Welcome to the August edition of Chief Executive Paul Guerra's monthly regional column - covering issues, news and developments important to Victoria’s regional businesses.

The State and Federal Governments have jointly announced a further $2.32 billion in financial support for Victorian businesses struggling during Lockdown Six.

As debate swells around the role the workplace plays in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, businesses have vastly more questions than answers. Here is everything you need to know.

Regional Victoria has joined Melbourne in lockdown as clusters of COVID-19 cases continue to pop up across the State. Almost $1 billion in support has also been announced to help businesses impacted by the lockdown extensions.

The Victorian Chamber asked more than 1,500 businesses across all sectors, sizes and regions if mandatory COVID-19 vaccination should be enforced. Here are the results.

The Federal and State Governments have jointly announced an additional $367 million in financial support payments - primarily targeted towards Metropolitan businesses in lockdown.

As Victorian businesses are again forced to close their doors, the State and Federal governments have announced a jointly-funded $400 million package to assist businesses.

A little over a week since Lockdown Five came to an end, the State Government announced Victoria would once again go into a circuit-breaker lockdown. (UPDATED)

Today Victorian business can get back to what you do best. It was good news we can now begin our exit from Lockdown Five and move faster than when we exited Lockdown Four.

Hospitality, retail, gyms and schools are once again able to open their doors across Victoria as Lockdown Five comes to an end. Here is what you and your business need to know.

None of us want to be in this position. Our leaders don't want to be here either. But here we are. We've been living in crisis mode for 17 months and it's taking its toll on all of us.

The State Government has announced further financial support for Victorian businesses in response to Lockdown Five, now totalling $484.3 million in support for businesses and workers.

Victoria will remain in lockdown for at least another week as the COVID-19 Delta variant causes chaos across the nation, placing most of Australia’s population in lockdown.

The Federal and State Governments have united to provide much-needed assistance for Victorian workers and businesses impacted by Lockdown Five.

The Victorian government has announced the State will once again begin a snap lockdown from 11:59pm on Thursday night following 18 new cases of COVID-19 across Victoria.

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.