Confirmation that the three Sydney removalists responsible for triggering Victoria’s fifth lockdown will face no consequences from Victoria Police is the latest COVID failure from the Andrews Labor Government.
The three Sydney removalists travelled to Melbourne on 8 July, spreading the Delta variant of COVID-19 to Ariele Apartments in Maribyrnong before leaving the state and refusing to cooperate with Victorian contact tracers.
Despite tough talk from the Andrews Government that “book will be thrown” at these individuals following several red-zone permit breaches, Victoria Police have today confirmed that the case has been closed with no charges laid.
The decision not to fine these individuals follows days off buck-passing and misleading comments from Health Minister Martin Foley and Premier Daniel Andrews over the referral of this case to Victoria Police, which only occurred more than three weeks after the initial breach.
This failure to fine or charge these individuals follows more than $100,000 in fines linked to Pastoral Hotel in Echuca being issued last week.
Daniel Andrews’ failure to ensure real consequences for these individuals is a slap in the face to every Victorian small business, family and community suffering through Labor’s fifth lockdown.
The Andrews Government must act immediately to fix these broken laws to ensure that people who refuse to cooperate with authorities that endanger the lives of others would be held to account.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Police & Crime Prevention, David Southwick:
“It’s clear Daniel Andrews’ laws are broken when a pub hundreds of kilometres from a known outbreak is fined tens of thousands of dollars, yet those actually spreading COVID are let off scot-free.
“Labor said they’d throw the book at these removalists but two weeks later we see all they’ve thrown is a wet lettuce leaf.
“This is a kick in the guts to all Victorians that have been locked down as a result of these removalists and were promised tough action by the Andrews Government that has resulted in nothing.
