Dear Editor,
After 111 days of leave the Premier is finally back in the job.
He says he’s ‘fighting fit’ which is good news given the long list of problems he’ll have to tackle to get our people and our state’s economy back on track.
Top of the list is the need to release a plan out of snap lockdowns.
Lockdown is absolutely devastating for all of us.
For our mental health, for our children’s education, for local jobs and for our small businesses that are constantly having to close their doors.
We deserve certainty that our whole state won’t be thrown into lockdown due to an outbreak in Melbourne.
A localised approach to lockdown, by postcode, tells us the government is confident it can get the basics right and get outbreaks quickly under control, without having to lockdown communities that are located hundreds of kilometres from active cases.
Any government must be prepared to be transparent and accountable for its actions.
We keep hearing that the Labor Government is relying on the health advice to make decisions on lockdown.
Victorians deserve the truth, we deserve to see the evidence behind the decisions that are being made on our behalf to force us to stay in our homes and to isolate from our community.
Public health advice is exactly that – for the public.The secrecy must end and Labor must immediately release it so we can have confidence these decisions – which have put people out of work and closed our small businesses – is actually in our best interests.Other changes to lead our state on the road to recovery should include rapid testing, fixing problems in contact tracing and implementing an online vaccination system.These small changes are proactive, immediate change the Government can make right now to take the pressure off all Victorians.
Peter Walsh
Leader of The Nationals
Member for Murray Plains