Shepparton Chamber of Commerce president John Anderson called on the Victorian Government to support businesses by relaxing restrictions in regional areas where no coronavirus cases exist.
“The primary concern is to make sure Victorians are safe,” Mr Anderson said.
“To date regional areas have been very patient, and adhered to all social distancing and business restriction requirements while barely seeing any COVID-19 cases.
“Greater Shepparton region for example has seen 13 cases in three months, no current active cases, all while testing has been going on.”
Mr Anderson said last weekend's decision not to relax some restrictions in reaction to increased coronavirus infection rates in a number of Melbourne hot-spots was disappointing.
Instead he supported a regional plan where restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs outside these areas could increase capacity to 50 customers.
“The hospitality industry has done it really hard,” he said.
“The reality is they were all geared up to open and because of what has happened in Melbourne it has all changed.”
If deemed safe, Mr Anderson said the local situation could be monitored and hospitality establishments could have the power to deny service to patrons from designated postcodes.
It has been a long time between drinks but for the first time since March, The Deck reopened for dine-in yesterday.
Under the current restrictions, owner Frankie Lagana said the bar was excited to welcome 20 guests indoors and 20 guests outdoors.
“It's so good to be serving customers again,” Mr Lagana said.
“We took the time to give the the place a freshen up, and with the unknown of the restrictions we decided to hold off.”
Mr Lagana said he would welcome relaxed restrictions for regional areas with open arms, if the Victorian chief health officer declared it safe to do so.
“I'm more concerned about safety, we don't want to be the cause of further restrictions,” he said.
“We have waited this long, if we have to wait a few more weeks, so be it.”
Despite the unchanged restrictions for patron numbers in venues, general manager Grant Tarrant said the Shepparton RSL's reopening went ahead on Monday.
“It was disappointing but we've just had to adjust and we have to understand the bigger picture has to be people's health,” Mr Tarrant said.
“We had to move some of the bookings around and create a second sitting to accommodate everyone but the customers have been fantastic.”
With a maximum of 90 guests, the RSL is now operating at 20 per cent capacity and Mr Tarrant said he supported a move to open up the regional hospitality industry ahead of its metro counterpart.
However he said for large venues 50 customers per area was only a starting point and instead a one patron per 4 sq m rule with no room limit would level the playing field.
“That would be a better solution for a lot of local businesses,” he said.
“That would allow us to get back to normal and we could manage that really well.”
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