South-west businesses are bleeding and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is making them suffer for longer than necessary, according to Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell.
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She slammed Mr Andrews for failing to follow the advice of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the country's chief medical officer when it comes to easing coronavirus restrictions.
"Being a nurse I was very impressed by the way they (the federal government) used the health evidence to approach the pandemic," Ms Britnell said.
"I give absolute credit to Scott Morrison and the chief medical officer and the national cabinet."
However, she said things had "started to go off the rails" because states such as Victoria were not following the expert advice.
"If there are no health reasons stopping businesses from opening, you can't make them suffer more," she said.
"Daniel Andrews is not willing to listen to the federal government. He does his own thing and it's scary."
Ms Britnell said it was not Mr Andrews' job to decide whether businesses could operate successfully while implementing social distancing. "It's not his job to understand how businesses can innovate and survive in these extraordinary circumstances," she said.
Ms Britnell said south-west business owners were very concerned about their futures.
"Our particular region has been hit very hard in the areas of tourism, accommodation and hospitality."
Ms Britnell said many had been operating with small profit margins before the coronavirus hit.
She said she believed the full impact of the virus on businesses would not be known for years to come.
"I think the pandemic will be a piece of cake compared to unemployment in years to come," she said.
A state government spokeswoman said the federal government had advised states to set their own timetables to ease restrictions, based on local testing evidence and medical advice.
"We're making decisions about the cautious easing of restrictions based on evidence from our huge testing program and medical advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer - comparing ourselves to other states would provide an inaccurate picture of the virus in Victoria.
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