A Stawell business owner is hoping the state government will allow him to serve full dining rooms sooner rather than later.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Monday, Premier Daniel Andrews foreshadowed releasing a blueprint to relaxing restrictions - currently at stage three in regional Victoria - in a COVID-safe way.
The proposed framework suggests changes to justify restrictions liftings. These include workforce bubbles and changes to meetings and lunch breaks to limit staff coming in contact with one another.
Diamond House restaurant and motor inn manager David Wainwright said repealing hospitality restrictions would have the most immediate positive effect.
He has closed his restaurant during stage three restrictions but serves food to his hotel rooms, where health workers and miners regularly stay.
"I've got a restaurant that seats nearly 40, and I can only seat 10," he said. "I have an upstairs room that seats 60 which I can only seat 16 in. It's not worth putting the heating on."
"Letting Melburnians travel to the regions again would make a difference, I don't think things will get back to a reasonable level until the borders reopen."
Mr Wainwright works with his son, who is on JobKeeper, and a cleaner.
In Horsham, Sanae Smith of Salon Mode Spa and Beauty has not been allowed to provide services since stage three returned on August 5.
"We are an industry with very stringent hygiene practices, so I'm very surprised we weren't allowed to do treatments," she said. "I've had countless hairdressers come up to me while shopping and say 'I can't believe you're not allowed to work and we are'.
"We make sure there is one person at the salon each day if a customer wants to buy a product, but that is all we can do. If we can reopen and do treatments while wearing facial coverings, that would be good."
"We work in individual rooms, so as far as staff go, apart from when we go to use the computer, we are not touching the same surfaces," she said. "We all take different lunch breaks too."
Mrs Smith said she had received "a lot of community support" when reopening after their first round of stage three restrictions. She said she was concerned residents might not have the means to show the same support, given the federal government's JobKeeper wage subsidy program is set to be reduced from late September.
More to come.
Did you know you can receive updates straight to your inbox? To make sure you're up-to-date with news from across the region, sign up below.
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to the Wimmera Mail-Times, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling the Wimmera's story. We appreciate your support of local journalism.