News | 11 April

Monday, 12 April 2021

To: CCF Victoria staff, members and industry stakeholders.

Update on Positive Cases & News Round Up.

There have been no locally acquired positive cases recorded in Victoria for 43 days now which is more than three 14 day cycles. However Victoria has recorded one new overseas acquired case in hotel quarantine, the first recorded since Melbourne recommenced accepting international flights again last Thursday. New arrivals will now be tested four times in quarantine, on entry and on days 4, 12 and 14.

The big news since our last update concern the vaccine rollout. Late on Thursday, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended that the Astra Zeneca vaccine not be given to people under 50, who face a very slight risk of developing blood clots. As a result, after a National Cabinet meeting on Friday, Australia purchased a further 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine – doubling the order to 40 million doses. The extra doses will arrive in late 2021 meaning that there will be some delays in the scheduled rollout.

Further Easing of Community Restrictions and Density Quotient.

The following advice was received late last night from the Industry Recovery and Coordination Centre of DJPR and distributed with their approval:

“The Victorian Government has announced a further easing of COVIDSafe settings. From 11.59pm Friday 9 April, Victoria will move to allowing 100 per cent of seated indoor and outdoor capacity for entertainment, cultural and sporting venues with a maximum of 1,000 patrons per space. Seated indoor and outdoor entertainment, cultural and sporting venues seeking attendance of more than 1,000 people per space must apply for consideration under the Public Events Framework. Events designated as Tier 1 or 2 will also remain at 75 percent.

In other changes, no density quotient will be applied in office-based workplaces except in publicly accessible areas such as lobbies. Previously, a density limit of one person per two square metres applied to shared spaces in the absence of a cap on the number of office workers. This change means more Victorians can keep coming back to the office, which provides important flow-on patronage to cafes and shops located in our business precincts.”

At CCF, we are returning our Notting Hill office and RTO Training Centre to “COVIDNorm” operations following the further easing of Government restrictions.  Members and visitors are still encouraged to ring the office on 9588-7600, or ring 1300 DIAL CCF, to confirm appointments.

Building & Construction Industry Working Group Update.

This group is currently working on developing a Building, Construction and Development Industry COVID-19 Lockdown Lessons document.

It captures some of the key lessons learnt and feedback from our meeting discussions regarding the lockdowns and subsequent implications for our industry.  It is intended that this Lockdown Lessons document can be used by the group to help guide collective activities in COVID-19 management and advocacy to Government and officials to keep our industry open and safe, especially as we navigate the vaccination roll out.

CCF has provided feedback and input into finalising this document, which will be released shortly.

Annual Leave.

Just a courtesy note to let you all know that I will be taking a short 3-4 week annual leave break from next Tuesday 13 April until Friday 7 May (inclusive). 

During this time, my wife and I will be travelling interstate and unless there is a major issue, or development that impacts heavily on our industry, I will be “off the air waves”.  In my absence, any urgent matters are to be directed to my EA, Julia Barraclough, jbarraclough@ccfvic.com.au or the respective functional leads at CCF Victoria, ie:

I would also like to acknowledge and thank CCF Victoria President, Steve Traicevski, for making himself available to support the CCF team with any “day to day” operational matters, that may require immediate attention during my absence. Again, these enquiries should be directed through Julia Barraclough.

Until my return from annual leave and my next update …. keep well – keep safe.

Kind regards

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