Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has today announced a ‘social bubble’ for singles as part of his plan to ease restrictions towards a COVID-normal. But what exactly does that mean, who is included and how is it all policed?
Minister for Women, Aboriginal Affairs and Prevention of Family Violence Gabrielle Williams sat down with PEDESTRIAN.TV to explain it all in words that we can all understand, because god knows we’re all sick of reading government-made infographics.
To clarify the obvious, you can only have one buddy for the entire lockdown period, so basically, don’t choose your annoying cousin that gives you the shits after you spend one day together.
“It has to be the one person. You get to nominate one person who is essentially your bubble buddy for that period,” Minister Williams said.
The social bubble is only accessible to those of us who are single and live alone, but thankfully, your buddy doesn’t also have to fit those requirements.
This means that if all of your non-shit mates live with housemates or partners, they can still be nominated as your buddy, provided you follow the rules that Minister Williams outlined.
“Your buddy doesn’t have to be a single person but there are rules that go to contain the contact points. Your buddy can have a partner or children, for example, your buddy can visit you in your house because you obviously live alone and you can go to see your buddy but only if they’re home alone at the time,” she told PEDESTRIAN.TV. “The exception to that is where they have dependent children that can’t be cared for elsewhere, then they can bring their children with them.”
To put it simply, the rule is in place so that us single folk have the same benefits as those of us who are in relationships.
“This essentially mirrors the intimate partner rules,” Williams explained.
But in saying that, if you *are* in a relationship, you’ll have to choose between your partner or your mates, unless you’re somebody else’s nominated buddy.
“You can have one or the other but not both.”
When it comes to policing the rules, the government isn’t introducing a permit system, rather, they’re urging everyone to just do the right thing so we’re not in lockdown for any longer than we have to be.
“It’s an honesty system, so no permit or proof is required. But obviously, given we’re all really keen to see restrictions eased so we can get life back to as close to normal as we can, it’s pretty important that people take the rules seriously and adhere to them as closely as possible,” the Minister explained.
“There’s no permit or proof required but we’re asking people to use common sense and to understand the consequences of flagrantly breaching these rules.”
Thankfully, the minister clarified that the overwhelming majority of Victorians have already been doing the right thing, and will likely continue to follow the directions of the Chief Health Officer so we can get out of this as soon as possible.
“The overwhelming majority of people will do the right thing, we’ve seen that all of the way through the restrictions. Victorians have overwhelmingly been compliant and we’ve got no reason to think they won’t continue to be.”
