Scott Morrison has taken a dig at Daniel Andrews after the Victorian Premier decided to announce a delay in the easing of lockdown restrictions on Sunday.
In a joint media release, along with Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, the PM said the delay in lifting restrictions was “a profound disappointment”.
“At some point, you have to move forward and put your public health systems to work in a bid to reclaim the jobs that have been lost, and rescue the livelihoods and peace of mind of so many Victorians who have been affected by the inability to contain the outbreak that led to the second Victorian wave,” the statement said.
It then continues saying that the Victorian government is either able to manage the outbreaks or isn’t.
The statement also said borders and closures were not “indicators of public health success”, but the opposite.
“The decision to keep businesses closed suggests that there is still not sufficient confidence within the Government that their systems can support reopening,” the statement said.
“This is a profound disappointment. Of course, Victorians do not want to face another lockdown and of course they don’t want all of this to have been for nothing.
“That is why ensuring the State Government’s capability to deal with outbreaks through their public health response is so essential. This is what you need for Victoria to open up safely and stay safely open.”
On Sunday, Andrews announced that he will hold off on lifting restrictions in Melbourne as there were still close to a 1000 tests being processed due to an outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
“We had hoped today to be able to announce that metropolitan Melbourne would take significant steps, not from today but from mid-week, around retail, hospitality and a whole range of other important next steps,” Andrews said.
“We are not in a position to do that today because we have at least 1000 test results from that northern metropolitan outbreak that are in the labs.”
He also emphasised on the fact that even if changes were announced they would would not come into effect until later in the week.
Morrison, Frydenberg and Hunt called for Victoria to mirror NSW’s Covid-Safe restrictions “for the sake of health, mental health and halting the loss of more than 1,000 jobs per day”.
During the press conference on Sunday, Andrews sympathised and said he understood the delay was “frustrating”.
