Employment minister Jaala Pulford has backed the call to limit travel between Ballarat and Melbourne during the "second wave" of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The employment minister, in town on Thursday announcing new jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis, said keeping residents apart was the "only effective tool" in eliminating the virus.
"The fundamental purpose of the stage four restrictions in Melbourne and the stage three restrictions in regional Victoria are to minimise the amount of movement and to minimise the amount of interactions between people," she said.
"That's the only effective tool against this virus."
Her comments come after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters earlier this week travel between the two regions should be limited as much as possible.
"I'd like to see as little movement as possible between regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne, both ways," he told reporters at his daily press conference.
"I think that people, particularly those who are coming to Melbourne from regional Victoria, they know and understand how important it is to keep this out of regional Victoria and keep the numbers really low. The last thing you want is a Melburnian responsible for taking this virus into regional Victoria."
Reducing the amount of travel between the two regions has proved difficult, as some businesses, such as McCain Foods in Wendouree, rely on essential workers from areas within stage four COVID-19 restrictions.
A McCain Foods spokesperson told The Courier the plant had strict COVID-19 precautions in place to help keep the community as safe as possible.
"McCain Foods is committed to limiting any employee travel between Melbourne and regional Victoria for work unless absolutely necessary," they said in a statement.
"McCain Foods provides a permitted service, so all our staff are permitted employees. We are committed to our responsibility to supply food to our fellow Australians.
"We have continued our strong commitment to the health and safety of our people and customers, their family and friends, and the broader Ballarat community.
"We conduct temperature checks for anyone who enters the plant and we practice social distancing measures on site, including wearing masks when this cannot be guaranteed, per Victorian Government regulations.
"We are proud of the commitment and cooperation shown by all our Ballarat staff, and thank them for their positivity and resilience during these challenging times and helping keep each other safe and Covid free."
Ms Pulford said she was aware many businesses around the region still needed workers from metropolitan Victoria, but assured the community if rules needed to be altered further to keep Ballarat safe, they would be.
"I want to reassure people in Ballarat: if those restrictions need to be changed because of the health advice we have received, that's what we will do.
"Our health professionals are doing an extraordinary job... but for now what we can do is minimise our interactions with other people. That's why we do want travel to be at a minimum and those restrictions have been set in the way that they have."
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