Plans underway to have ‘close to normal’ Anzac Day

On Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said the government was looking at the options.

“It’s too early for us to be definitive about it, but obviously the march is an important part of that day,” Mr Andrews said.

“And we’re all working as hard as we can to have a day that is as close to normal as possible, not just at the Shrine but a whole range of other events out in suburbs and regional communities.”

“We’re all working as hard as we can to make sure that it’s a day where we appropriately commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us,” he said. “It’s a very important day, and we’ll make sure it’s as close to normal as possible and no one should underestimate the amount of work that’s going on to try and achieve that.”

In a statement, Mr Twidale said more details would be revealed in the coming week.

“We understand how important the march is to some veterans. We are working with the government and will hopefully have more to say in the next week,” Mr Twidale said.

“It’s important to note that there are commemorative activities planned right across Victoria, with our aim being for providing the maximum amount of meaningful public attendance at services across the state that we can subject to approval of COVID-safe plans.”

Talks are continuing between RSL Victoria, the state’s Major Events authority and the Department of Health.

Veterans Minister Shaun Leane said he was hopeful something could be worked out soon.

“We continue to work with RSL Victoria to explore how ANZAC Day can be commemorated to the fullest extent permitted by the public health situation, including the possibility of a march.”

Comparatively, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday confirmed dawn services, marches and public commemorations could go ahead “as normal” in the state.

Last week, Moomba Festival was cancelled by the City of Melbourne as a result of COVID-19 and then reinstated 24 hours later.

Earlier this month, Mr Twidale told radio station 3AW that a dawn service would go ahead with “a limited number of attendees” and would be streamed online.

Mr Twidale said managing strict COVID-19 controls through ever-changing restrictions made a march through the city too difficult to plan.

“It comes down to all of those strict controls and having the resources and the people to organise all of that. The RSL does the lion’s share of all of that organising and it’s not cheap,” he told 3AW at the time.

“We’re talking about a couple hundred thousand dollars at a time when the RSL is, like every other charity, struggled a bit through COVID. It’s not about money though, it is ultimately about protecting the safety of the elderly veterans and the community.

“We understand though that a lot of veterans will be very disappointed, and commemoration will still happen.”