Vic lockdown hurting regional areas

AUSVEG, the peak industry body for the Australian vegetable industry, is calling on the Victorian state government to ease restrictions on COVID-free regional Victorian communities. These communities are already suffering greatly because of the latest state-wide lockdown and the uncertainty around when restrictions will ease.

The decision to apply the lockdown to the entire state of Victoria, including regional and border communities that don’t have any positive COVID cases, has severely impacted regional economies. This includes vegetable producers that grow perishable products and those that supply the foodservice sector.

COVID-free and COVID-safe

AUSVEG Chair and Gippsland vegetable grower Bill Bulmer says industry agrees that protecting the health of the public is paramount. But there needs to be acknowledgment that a state-wide lockdown is unduly impacting regional communities and their economies.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant hardship on our primary producers and our regional communities,” Bulmer says. “Worker shortages, reduced tourism and the personal toll from repeated lockdowns are weighing heavily on every regional and rural community. No one wants to jeopardise the health of the regions’ most vulnerable people. But our regional and rural communities have been hyper-vigilant in implementing COVID-safe practices to stay safe and healthy.

“Our regions have done what they have been asked to do and more to protect Victoria from COVID-19. It is utterly disheartening that regional communities that are COVID-free and hundreds of kilometres from the nearest COVID-positive case stemming from the latest Melbourne outbreak continue to suffer from state-wide lockdowns.”

Easing the struggle

The longer the lockdown lasts, the more heavily it will impact Victoria’s vegetable industry, Bulmer says. As long as it remains a state-wide lockdown, it will most disadvantage producers of perishable products and those that supply the foodservice sector.

“The last 18 months have been hard on all Victorians, including those in regional areas,” he says. “No one wants to see widespread COVID-19 infections. But if we can ease the struggle on regional Victorian communities that are not impacted by the current outbreak through more targeted, efficient measures, then surely we owe it to those communities to do so.”