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Hospitality venues are weighing up the cost of reopening to seated patrons when regional Victoria's lockdown ends tonight.
Key points:
Regional Victorian hospitality venues will be capped at 10 patrons indoors and 20 outdoors when lockdown ends
Several venues have already announced it won't be financially viable for them to reopen
The Victorian Government will extend its business support for a fortnight despite the easing of restrictions
Under the new rules for regional Victoria, hospitality venues will be allowed to serve a maximum of 10 people indoors and 20 outdoors, subject to density limits.
The only pub in the sleepy town of Cavendish, near the Grampians, is one of many around the state that will remain closed.
"It's not viable, we've crunched the numbers," Bunyip Hotel owner and head chef Jimmy Campbell said.
ABC News: Emilia Terzon
)Previous restrictions 'worked'
Compounding the frustration for business owners in south-west Victoria, the region boasts some of the highest vaccination rates in the state.
"[Last year] when they reopened us, it was nowhere near as restrictive, and it was ten times scarier because there were no vaccines," Mr Campbell said.
Hotel Warrnambool publican Steve Philpott said he would lose "in the thousands [of dollars], plus more" if he reopened under the new restrictions.
He said previous density limits in place before the current regional lockdown allowed his pub to serve 95 patrons at a time with one person per four square metres.
"It worked – there were no cases operating like that and it was policed, and then they throw this one [at us]," he said.
"I just need to know the staff are still going to be looked after with those payments."
One Ballarat pub that is reopening has asked for $20 deposits per person for bookings, because the limit on patrons meant it "simply cannot have people not turn up".
In less than three hours, it announced its weekend sittings were fully booked.
Further support flagged
Business support payments in regional Victoria will continue unchanged for a fortnight, Minister for Industry Support and Recovery Martin Pakula announced.
That includes automatic payments for businesses to cover wages, rent, utilities and insurance, along with the licensed hospitality venue fund and the small business COVID hardship fund.
The government intends to announce support arrangements for sectors that remain severely affected from next week.
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Announcing the new rules on Wednesday morning, Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged it was "not everything that everyone would want right now".
"But this is what is sustainable, this is what is safe, this is what the Chief Health Officer has recommended to us," Mr Andrews said.
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