Sorrento bar owner begins High Court bid against Victoria’s lockdown laws

A Peninsula hotelier is taking the lockdown laws to the High Court.

Julian Gerner lives on the Mornington Peninsula, where he owns a restaurant and bar at Sorrento.

The Age reports a writ of summons against the state of Victoria and a statement of claim will be filed in Melbourne’s High Court registry on Monday.

The case argues that restrictions such as the five-kilometre rule and essential worker permits are a “disproportionate” response to the pandemic.

Mr Gerner said it was a clear breach of the constitutional rights of “freedom of movement” within states to undertake personal, family, recreational and commercial endeavours.