THE South Australian and NSW Governments must relax their hard border closures with regional Victoria.
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper said she was continuing to urge both governments to allow more travel for residents in her electorate given there has not been a COVID-19 case since April and regional Victoria had moved into Step 3 of reopening.
“Both SA Premier Steven Marshall and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian have maintained they would not keep borders closed any longer than necessary, and now it’s time for them to stand by their undertakings,” Ms Cupper said.
“It is clear the COVID-19 risk from regional Victoria is extremely low, and I suspect any genuine health assessment by a Chief Health Officer would show the current risk of COVID-19 transmission from a Victorian cross-border community is negligible.
“The day-to-day lives of people in border communities have been turned upside down by these border closures.
“The SA border closure has had the added burden for people wanting to access medical services and education.”
NSW relaxed its border restrictions last week, allowing free movement for border zone residents for day-to-day activities however the Murray River remains off limits for people outside that zone.
SA last week changes its directive for border zone communities to allow organised sport within the 40km of the SA border. But that doesn’t solve the problem for people in Murrayville given a lot of their sporting activities take place more than 40 kilometres across the border.
SA on Tuesday announced it would be opening its borders to NSW residents without the need for 14-day quarantine and Premier Marshall said the Victorian hard border would be looked at later this week, with the potential for regional Victorians to be allowed access soon provided they isolate for 14 days.
“It is encouraging to hear both Premiers hinting at the possibility of relaxing restrictions and I will continue to fight for proportionate rules to allow travel into both states for people in the Mildura electorate,” Ms Cupper said.
