ALI CUPPER IS THE STATE MEMBER FOR MILDURA
SOUTH Australian Premier Steven Marshall needs to stop playing petty political games and fully reopen the border with Victoria.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this week announced her state would remove all border restrictions from November 23 in a move that came as such a relief to border communities in the Mildura electorate.
But the South Australian Government continues to drag its feet.
Rather than give a similar assurance to NSW, Premier Marshall instead announced only the weekly COVID-19 test would be removed for people living within the 70km border zone.
He said it was possible for the hard border to be removed in a few weeks, but with Victorians needing to self-isolate for 14 days.
This requirement is ridiculous and unnecessary.
NSW has shown it has the confidence to reopen fully, and this week the Northern Territory opened its borders to regional Victorians without any quarantine needs.
It’s unreasonable to expect people travelling to South Australia to isolate for 14 days – especially given the same restriction does not apply to NSW, which had 46 active cases of the coronavirus on Thursday compared to 20 in Victoria.
As of Thursday, there had been no new cases in Victoria for six consecutive days.
Mr Marshall maintaining the border restrictions were driven by health advice just doesn’t ring true now.
The data and facts are there for everyone to see.
The border closure with SA has been horrendous for so many people in the Mildura electorate.
We have always had a close relationship with SA, and especially Adelaide as our closest capital city.
Our social connections have suffered with families unable to see each other for months on end.
Patients have been denied access for medical services, students have been locked out of returning to studies, and businesses, suffering huge losses, have in some cases been forced to close.
It has been an extremely challenging year for all of us and the border closures have exacerbated the stress.
NSW has taken the lead by announcing its reopening and now it’s time for SA to do the same.
