PRIME Minister Scott Morrison says Australia can’t let the COVID-19 pandemic take the country back to pre-Federation days.
Speaking at a NSW bush summit on Friday, Mr Morrison pledged to establish a national definition of coronavirus hot spots to put pressure on states to explain border restrictions on areas such as Mildura without major outbreaks.
“We must not allow this crisis, this pandemic, to force us to retreat into provincialism,” he said.
“That’s not the answer.
“If you impose a border, you can’t help but cause problems. That’s why we got rid of them in the first place.”
Mr Morrison said if he had his time over again at the start of the pandemic he would focus more on borders between states and territories, which he said wasn’t the most pressing issue at the time.
The Federal Government will forge ahead with the definition whether or not states are on board.
Victoria recorded 12 deaths and 113 new coronavirus cases on Friday, while there were 13 fresh infections in NSW.
Border communities have continued to raise concerns about restrictions shutting Victoria off from the other states.
NSW has agreed to make the border zone 50km, extended from 2.5km, with an agricultural exemption of 100km in a move Member for Murray Helen Dalton labelled a win for “people power”.
South Australia-Victoria border restrictions have been relaxed but people living or working 40km either side of the border remain subject to virus tests every seven days to be permitted to cross.
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper said South Australia’s relaxation of its hard border a week after imposing it was a welcome move but needed to be built on.
“There are now zero active coronavirus cases in the three Victorian border local government areas and case numbers have been consistently falling throughout regional Victoria for well over a week,” she said.
“The border zone is welcome relief to communities like Murrayville and Lindsay Point, however it is certainly not an ideal scenario.
“Residents still need to have a COVID-19 test every seven days, which is a very restrictive and invasive – and there still has not been a single case from a person from a border community.”
— with AAP
