Who is popular today?

The fall in Victoria’s daily caseload of new COVID-19 infections to six on Thursday, with no further deaths, bears out the sense in federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Josh Frydenberg’s call for Premier Daniel Andrews to “give the people of Victoria their freedom back this weekend”. There is no longer any medical justification, as the Morrison government’s two most senior Victorians argued, for the forced closure of pubs, shops, restaurants and offices. Keeping Melbourne’s five million people confined to their homes will only prolong the economic, health and community agony caused by the lockdown, as Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox says. As Remy Varga reports on Friday, Melbourne’s lockdown is fuelling family violence. Demand for mental health services across the state, including for children and teenagers, has soared in recent months.