Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell says the Andrews Labor Government must immediately re-instate density quotas for hospitality venues to give them a fighting chance at survival.
Ms Britnell said eased restrictions in regional Victoria only allow for 10 people to dine indoors and 20 people to dine outdoors across an entire venue.
“This means huge venues like bowls clubs, RSLs and footy clubs can only have 10 people sitting down at a time indoors,” she said.
“It just makes zero sense and for many of these venues it won’t even be worth them turning on the lights to re-open.
“Previously they were subject to a density quota with an upper cap – for most that was workable and made opening viable.”
Ms Britnell said the Government needed to explain how it determined that density quotas were no longer safe and how they landed on 10 being an acceptable number.
“Daniel Andrews stood up and made it sound like this was good news for business – it was very clear he has spent his entire life working in the public service and has no idea about the cost of running a business,” she said.
“I’ve been on the phone with hospitality business owners since this was announced and most of them say it’s just not viable to open for such low numbers.
“They will say it’s based on health advice, but I want to know why the public heath team gave this advice – as my maths teacher used to say, show your working, explain how you got to this answer.
“Why, with higher levels of vaccination and low levels of virus in regional communities, is a density quota with an upper cap for a hospitality venue no longer safe?”
