I cannot wait for Sunday when I expect Victoria becomes a whole state again. We’ve worked extremely hard to suppress the second wave of COVID-19 and now we can get on with our state’s rebuild.

The sun is certainly shining on Victoria in more ways than one this week with another perfect record of no COVID-19 cases and deaths to make it 21 days in a row of double zeros.

We have come so far this year and as we enter the final few weeks of 2020 it is abundantly clear that we deserve a COVID Safe Summer.

There is no simple way to describe the year that was 2020. From drought, to bushfires, to the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced loss and hurt while also ending with a sense of hope.

Today is Groundhog Day for Victorian businesses. I know you are all feeling anxious and frustrated as another COVID-19 outbreak from hotel quarantine in Victoria has led to the State Government announcing a five-day lockdown to come into effect from 11.59pm tonight, Friday 12 February 2021.

The Victorian Chamber welcomes today’s State Government announcement that Victoria will return to COVID Safe Summer settings that were in place at Christmas time from 11.59pm tonight.

I hope you took some time out over the long weekend to pause and reflect on the importance of International Women’s Day on Monday.

Victoria is getting its swagger back! I was excited to speak to the media yesterday on the State Government’s announcement of a further easing of restrictions, giving Victorians the signal of confidence we have been waiting for.

I hope your Easter Break was a good one. I know many of you are nervous around the recommencement of hotel quarantine on Thursday. Put simply, it is essential this time around the State Government gets the hotel quarantine system right.

It was encouraging to see the Federal Government revive the National Cabinet this week to address the issues with the vaccine rollout, bringing the states and territories together to find the best path forward.

The countdown is on to our Victoria Summit Vision Day! Today we officially launched our first major Summit event coming up on 28 May where attendees will come together to map out a bold new vision for Victoria.

It is the Victorian Chamber’s goal to make Victoria the best place in Australia to live, work, learn, and operate a business. Our message is simple - business is not only the engine room of the economy, they’re also the heart of our communities.

I know this is a tough time for many of you who will feel shattered by the extension of the fourth lockdown Victoria has endured since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The business community in Regional Victoria will be relieved today to hear the news of a further easing of restrictions. There is also good news that essentially every business in the state can now operate. But for some larger metropolitan events, hospitality and entertainment venues, the easing of restrictions have not gone far enough, and we still have a difference in settings between Regional and Metropolitan areas.

Lockdown Four, and the COVID-19 situations around the country in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia, have shown us that the pandemic is far from over.  

It was only last week that we were reminded of the beginning of a 112-day lockdown here in Victoria last year and we desperately hope we don’t find ourselves in a similar situation again.