By Oliver Lees
A prominent businessman is calling for Sunbury to be lifted from Melbourne’s lockdown as the suburb has no active cases of COVID-19.
Victoria was thrust into its sixth lockdown on August 4. While restrictions have been eased in regional Victoria, metropolitan Melbourne will remain in lockdown until at least 11.59pm on Thursday.
Sunbury Autobarn owner Adam Mizzi said he is in favour of using lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, but that “fringe areas” such as Sunbury, with no active cases, should be given greater freedom.
“I’m not anti-government and I’m not advocating for Sunbury out of Hume, but in this instance we need to be treated as the city of Sunbury,” Mr Mizzi said.
“I choose health and happiness over financial gain any day of the week… but businesses in Sunbury aren’t going to survive.
“We haven’t had any outbreaks and we’re on the fringes of the Macedon Ranges, that community relies on Sunbury as a commercial hub.
“We know postcode [lockdowns] don’t work, but allow fringe areas that have no cases to open up and cushion the blow on the economy.”
Sunbury Residents Association president Graham Williams said the notion of excluding Sunbury from Melbourne’s lockdown had support among the community.
“We are geographically very close to Gisborne, more so than to [the rest of] Hume,” Mr Williams said.
“We are a small, close-knit community that is doing it very tough.”
Sunbury MP Josh Bull said he understood the community’s frustration but that it was necessary to follow the directions of Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton.
“No one wants to be in this position but we know the delta variant moves faster than anything we’ve ever seen before,” Mr Bull said.
“With COVID-19 being detected in wastewater across Melbourne, and authorised workers moving between other parts of Melbourne for work, this virus presents a danger to our whole community.
“The most important thing that you can do is continue to follow the rules and get tested as soon as you have even the mildest of symptoms.”
Twenty-two cases were announced on Monday, taking the state’s total number of active cases to 205.
Sunbury has recorded a total of 174 cases since start of the pandemic in January last year.
Last week the Sunbury train line was listed as a tier two exposure site after a case travelled on public transport on three separate occasions.
