Regional Victoria re-enters Lockdown

Saturday morning the Victorian Government announced that regional Victoria will return to lockdown from 1pm, Saturday 21 August 2021 until at least Thursday 2 September 2021. All of the restrictions currently imposed for Greater Melbourne will now apply to regional Victoria with the exception of the curfew.

While the residential building industry remains open, the restrictions on residential building work that currently apply in Greater Melbourne will now also apply to the industry in regional Victoria including:

• for small scale construction a limit of 5 workers per site with most trades limited to visiting 3 sites per week; and
• from Monday 23 August, worker permits will be required for authorised workers in regional Victoria.

Restrictions for Regional Victoria

Residents in regional Victoria will have to comply with the following restrictions during this lockdown:

• remain at home unless they meet one of the 5 permitted reasons to leave home which includes: 

            o  to carry out authorised work or permitted education activities;

            o  to shop for necessary goods and services;

            o  for caregiving or compassionate reasons;

            o  to get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible to do so; and

            o  to exercise for a maximum of two hours per day,

• remain within 5km of their home;
• continue to wear facemasks inside and outside (unless an exception applies).

For residential building work the following will also apply:

• from Monday 23 August, workers will need to carry a worker permit if you are an authorised worker. These are available on Victorian Government website. 
• adhering to worker limits on site – for small scale construction this will mean 5 workers on a site, plus a supervisor and most trades limited to three sites per week.

HIA’s member alert provides all of the requirement for the current restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne – and these requirements now apply to regional Victorian construction sites.

Greater Melbourne restrictions remain

The lockdown in Greater Melbourne will remain in place until at least Thursday 2 September 2021. HIA understands that there are no further changes for the construction industry in Greater Melbourne, however we will advise members if there are.

The following restrictions continue to apply in Greater Melbourne. Residents must:

• remain at home unless they meet one of the 5 permitted reasons to leave home which includes: 

            o  to carry out authorised work or permitted education activities;

            o  to shop for necessary goods and services;

            o  for caregiving or compassionate reasons;

            o  to get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible to do so; and

            o  to exercise for a maximum of two hours per day,

• remain within 5km of their home;
• continue to wear facemasks inside and outside (unless an exception applies);
• abide by the 9:00pm curfew; and
• apply for and carry a worker permit if you are an authorised worker. 

All previous member alerts from earlier this week provide more information for members.

Ongoing obligations

Members should continue be vigilant and ensure that: 

• your COVIDSafe plan is up to date and reflects reduced operations on site;
• authorised Workers are carrying a workers permit when travelling to and from work;
• you maintain contact tracing record keeping requirements through the Victoria Service App where required; 
• workers wear a facemask indoors and outdoors (unless an exception applies);
• shared spaces are cleaned, including on building sites; and
• check the exposure sites on the coronavirus website.

HIA will continue to work with the Government, as we have been doing throughout these extraordinary weeks and months, to ensure we can provide members with all the information you need to manage these ongoing lockdowns.

Our engagement with the Government will continue with the aim of avoiding tighter restrictions for residential construction, to continue towards a roadmap that would see residential building stay ahead of full closure and to get activity back to business as usual as soon as we can.

HIA will continue to keep members informed on any further changes as they occur.