WESTERN Victoria Region MP Beverley McArthur said that the State Government’s testing centres for COVID-19 are a shambles with lengthy queues going nowhere.

Ms McArthur said she had been informed of many stories of people waiting several hours in queues, including some queuing since 4am who have then subsequently missed out on being tested.

“I have been advised by a constituent that he has now queued for two days – arriving at 4am on both occasions –waiting for four and a half hours each time - only to be told the testing site is no longer open,” she said.

“This gentleman is required to get the test so he can go to work.

“He has turned up at this site because the State Government’s own website says it is open - clearly it is not.”

Mrs McArthur said that this story is like many others, for example in Warrnambool, people have been receiving conflicting information about testing sites being open and they have driven from one test site to another, only to be met by closed signs.

“A Warrnambool constituent has also advised me that DHHS continues to tell people to go to sites run by Melbourne Pathology, but the company has changed its COVID-19 testing policy and no longer is doing symptomatic, exposure or close contact testing - it is only doing pre-operation, pre-admission, international travel and pregnant patients,” she said.

“The Andrews Government has literally shut up shop for Christmas and New Year – despite the rest of the world continuing with real life and needing to go to work.

"It was patently obvious that testing sites would be in hot demand once Victorians were given the green light to move out of lockdown and into freedom - the government should have ensured the system could cope.

“They should at least be able to update their own website in a timely fashion instead of so badly inconveniencing people who are actually trying to be responsible.

“People need these tests to travel, to work, to visit family and elderly and simply just to get on with life.

“And yet, the Andrews Government has clearly decided its own holidays come first and the health and welfare of ordinary Victorians comes second.”

 Mrs McArthur said her Geelong constituent was told by local police that all their policing resources are being diverted to the problem, with queues of cars stretching around street blocks, impeding traffic.

“This is dysfunctional government,” she said.

“Who needs lockdowns to create havoc, when you can have testing sites advertised as open, but not?

“The community has done everything asked of it – immunised once, twice and for many now three times.  They are lining up for testing. They can do no more.

“Yet despite doing everything right – despite being promised freedom – they find themselves in queues that go literally nowhere.

“I have previously called for taxpayer resources to be diverted from non-essential government self-promotional political advertising into essential testing at sites such as Geelong, Warrnambool and other holiday locations impacted by surge tourism numbers.

“It is now the Andrews Government’s turn to stop pointing fingers and do its job so others can do theirs.”