New Victoria restrictions

TBH blackers, St Kilda would probably have better waves than us Surf Coasters today. I know it's bleak, but if you are desperate for a surf...

You may be missing the point VL, its not about today, we haven't been able to surf since the end of July, so let me enjoy my team winning And just so you know, St Kilda is out of my 25 km zone as well. Nice beach here, just no waves.

Great win by the mighty tigers blackers. Hope it made up for lost surf time. And to all the Melbourne crew who have done the right thing. Thank you. You're like Dusty Martin: absolute champions.

Congratulations to the AFL for hosting the best game of rugby played this year. Ugly ugly football

It was always going to be a slippery night after pissing down rain all day. There were moments of brilliance though

AFL sucked all year and the grand final was more of the same, didn't feel like a grand final, i was open to a night grand final but now I'm like nah, better during the day just didnt have the same energy and god that band at half time sucked.

Really hope next year it can be back at the MCG during the day.

So i just saw no change in restrictions for Vic.

Feel for the Melb crew but am also enjoying the lowish crowds had two fun surfs this week perfect conditions, light wind, high period swell and only a few local crew out and the water is slowly warming up.

AFL has been on a slippery slope for decades. It’s too defensive, players that attempt to get the ball are constantly infringed. Play markers are becoming extinct. Umpiring is marred by what is now permitted.

The AFL is one big kiss arse machine- the AFL, clubs and media. No one will forcefully stand up and comment on its defensive demise.

Less players on the ground with no additional interchange players so there is less chance of packs forming, open attacking is rewarded and players will tire and slow down late in the 3rd quarter and in the 4th like they used to.

"So i just saw no change in restrictions for Vic."
That's because you're an idiot Indo. Regional Victoria saw another round of easing restrictions because the figures allowed it. Well done especially to Shepparton. They crushed their outbreak due to community spirit and ample testing.
The message was very clear. The precise nature of the north Melbourne outbreak is still not clear so nothing can be announced for 24-48 hours. Do try and keep up Indo.

The outbreak is in North Melbourne yet the MP is still being punished. The joke continues

I get the frustration on the MP goofyfoot. I reckon the MP was kept in the lockdown zone because of the Frankston hospital cluster, and the high number of melbournians who spread covid around the peninsula in March.
Personally I'd love to see a few the outer LGA's in the lockdown zone get shifted into Regional Vic if they have no active cases. Seems to have happened for the Mitchell shire. Having said that, there's so many roads down to the MP from Melbourne, policing it would be nigh on impossible and a reclassification might cause more problems on the MP than being in the Melbourne area.

Come on VL..
Full disclosure time, what are your links to Labour?

It’s crazy huh stok, can’t bring himself to say one bad word about the peanut that’s micro managing every aspect of our lives.

With all due respect VL I don’t think you get the frustration at all

The GF was pretty special IMO. Not only was Dusty a cut above but the Cats blew their chances. I live in hope that the 'entertainment' is given the flick in future as too the welcome to country crap which is pure political correctness bs.

"Full disclosure time, what are your links to Labour?"
None, Never have been a member, never handed out HTV cards, and never worked for anyone in the ALP.
"With all due respect VL I don’t think you get the frustration at all"
goofyfoot, I work in the events / tourism industry so I get the frustration big time. I have so much work up in NSW, but I can't get there. Regional Victoria has so few cases it's hard to justify the NSW / Vic border being closed to us. But I do recognise the fact that if the border was reopened, you can guarantee hundreds of dickheads from Melbourne would ignore the rules and cross the Murray. That of course could have massive consequences.
The thing is, we either take the lockdown option early and hard, or we have lockdown forced upon us with huge infection rates.
Yes mistakes have been made (hotel Quarantine in Vic, Ruby Princess in NSW, no effective covid safe app and aged care at a federal level), but no government in Australia has gone down the reopen early route. A few politicians in the cheap seats call for open borders and loose restrictions but these political opportunists will never have to deal with the consequences of their opinions.
I have absolute contempt for anyone who thinks early reopening is a sensible option, because you just have to look at the USA and Europe to know where that road leads. Watch what happens in the next 3 months over there.
Yes it's frustrating, but the best way forward is to listen to the experts, wear a mask, get tested if needed etc. Whinging on Swellnet solves nothing. Ignoring the rules just prolongs the frustration.
And while we are at it, Jeff Kennett is an absolute cunt for encouraging civil disobedience during a pandemic. He is a complete flog.

Was a bit of buzz around the MP the last few days with rumours we were going to be reclassified. Theres multiple 24/7 roadblocks on the main roads in that have been up and running since mid-week. I guess it could still be announced in the next round but I highly doubt it, we are nothing but collateral damage to dan. No new cases for nearly 2 months, last active case dropped off 2 weeks ago, Preston cluster is 100km away and I still can't walk into Bunnings ffs

VL - “ Whinging on Swellnet solves nothing”

Hahahah come on mate you have to admit that’s hilarious coming from you. I actually lol’d then

Did get a chuckle out of it myself goofyfoot.
But on a serious note, the tourism industry is seriously divided on this issue. The noisy "industry leaders" are screaming "reopen" while plenty of operators are shit scared of a short reopening followed by a third lockdown over peak season.
There's a good reason why I have zero tolerance for the mob who scream "covid is a hoax, reopen everything now".

No sure if you can say Vicco is taking the lock down early then open up approach anymore VL....considering its been lockdown since March. We're taking the lock down early and stay the fuck locked down path.

In all seriousness though, can't say I have any better ideas what to do. Still believe Vic is the unlucky state and is a victim of Australia's luck as a whole.

“Early re-opening”

VL - we now have just one cluster in an area that is known with DHHS supposedly all over it, that is if they have any idea what they are doing which is debatable. We’re averaging under 5 cases a day in a city of 5 million people. Seriously, enough is enough, let’s fucking get on with it. Dan Andrews with his “significant easing” comments for days last week, then “don’t bank on it” on Saturday, then finally today “a pause” is using Victorians mental health as his own little football to kick around. It’s fucked. He got spooked by one cluster, even after saying himself there’ll be outbreaks and cases once we re-open, this if anything speaks to what we can expect from him going forward. A grim future.

And on the footy, as a neutral I thought it was a cracking game, brutal contest in first half before an absolute masterclass of elite footy from the tigers and that grand final goat Dusty.

Yep, Dan isn't even following his own road-map any more. Just making it up, it's gone too far now, look at the rest of the country. Hang in there Melbourne crew.

Geek, big fan of your approach and attitude through this mate so this isn’t a crack at you, but isn’t it a fucking sad state of affairs when the MP crew are getting excited about a possible update to restrictions, that would actually be more restrictions really when you think about it (another border added within our own state).

I get why you said it and don’t blame you, but it’s just so fucked that people now cling to hope they can be cut off from the rest of town. Victoria is such a cooked place right now

Part of the statement from Scott Morrison, The Treasurer and Greg Hunt

"Under the Victorian Stage 4 lockdown, Victoria has seen the devastation of more than 1,000 job losses per day. We have also agonisingly witnessed a 31 per cent increase in Medicare funded mental health presentations in Victoria during the lockdown and significant increases in other mental health services.

At some point, you have to move forward and put your public health systems to work in a bid to reclaim the jobs that have been lost, and rescue the livelihoods and peace of mind of so many Victorians who have been affected by the inability to contain the outbreak that led to the second Victorian wave.

Victoria's public health systems are either up to the task of dealing with future outbreaks or they are not. The decision to keep businesses closed suggests that there is still not sufficient confidence within the Government that their systems can support reopening.

This is a profound disappointment. Of course, Victorians do not want to face another lockdown and of course they don't want all of this to have been for nothing. That is why ensuring the State Government's capability to deal with outbreaks through their public health response is so essential. This is what you need for Victoria to open up safely and stay safely open.

Borders and closures are not indicators of public health success. They are the opposite. "

This fucking clown has got to go. He has no idea wtf he's doing. He's destroying this state and the lives of millions of people. Fuck this cunt

"That's because you're an idiot Indo. Regional Victoria saw another round of easing restrictions because the figures allowed it. Well done especially to Shepparton. They crushed their outbreak due to community spirit and ample testing.
The message was very clear. The precise nature of the north Melbourne outbreak is still not clear so nothing can be announced for 24-48 hours. Do try and keep up Indo."

So the age and other media outlets are Idiots too?

Do they need to keep up too?

Like here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-records-seven-new-c...

FFS take a chill pill, i was talking about the Melbourne region, although im in a regional area the restrictions in regional areas don't really bother me to much, the biggest thing now is just having to still wear a mask, but that's no big deal, i could live as i am now, pretty much forever, im not even interested in the regional restrictions. (unless they got harsher, which there is no reason for)

It's the Melbourne restrictions I'm watching because once they are lifted there will be a flood of surfers and flood of boats on the water fishing.

It might be a bit selfish but im enjoying this little calm before the storm, getting a few waves and starting to get back into the fishing, just loving that things are warming up in and out of the water.

Hey Craig,
long time reader first time poster..
Any chance of a discount for us loyal paying Melbourne crew who haven't been able to put your forecasts to use at all this year. Small gestures go a long way. I know i made the choice to resubscribe but easily could have pulled the pin many times with not being able to surf and the diatribe that goes on in the comments there's not much of a carrot to do so again.

Lock downs been tough in metro Melbourne. The full fallout of the extended lockdown is yet to be seen. In the area i live 1 out of 3 shop fronts are now for lease. There is an irrational fear from people living out side of the metro bubble that all Melbournian's are dirty and can't be trusted, yet i feel we have carried the can and behaved for more responsibly than the rest of Australia. There's been complete fuck ups from the both the state and federal governments, mismanagement from the private sector enterprises and the people who suffer the most are the everyday citizens. There is fear mongering from the press and distrust from all sides.
I highly doubt that if any other region, state or city had to sacrifice as much as what metro Melbourne has that they would sit by patiently and just let it drag on, while peoples mental health are pushed to the limits. financial stress crushes business and families, people loose their jobs and family violence increases. School years where all children have learnt is to log on to zoom.
I think those of us living here have an appreciation of why we had to lockdown and why we needed to trend the curve in the other direction but we also appreciate and understand that we need to learn to adapt and live with this virus and move on.
Dan Andrews lost me this week with the speak of the promise land of opening up and then backflipping because of a known cluster. All the while admitting if we were open he would just deal with it. His leadership doesn't instil confidence and it doesn't help that he can't get his contract tracing or DHHS to handle these types of situations.
For me personally the thought of going for a surf and just getting away from the slow boa constrictor styled strangulation that has been this 100+ day lockdown has been my salvation. I'm not even ashamed to say that i went for a paddle down the Yarra.
However i'm loosing faith and patience for the people making the decision and in my mind the damage has been done in the mistrust of Melbournians and any freedom i thought may be bestowed upon us seems fleeting.
Might be time to take up a new hobby, maybe ill try and catch some Pokemon on an Iphone whilst staying within an imaginary 25km radius..
Carthatic rant over.

Gotta love you blokes. You're simultaneously arguing that Dan doesn't know what he's doing and he should just reopen the state. Do you not see the contradiction there blokes?
Scumo is doing the same. He's saying the state government doesn't have confidence in the Public Health Service so Dan should open up. HELLO.
The reality is, if we didn't have the northern suburbs cluster, restrictions would have eased today. The northern suburbs cluster is very new and Sutton has just said they need 24-48 hours to evaluate the new information and stats.
Rather than acknowledge the precarious new situation, you blokes have chucked the toys out of the cot.
I get that the anti-lockdown mob have a default whinge position. You whinge if numbers go up or down. You whinge when restrictions aren't eased, and you whinge when they are eased (but not fast enough).
Imagine how hard you blokes would whinge in the state government ignored the CFO and we ended up back in lock down in December.
FFS listen to the CFO, Victoria is virtually the only place on the planet where numbers have gone from many hundreds to single digits. Sutton knows what he's doing. If he says we need 24-48 hours to evaluate the situation, it's probably best we accept that situation rather than have a Sam Newman man-Karen tanty.

rorpedo,
Not sure everyone is pointing their fingers at Melbournites and saying they are "dirty and can't be trusted".
Personally I reckon Melbourne crew have largely been outstanding. I'm not alone in that type of thinking. Melbournites have taken a hit for the entire country. I'm actually offended when the Federal government points their finger at Victoria and says they are causing problems for the Australian economy. What a pack of arseholes. Victorians have sacrificed so much to save the Australian economy. If they didn't lock down, the entire country would be in the shit.
When restrictions ease, the key message should be "stay vigilant or we will get a third wave". I have zero confidence the Liberal Party scumbags will do the right thing. They will be trying to cause as much political damage as possible, and if that means another outbreak so be it. The Victorian Libs response to Covid has been an absolute disgrace.

It’s been very hard but I wish people would just shut up. If you haven’t anything positive to say don’t say anything. This economic narrative isn’t helpful to anyone. Victoria, it’s Government and vast majority of people have done a brilliant job in the most harshest of circumstances. Everything else is about grubby politics pure and simple.

.
Deleted post. Can’t be fucked talking about this anymore. Been a cnt of a day

Wonder what you’ll think of this one VL, and paints a picture of just how cooked this city is right now.
A mate of mine has just told me he was out walking with his infant son in the pram today, the kid was crying so my mate had his mask down around his neck trying to make funny faces and make his kid laugh. Some random walking past starts having a go at him telling him to put his mask on, my mate tries to say why it’s down around his neck, and then this bloke gets out his camera to take a photo of my mate. He said it took every bit of strength within him not to knock the teeth out of the bloke taking his photo and if his kid wasn’t in the pram he would have. Shits fucked.

Current Cases (Last 14 Days)
Scomo continues on as #1 Super Spreader
Travel Bubble links 2 most viral centres in our Pacific > Brochures intend breaching all states.
He next overrides State Govt to berth 5 Covid Ships in 3rd most viral centre.
Over a dozen PM's policies since Lockdown & each ramp covid spread. (All can see this!)
https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-AU&mid=%2Fm%2F0chgr2&gl=AU&cei...
NSW -104
NZ - 64
WA - 63
Vic - 62

Vic slips to 4th on Covid Ladder
Vic may not know this, but that's a good thing!

2020
Vic ends Qld drought at Gabba
Vic Urbnsurf wins best Mud Bath
Vic wins Best Spa
Vic Essendon Fields wins Urban Renewal Award
Vic Yarra Valley wins Waste to Energy Water Plant
Vic wins Green Smart Sustainable Award.
Vic Broadmeadows Town Hall wins best Heritage posh do over.
Vic Brimbank wins Women's Leadership Programs
Vic Rural a/h wins National Child Protection Award
Vic Dandenong wins Youth Against Family Violence
Vic Glenelg wins Aboriginal Partnership Nat' Reconciliation week.
Vic wins best Indigenous Music Artist
Vic Boronia Country Cob Bakery wins Best Aussie Pie.
Vic Kernot Jo Jos wins Best Aussie Pastie
Vic wins RSL bowls
Vic wins Gold Tier for Oz Pride Sports Award
Vic r/u A league + Wins u/13 Futsal
Vic wins Nettie
Vic wins NRL
Vic wins AFL

Gotta be happy with that trophy cabinet.
Qldurrz salute "Oz Champions Victoria"

How bloody gutsy are Victorians when they're up against it!
Leading from the front...you all do Oz proud!

C'mon Aussies ... 3 cheers for our Champs Victoria.

“ I get why you said it and don’t blame you, but it’s just so fucked that people now cling to hope they can be cut off from the rest of town. Victoria is such a cooked place right now”

You’re not wrong DX3. At this point the state needs to be reunited ASAP, what an extraordinary waste of resources the ring of steel is to protect regional from 0.00002% of the population. And now with every further restriction eased in regional Vic its extending that border time out 2 weeks at least.

Edit: 0 cases today, we did it :)

Tell me why the Vic government doesn’t put a copper or some form of authority on the doorstep of every known case to ensure they stay home and then open the rest of the state to normal life.

Yeah, I have to say great work to the Victorian crew for suppressing the second wave. Now let's get on with it and all the best with the recovery.

I guess only question now is does Dan ask for just another 24 hours, in the faint hope he can get another precious little outbreak somewhere, to keep kicking the can down the road on this lockdown? We'll see. Surely today is the Dan to give some genuine clarity back to Victorian's.

For all the ideas here, I'm reflecting. Apologies if already said.
We put returning travellers into hotel based quarantine because we didn't trust them to quarantine at home.
We hired security to ensure they stayed in hotel quarantine. What ever training security got, training to ensure security was ineffective.
We let the security sub contract out security over several layers, diluting training.

When the virus escaped quarantine we implemented contact tracing but failed to make disclosure of where and with whom infected persons had associated mandatory.
We failed to give sick or exposed persons a strong reason to get tested.
We failed to provide support to infected persons to not go out and stay working and failed to give the sick or infected a strong reason to stay isolated

We have relied on 100% of people doing the right thing, where our experience shows that level of compliance is unachievable.
We are enduring a lockdown to make transmission manageable, but Dan seeks eradication.
For as long as we don't take strong measures to isolate and make tracing strong, the virus will persist until we have a vaccine.

Well, I'm booked in at Tulluwatu tomorrow, so expect an outbreak in the Tullamarine area at around 12.59pm ...

On the plus side, there was some brilliant kite surfing action in the Bay at St Kilda on Saturday.

Tulluwatu - will be using that one!

Also yes kitesurfing keeps me content as a Melburnian surfer.

All I can say is what a PR fail. The Labour Gov flinched when they should have made good on their plans. Coming up to a future period of uncertainty, yesterday was a bad look for a Government trying it's hardest to show that it's in control. The anti-labour commentators will have another field day, when really we should be celebrating.

"All I can say is what a PR fail." Wow.
Virtually every country in the world would be looking at Victoria and saying, "Gee I wish we had their problems"

It’s not a PR fail it’s a comprehensive failure of government.

I’m honestly shocked that Dan hasn’t been egged in public at the very least at this point. How he can claim to be accountable for the destruction of an entire state whilst still turning up to work everyday is beyond me.

Pretty obvious that he’s just taking the piss . At least it’s obvious to anyone who’s not completely lost to the tribalism of party politics. The ones who vote Collingwood over Geelong * irrespective of outcome.

* Collingwood / Geelong = ALP / LNP . Same one eyed fanaticism.

Come on VL, read past the first line.

We've done well to get where we are and the lockdowns, and yes even the leadership did help get us here. Compared to a few of the big Covid players globally Victoria is a good place to be, compared to the rest of Australia...well you know the answer there.

But Labour's shot themselves in the foot here for sure. If another outbreak like this in the North can potentially de-rail things, then all it shows is by their modelling and logic we shouldn't be risking opening at all. It shows the road map was wrong. Which is why this is a public relations fail - even the more devout Dan followers are starting to crumble after yesterday.

p.s. Where's the press conference today? First day of zero cases and nothing annouced?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Victoria is batting a completely different virus to the rest of the country if you believed some of the tripe getting thrown around.

“Victoria can be proud . We’ve done so well compared to ....” Nowhere.

It's not all bad here. Tulla Tub for me on Saturday which was a hell of a lot of fun after being landlocked for so long. Backed it up with some little runners in the Bay yesterday.

Very keen to get back to the ocean though...

Stok
They're waiting for the final batch of results to come through this morning, hence the delay.

Ah thanks for clarifying Patrick.

And Bnkref - the bay's been pumping - the 'West Coast' will be lapping up all this ESE wind chop.

"PR fail"

pppfffffffffffff

contemporary politics - and all it's fucked upness - all wrapped in those 6 little letters there...

"...We've done well to get where we are and the lockdowns, and yes even the leadership did help get us here."

Yep, well done vicco, you've done well to get to this position (truly), but at what cost?

"...Compared to a few of the big Covid players globally Victoria is a good place to be,"

Yes many would love your numbers, but was it/is it worth it? ...relatively... cost versus reward... only history will tell, when we finally find out how 'deadly' this virus actually is

"...compared to the rest of Australia...well you know the answer there."

exactly

"...But Labour's shot themselves in the foot here for sure. If another outbreak like this in the North can potentially de-rail things, then all it shows is by their modelling and logic we shouln't be risking opening at all."

Yep, well into the realms of unrealistic expectations and the lands of diminishing returns now

where to from here is the question? I hate to go there, but what happens after christmas and all the risks associated with that?

what does it take to trigger another roadmap?

melbourne is an intense microcosm of oz's wider problem, now paralyzed by its successes

Fuck, I need to get out into the bay it sounds like! Tulla for me also over the weekend, as expected kooked the first one then had a cracking time after that. Holding out on booking again until I hear the latest on travel restrictions....

What I don't get is that even if later today there's a handful of cases in northern Melb where they are supposedly managing it, why does that derail us opening? Isn't this all about being able to manage mini-outbreaks and clusters? Is Dan seriously waiting for another 4-5 cases out there to justify locking down 5 million metro crew? Does this demonstrate he truly is after eradication if one cluster in the whole state keeps us locked down?

Bay would sure have waves today. It's blowing a gale.

All I want is the regional Vic border (almost caseless, zero community transmission) open with WA so I can go see family.

Tassie just opened to everyone but NSW and Vic too.

They seem to be really dragging their heels in WA, VJ.

Sounds like it might not be til next year that they open up?