By Luke Voogt
Point Lonsdale exited lockdown ahead of the rest of greater Geelong today after lobbying from community and business leaders and Bellarine MP Lisa Neville.
The move reunited postcode 3225 after state government placed greater Geelong in lockdown on Monday.
Initially this meant the City of Greater Geelong side of the postcode went into lockdown while restrictions in the neighbouring Borough of Queenscliffe, a separate municipality, remained the same as in the rest of regional Victoria.
Bellarine MP Lisa Neville urged state government to resolve the issue following community feedback.
On Wednesday deputy premier James Merlino announced that Point Lonsdale would revert back to the same restrictions as the rest of regional Victoria.
But local opposition MP Bev McArthur questioned how health advice could “be used” to place Point Lonsdale into lockdown, only to ease the restrictions days later.
She described Point Lonsdale being “caught up in the Geelong lockdown” in the first place as “ridiculous”.
“It begs the question, why is Ms Neville only taking an interest now?” Ms McArthur said.
“Does she have medical advice that shows the formerly locked-down Point Lonsdale residents are as highly-vaccinated as the Queenscliffe Borough population?”
More than 80 per cent of residents in the Borough of Queenscliffe are fully vaccinated while more than 95 percent have received their first dose.
But Ms Neville stated she had always followed the advice of the Chief Health Officer and public health experts during the pandemic.
“In line with the national roadmap and based on public health advice, last week the City of Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast Shire was locked down for seven days due to the number and type of cases,” Ms Neville said.
“This advice did not include locking down the Borough of Queenscliff, which for the first time in this pandemic divided Pt Lonsdale.
“I raised the matter with the Health Minister after receiving contact from local residents to request that the restriction level for Pt Lonsdale be reviewed.
“This sort of rant from Bev McArthur does nothing to keep our community safe.
“At this time she should be supporting our health care workers and doing all she can to encourage people to follow the directions of the Chief Health Officer and to get vaccinated.”
