Infinity owners Tara and Russell Jarrett in their empty Kyabram gym because Daniel Andrews has ignored all evidence to the contrary and refused to let gyms reopen.
KYABRAM gym owners Russell and Tara Jarrett can only watch helplessly as their massive investment in the town is being chipped away by the refusal; the failure, of the Andrews Labor government to green light fitness centres across regional Victoria when all the evidence is to the contrary.
The Nationals Victorian leader and Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said, like so many of the Premier’s seemingly random decisions, there is no science backing his decisions about fitness centres and gyms.
Mr Walsh said since NSW relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions, fitness centres across that state had registered more than seven million unique visits without a single positive case of coronavirus.
“But Mr Andrews has not let the facts get in the way of any decision he has made in his bid to permanently cripple the regional economy of Victoria,” he added.
“I visited the Jarretts in Kyabram this week and here is a passionate business couple, strong supporters of their community on many levels, wondering what they have done to deserve this disaster,” he said.
“Their facility is world class and before the pandemic struck, before Daniel Andrews singlehandedly ignored all the best advice and plunged Victoria into chaos with his incredibly botched hotel quarantine program and contact tracing system, the Jarretts had more than 500 members on their books.
“Today they have barely 200 – since March they have only managed to open for a total of four weeks. It is heartbreaking to see this happening across regional Victoria, not just in Kyabram.”
But he said it would be pointless advising those remaining members of a start date only to have it pulled from under their feet by “a capricious Victorian Premier and his COVID Seven (it was eight until he threw Health Minister Jenny Mikakos under a bus and tried to pin the whole mess on her)”.
Mr Jarrett said if they could even get a date, even a week or month, when they knew they would reopen, they could start planning for it now.
However, he agreed with Mr Wash and said without a firm date it was pointless.
His gym has a variety of dedicated and separate training spaces, cutting edge equipment and the potential to get even bigger.
“Right now, though, we wake up each morning and wonder if we will make it through another day,” Mr Jarrett said.
“I am appealing to every Victorian to start hounding their local Labor members of Parliament – the people at the top aren’t listening but the backbenchers in marginal seats and new seats must be feeling very vulnerable as public sentiment against their Premier and their party continues to sour,” he said.
“Start pounding them with phone calls and emails, on Facebook and in your local papers – we have got to stop this before it is too late.”
Mr Jarrett said he and his family would never be able to repay the kindness and support shown by around 200 club members paying reduced weekly fees.
“Those people know they are basically making a donation to the gym in the hope it will be here whenever the Premier wakes up to the damage he is doing and finally realises regional Victoria must be unshackled from the shambles that is Melbourne,” Mr Jarrett added.
Media contact: Andrew Mole 0419 132 369 andrew.mole@parliament.vic.gov.au