Mr Drum announced on Tuesday he had made the “tough decision” to not self-isolate for two weeks in order to meet the requirements to attend the next parliament sitting in Canberra on Monday, August 24.
Mr Drum believed he would be more of a help to his electorate by staying in the region.
“I have to make a decision with the best interest of my people,” Mr Drum said.
“I will be in a better position here in the electorate to help, residents, businesses and industries including those who continue to be affected by border issues,” he said.
He is among a number of Victorian Federal members including Veteran Affairs Minister Darren Chester who have opted not to attend parliament.
Two weeks in self-isolation and two weeks sitting in parliament would have resulted in Mr Drum being absent from the region for at least a month.
“It’s a quite ridiculous the level of restrictions put on regional members,” Mr Drum said.
“I know in the last couple of days additional breakouts of COVID-19 have been detected in Shepparton but at the time these restrictions were made we had one case out of 60,000 people.
“They (ACT authorities) are effectively treating Victorians like we are all from Melbourne which is really disappointing.
“Not being in parliament does impact your ability to advocate for certain projects,” he said.
Although it is still unclear how, Mr Drum expects to take part in a number of parliament activities virtually.
Mr Drum said he hoped he would be able to attend the next parliament sitting scheduled for October.
“I will let other MPs make their own judgements . . . there is no right or wrong answer,” Mr Drum said.
“But I believe I will be more help to the people in my electorate who need help straight away here on the ground,” he said.
In the meantime, Mr Drum said he was focusing on immediate responses to COVID-19 issues including working with the Victorian government to strengthen border controls around Melbourne.
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