The ‘oppressive’ lockdown approach the police union boss doesn’t want to see return
There is growing concern Victoria’s lockdown will be extended, with the Acting Premier warning the COVID-19 outbreak may get worse before it gets better.
With no confirmed cases in regional Victoria, there is speculation a Melbourne-only lockdown will be introduced after Thursday.
But the police union says it doesn’t support another ring of steel on the city fringe.
Police Association Secretary Wayne Gatt says he doesn’t “think it was necessarily effective or very efficient”.
“It sucks up an enormous amount of police resources,” he told Neil Mitchell.
He says there should be more trust that Melburnians will do the right thing.
“We shouldn’t have a really, really oppressive approach,” he said.
“99.9 per cent of the community are doing and continue to do the right thing, not because they’re told to but because they want to.
“Of course there will always be a need for a degree of enforcement, because there will always be some in the community who just thumb their noses.”
Press PLAY below to hear more from Police Association Secretary Wayne Gatt
Image: Darrian Traynor / Getty
The two things an epidemiologist says will determine if lockdown is extended