SOUTH Australian police commissioner Grant Stevens says there are no immediate plans to open his state’s borders for Victorians, despite New South Wales residents now being able to cross into South Australia.
Mr Stevens, who is also the state’s COVID-19 coordinator, told media there were hopes regional Victorians would be able to cross the border however that was not likely to be soon.
“I don’t see any changes happening in the very near future in terms of Victoria,” he said.
“But we are hopeful that if they continue to reduce the virus as much as they are, that we will be able to move on those restrictions as well.”
Mr Stevens said SA Health is investigating border logistics.
“The risk from COVID-19 from … a regional Victorian perspective is very difficult to separate from the greater Melbourne area,” he said.
“We have no capacity to monitor people’s movements or to be able to verify whether a person who says they are from regional Victoria has come from (there)
“So we need to think carefully about how to allow those low risk areas to come to South Australia with the confidence that we’re not increasing the risk to South Australians.
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper has renewed her call for a border bubble with the Mildura LGA.
There has not been an active case in the Mildura LGA since April.
“Every day, the position of the SA Government is looking less about health and more about politics,” Ms Cupper said on Friday.
“The SA Police Commissioner on Thursday effectively dismissed any easing of the current restrictions in the short term, saying there were ‘no changes forecast at this time’
“This is incredibly disappointing.”
Ms Cupper said at the very least, the SA Government should immediately scrap the need for Victorian border community residents to undergo weekly COVID-19 tests in order to cross into SA.
“The weekly COVID-19 testing is an incredible burden for residents of border towns like Murrayville … the current regime seems to be a crazy overreach,” she said.
Ms Cupper also believes it is time for the NSW border zone to be increased to include Broken Hill.
“We have a close association with Broken Hill and believe it would be beneficial to include them in a border zone with Mildura,” she said.
