David Limbrick MLC

David Limbrick, Liberal Democrats MLC for South East Metropolitan, s urging the Andrews State Government to consider letting Covid-free suburbs in the south-east out of lockdown early.

Mr Limbrick said while he understood the need to stop the spread of the virus, hundreds of thousands of people in south- east Melbourne live in areas no worse than country towns that are not in lockdown.

“The latest maps show that COVID cases are overwhelmingly to the north and north west of Melbourne,” Mr Limbrick said.

“In the meantime, this is devastating hundreds of businesses in areas like Kingston that are relatively free of the disease.

Mr Limbrick said he believes the Victorian Government needs to get more sophisticated with how it manages COVID.

“There is no guarantee there will be a vaccine, so this could be around for years.
“We still need to look after the most vulnerable, but we can’t lock down the whole of Melbourne every time there is a break-out in a particular suburb. Kids still need to go to school and people still need to make a living.”

Mr Limbrick said he is concerned that the Government might have stopped listening to people. “There are no more Parliament sittings or hearings into the matter by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee until August.

“Meanwhile, they are batting away criticism by saying there will be a judicial inquiry in September.

“People in my electorate are angry and this standard of accountability and responsiveness to the disease is not nearly good enough,” Mr Limbrick said.