The Coalition has marked the ending of Victoria’s pandemic declaration by promising to reduce the power of the premier to force rolling lockdowns on the community.
The state’s pandemic declaration ended on Wednesday, October 12 at 11.59pm, as part of changes to COVID-19 requirements to align with all states and territories.
It means Victorians will be strongly recommended to isolate after testing positive to COVID-19 instead of being required to isolate.
When announcing the changes on October 7, Premier Daniel Andrews said “Victorians have done an amazing job over the last three years” and that requirements were still in place to protect “healthcare workers and vulnerable Victorians in high-risk settings like aged care, disability settings and hospitals”.
Speaking in Shepparton on Wednesday just hours before the declaration ended, Shadow Treasurer David Davis said too much power was retained by the premier in current legislation and if it won government in November, the Coalition would change that.
“We've said that if elected we will repeal the pandemic bill. That bill gives too much power to the premier, too much power that's unchecked,” Mr Davis said.
“A new bill would replace that and that would have a number of important controls and checks in it.
“We've also said that there'll be no more lockdowns, we're not interested in more lockdowns. We don't think that that is the right way to go.”
However, when pressed on whether a Coalition government would implement lockdowns in the case of a pandemic and if health advice recommended it, Mr Davis would not rule out using the measure.
“We're saying that government would be able to do certain arrangements, certain powers,” he said.
“I'm a former health minister, I actually understand these powers and I see the necessity for tough government action on certain occasions. However, this should be done with honesty. It should be done with integrity, and what I think with pandemic work like this is the idea that we would lock down for ever with a carte blanche, which is what exists now, without proper scrutiny is wrong.
“We're actually saying that government would have to go back to Parliament if they want to endlessly roll on with lockdowns.”
Shepparton was the hardest hit regional centre in Victoria by measure of days spent in lockdown due to a number of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Its latest lockdown was lifted on October 8, 2021.
Melbourne is often quoted as being the city most locked down in the world, having endured months of lockdowns.