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Victoria: Daniel Andrews moves to extend state of emergency by 12 months

Daniel Andrews is looking to extend Victoria’s state of emergency by a further 12 months as the state continues to report hundreds of coronavirus cases.

Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed that the state of emergency currently enforced in Victoria is likely to be extended for another year.

Currently, it was set to end on September 13. If extended, it will bring the total time that the state of emergency was in place up to 18 months.

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The state of emergency is a “legal instrument” which gives the Chief Health Officer powers to make decisions “about facemasks, about COVID safe work plans in workplaces large and small, …[and] density limits in pubs and cafes and restaurants,” Andrews described.

Currently, a state of emergency is only able to be enforced for a total period of six months. In order to extend for another year, Andrews will have to introduce a bill to parliament.

“We simply can’t have those important rules and the legal framework that sits behind them, we cannot have that end on the 13 September, because this [coronavirus] will not have ended by the 13th of next month,” he continued. “So that means it will be a total of 18 months. The six months we have already been through plus a further 12 months.” 

“To be clear, this is not the state of disaster, not the curfew, for instance, but the other very simple rules that I think I become part of our daily life,” Andrews continued.

“For instance, if someone has got this virus it is not unreasonable and, in fact, it is absolutely critical that they stay at home and they stay away from other people. That, as logical as it seems, that is not on some honesty policy, there is a legal framework that sits behind it.” 

Today Victoria recorded 116 new cases and 15 deaths. Whilst the case numbers are dropping, the number of fatalities remains steady.