{"id":71457,"date":"2020-09-18T13:17:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T03:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=71457"},"modified":"2020-09-18T13:17:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T03:17:05","slug":"regions-push-towards-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/regions-push-towards-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Region\u2019s push towards normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENCING midnight Wednesday, 16 September, the State Government have announced regional Victoria is set to take the next step towards COVID normal.<\/p>\n

Premier Daniel Andrews announced that having reached a 14-day average of 3.6 cases, public health experts have advised that regional Victoria can take go forward on the roadmap to recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegional communities will progress to the third step of our reopening roadmap,\u201d Mr Andrews said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to remind Victorians, in every corner of the state, that even as the rules change, the need to follow them doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the announcement, representatives from the Ballarat region stood in support of the move forward.<\/p>\n

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Ben Taylor said while it is in line with what had been rumoured, it\u2019s a great relief to hear that the region finally has an answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a real welcome step in regional Victoria especially in Ballarat,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really came together<\/p>\n

\"\"
City of Ballarat mayor Cr Ben Taylor responded positively to the Premier\u2019s announcement to open up regional Victoria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and did the right thing and now we have no active cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis allows for the opportunity to get out into dining and really support businesses, which is critical at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

To aid businesses get back on their feet, Cr Taylor said the City has the Hardship Policy in place, enforcing relaxed regulations on outdoor dining and an additional $500,000 in funding to specifically go towards helping the struggling hospitality industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an announcement around Council waiving the fees for outdoor dining permits which was happen straight away and if people have already paid for this, a refund will be provided,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set up a concierge through council to deal with each business to know what the requirements are and even fast-tracking permits\u2026to make sure they can open up quicker and easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently working out the programs right now to come up with how we can spend that money\u2026whether that\u2019s bollards, road closures, activating lane ways, really trying to get it active across the entire city not just in the CBD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison was joined by Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle to support the decision in moving the state\u2019s regions, particularly Ballarat, towards normal.<\/p>\n

Ms Addison said the most important thing is to ensure we have a full and safe return and we are backing our regional businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time that we get behind our local businesses, that we support them and put our money back into the local economy to make sure people will still have jobs to go back to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegional Victoria has no cases. It can be done but only if we are all committed to a COVID safe lifestyle of masks, social distancing and washing our hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have faith that we can do it for the whole of Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Settle said while it\u2019s fantastic news that we can visit friends and family once again, with cases still in metropolitan Melbourne it\u2019s still important to stay on top of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that we are all in this together, we are all Victorians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to keep our regions safe and free from the virus, so there will be extra efforts around those borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t take that final step of opening up until we are sure we\u2019re all safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on what the step three rules are head to vic.gov.au\/third-step-coronavirus-road-to-recovery<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMENCING midnight Wednesday, 16 September, the State Government have announced regional Victoria is set to take the next step towards COVID normal. Premier Daniel Andrews announced that having reached a 14-day average of 3.6 cases, public health experts have advised that regional Victoria can take go forward on the roadmap to recovery. \u201cRegional communities will […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":71458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-71457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRegion\u2019s push towards normal - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/regions-push-towards-normal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Region\u2019s push towards normal - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"COMMENCING midnight Wednesday, 16 September, the State Government have announced regional Victoria is set to take the next step towards COVID normal. Premier Daniel Andrews announced that having reached a 14-day average of 3.6 cases, public health experts have advised that regional Victoria can take go forward on the roadmap to recovery. \u201cRegional communities will [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/regions-push-towards-normal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-18T03:17:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/Juliana-and-Michaela-scaled-e1600398951564.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"653\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruby Staley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ruby Staley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ruby Staley\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1c39b3a145f39b0fcf908463ce6e578e\"},\"headline\":\"Region\u2019s push towards normal\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-18T03:17:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":601,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Juliana-and-Michaela-scaled-e1600398951564.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/\",\"name\":\"Region\u2019s push towards normal - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Juliana-and-Michaela-scaled-e1600398951564.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-18T03:17:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/regions-push-towards-normal\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Juliana-and-Michaela-scaled-e1600398951564.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Juliana-and-Michaela-scaled-e1600398951564.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":653,\"caption\":\"Towards zero: Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle and Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison celebrate Ballarat and regional Victoria\u2019s move to the next step in the recovery roadmap. 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