Tourism and hospitality business owners were scathing in their disappointment at the Victorian government's recovery roadmap yesterday.
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They criticised the plan for a lack of clarity and for what they said was a failure to distinguish between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.
Red Lion publican David Canny was the most outspoken, saying the measures could sound "the death knell" from some in the hospitality sector.
Mr Canny, who is also the Australian Hotels Association president in Victoria, said: "Our pubs in regional areas should be open today.
"This Premier is going to leave a legacy of changing the hospitality industry forever. We're going to see generational hotels go under. We're going to see the whole fabric of what hospitality in this state is all about gone."
He described extending the lockdown as the "easy option".
The hard thing is to balance health with the business risk - and [Daniel Andrews] hasn't been able to deliver on that. How do we tell our pubs in the bush where they have had no cases, that they've got to remain closed?
- David Canny
"The hard thing is to balance health with the business risk - and [Daniel Andrews] hasn't been able to deliver on that."
"How do we tell our pubs in the bush where they have had no cases, that they've got to remain closed? To put them all in the same bucket, this is a disgrace."
In a similar vein, the founder of Ballarat Wildlife Park Greg Parker said he thought relief for regional Victoria would have been clearer.
"I thought we could have afforded to open now, with the low numbers we've got in Ballarat," he said.
He believes there is a contradiction between Mr Andrews's words and the plan, which he said seemed to be aimed at eradicating the virus rather than containing it. Mr Parker also said he had hoped the regions would be separated more precisely from metropolitan Melbourne.
Mr Parker said it was not clear at what stage the park would be able to reopen.
"Businesses don't know where they're going," he said. "Now we're getting quite concerned. We've got loans to pay this month."
"It is a struggle to keep all the animals happy and healthy without any income."
Simon Coghlan, who runs the Provincial Hotel, said there was "no clarity whatsoever" with the roadmap.
"We still don't know when we can reopen the restaurant," he said.
FULL COVERAGE
- AS IT HAPPENED: Premier outlines staged easing of restrictions in regional Victoria
- AT A GLANCE: Changes to restrictions announced
- WHAT NEXT: Leaders react to roadmap release
"The most frustrating thing for us is we need a clear date. People can plan for that. I don't feel any more informed than I did before the announcement."
Mr Coghlan said the announcement was adding more of a burden on operators to keep staff working and their businesses alive. "This was not what we were looking for," he said.
He also said there was likely to be limited appetite for hospitality businesses to serve outdoors, as Mr Andrews has suggested.
"We're in Ballarat - we have to be realistic about how many people want to sit outside," Mr Coghlan said.