Metro eases but business stuck in limbo

VICTORIAN Premier Daniel Andrews has veered off Melbourne’s reopening road map, leaving shop owners, publicans and restaurateurs in limbo for another fortnight even as movement limits are eased.

From Monday, Melburnians can leave home as often as they want and travel up to 25km to see friends and family from one other household in groups of up to 10 outdoors.

But Saturday’s all-Victorian AFL Grand Final must be watched from home, with pubs, bars and clubs shut until November 2.

Mr Andrews (pictured) said the decision to keep hospitality and retail businesses closed – which sparked widespread anger – would be reviewed daily but would not change before the weekend.

Under the road map, those businesses had expected to reopen by October 26.

Police will enforce the new outdoor gatherings limit, with groups of 10 required to be clearly separated from others.

The 25km travel bubble will be in place until November 2, and Mr Andrews said it “may well be a feature beyond that”.

And masks are likely to remain mandatory for even longer, with the Premier saying the “low-cost, high-benefit” measure had “played a massive part” in containing last week’s Shepparton cluster.

The five-case rolling average threshold to move to the next stage has been scrapped, and Mr Andrews indicated the zero-case threshold needed for further changes in late November would be set aside.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said with Melbourne in its 16th week of a planned six-week lockdown, the Premier was moving too slowly. But Mr Andrews said: “These are the safe, steady steps that will see us out of this.”