A Warrnambool gym owner is reeling over the state government's decision to force his business' doors to close for the second time this year.
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Stuart Roe will be forced to shut Warrnambool 24/7 Gym on Wednesday after Premier Daniel Andrews announced regional Victoria would revert to stage three COVID-19 lockdown rules for six weeks.
Mr Roe said the last four months had been tough but he was one of many Warrnambool business owners who "understood the importance of being very compliant".
"I have not once hesitated to comply with the masks, bringing out an online app and doing what I'm told," he said.
But Mr Roe said he didn't support a stage-three lockdown in regional Victoria.
He said he was "all for" a hard lockdown in virus-riddled Melbourne but believed regional Victoria should continue stage two restrictions with "the added increased restriction of using masks".
"Daniel Andrews in his daily briefings identified that cases were not coming from gyms, restaurants and cafes because they are controlled environments," Mr Roe said.
"And that is the key. Households are not a controlled environment, there's no consequences financially for them.
"The lockdown (for Melbourne) was nowhere near hard enough. People were flouting the rules continuously and I'm sure everyone in Warrnambool knows of people coming from Melbourne."
Mr Roe said he heard of Melbourne people visiting Warrnambool restaurants, businesses and even buying property in the region.
"These are the sorts of things that aren't being addressed," he said.
"This is where people are starting to get angry because the government is continuously telling us to do the right thing and we have continuously demonstrated that we are, yet we are paying for it."
Mr Roe said when he re-opened the gym between the two lockdowns, customer compliance was fantastic.
"No-one has hesitated to comply with the rules and it's been a case of everyone working together," he said.
"We aren't the problem, we are the solution.
"Complying businesses are the solution to the survival of the economy."
Warrnambool 24/7 Gym will continue providing services through its member-only phone application.
You can keep up to date with the gym here.
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