***UPDATE 3.30pm***
MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has likened South Australia’s slow easing of border restrictions for Victorians to “torture”.
SA Premier Steven Marshall announced his state would ease border restrictions slightly from midnight Wednesday by shifting the 40km cross border buffer zone to 70km, which offers some reprieve to places such as Murrayville who can now access the Riverland for services.
Cruelly, north west Victorian towns such as Cullulleraine (78.9km from the SA border) and Underbool (80.8km) fall just outside the new buffer zone.
Ms Cupper said while it’s no great step, any movement in the right direction towards opening the border again needed to be taken as a small victory.
“It does feel like a form of torture, the excruciatingly slow pace of the reopening — you wonder if it’s necessary in those circumstances,” she said.
SA will also allow travellers from other states to transit through Mildura to cross its border — provided they do not stop in Victoria.
“There will be checks on the border to make sure they are bonafide travellers rather than Victorians or Mildura residents who are wanting to come into South Australia,” Mr Marshall said.
“If they are bonafide travelers they will be able to cross through to South Australia without starting the clock on their two weeks isolation in SA.”
Ms Cupper said that was a frustrating situation.
“It is frustrating and feels almost punitive and cruel, again it’s almost like a form of torture having to see people we know driving through waving at us on their way to get there to see their grandchildren in Adelaide or to get the medical treatment they need in Adelaide,” she said.
“Whereas people in Mildura where we’ve had zero cases physically here since in April have to continue to wait in line, becoming more and more frustrated and distressed — it’s awful.”
It is unknown whether residents of NSW border towns will be able to travel under those conditions despite also being able to get permits to travel into Mildura, provided they not travel to Victoria for the 14 days before attempting to cross into South Australia.
The NSW Government late on Tuesday added to the confusion, claiming that police would continue to enforce border closures.
“We have had several reports of people attempting to travel from South Australia to NSW – and vice versa – via the Sturt Highway in Victoria, as this is the most direct route,” NSW Operation Border Closure Forward Commander, Superintendent Paul Smith said.
“Anyone wishing to enter NSW from South Australia will need to do so directly, via an alternative route.”
He said South Australians who attempted to travel into NSW via Victoria and did not have a valid permit would be turned away.
“That’s where the farcical nature of some of these rules comes into sharp focus,” Ms Cupper said.
“This has been the agony of the slicing up of Australia all along … we’re a nation of Australians and there needs to be some proportionality to this.”
Mr Marshall said his state’s COVID transition committee would continue to review the border situation.
“There is nothing to say border restrictions won’t change in the future, we are constantly looking at those arrangements but (on Tuesday) the transition committee, based upon the evidence that we’ve presented to them, felt very assured that we could move that buffer zone,” he said.
“It is a fantastic outcome for those people that live in those border communities, and of course what we will continue to do is look at those arrangements and as we can further relieve that restriction we will do so, but we won’t do it until it is safe to do so.”
Mr Marshall said his government would also be looking at relaxing COVID testing requirements for cross border residents.
“Currently it’s once per week, there is a suggestion we move this to once fortnightly,” he said.
“This is something we are trying to get some national consistency on … we hope to provide some advice in the coming weeks.”
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Original story: South Australia extends border zone
SOUTH Australia is to extend its buffer zone with Victoria, easing COVID-19 restrictions on border communities.
The zone will increase from 40km to 70km on each side of the border, allowing more people to travel into SA or return from trips into Victoria without the need to quarantine.
SA will also allow people travelling from states other than Victoria who transition through Mildura to come into the state without being forced into isolation.
Travellers will be checked at the border to ensure they are not from Victoria or Mildura locals and must not have stopped in the regional town.
The two changes were approved at Tuesday’s meeting of the state’s transition committee and will come into force from midnight on Wednesday.
