 / By Ramon Tomey

A group of Australian lawmakers in Victoria has called to rescind all Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in the state. The opposition Liberal-National Coalition (LNC) said it plans on urging Victoria Premier Dan Andrews to adopt the proposal.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy, who heads the Liberal Party of Australia faction in the Victorian Parliament, elaborated on the coalition’s proposal on Jan. 30. It would put an immediate end to any planned statewide lockdowns and density limits for businesses. QR code check-ins for low-risk areas would be suspended and face masks would only be required in high-risk locations.

“Victorians won’t recover and rebuild under more back-to-the-future mandates, lockdowns and restrictions. Now is the time for a new approach. For two years, families and local communities have trusted the system and followed the rules,” Guy told the Melbourne tabloid Herald Sun.

“Now is the time for the government to trust them and let them get on with their lives. Victorians need a new approach that treats them with respect and backs them – not berates them – to make the right choices.”

Guy told Sky News in a separate interview: “Let’s move on with life, let’s keep our kids back at school, let’s make sure our hospital system’s prepared, let’s remove work-from-home orders, let’s try and get ourselves back to life again. That’s what we want in Victoria.”

“We’ve had the world’s longest lockdowns. Melbourne’s [central business district] is dead. We need to get our economy going again. We need it, for our own mental health, to get the state going again,” said the Victorian lawmaker. “We won’t do that with a state government that’s addicted to governing and ruling by fear.”

Peter Walsh, the deputy opposition leader who leads the National Party of Australia faction in the state parliament, agreed with Guy. He said regional Victorians could be trusted to “continue to do the right thing by themselves, their families and their communities.”

Opposition proposal won’t mandate boosters

The LNC also joined the city of Melbourne in calling on public servants and businesses to return back to offices to breathe new life into the Victorian capital’s business district. This contrasted with the advice from Andrews’ Victorian Labor Party, which recommended that people work from home due to the spike in COVID-19 cases driven by the B11529 omicron strain.

Andrews has suggested that booster shots would become mandatory to maintain full vaccination. The Victoria premier has also been pushing to make three COVID-19 vaccine doses the standard of full vaccination. With only 38 percent of Victorians being injected with boosters, Andrews warned that it was only “a matter of time” before the three-dose standard comes into effect. (Related: Australia expanding definition of “fully vaccinated” to include third covid injection.)

On the other hand, Guy’s proposal advised against making COVID-19 booster shots mandatory. Instead, the Victorian government should immediately redirect its advertising into a “comprehensive vaccination advertising campaign” to encourage Victorians. The opposition leader cited the state’s 94 percent full vaccination rate as proof of this.

“When it comes to healthcare workers, we’re comfortable in those settings. Beyond that, we have to get people back to normal life. We can’t keep operating about mandating a third, fourth [and] fifth [shot] – people want their lives back,” Guy told Sky News. Under his proposal, boosters would not be required to deem Victorians fully vaccinated.

The opposition leader also had strong words against hard lockdowns, something Andrews became known for during the pandemic. Guy vowed not to impose any such measures on a population weary of restrictions.

“Lockdowns aren’t the way going forward. The way going forward is treating schools like a bubble; testing people; encouraging [and] advertising to make sure people get the boosters; and doing this with Victorians – not in spite of them,” he said.

“The days of lockdowns are over for Victoria. We’ll manage it through other ways, and we can manage any future pandemic response in other ways.”