MURRAYVILLE residents will still not be able to access the South Australian Riverland directly from the Pinnaroo border crossing despite SA easing cross border restrictions.
On Thursday the border buffer zone was extended from 40km to 70km, but while the Riverland is within 70km of the South Australian border it is still more than 100km from the Pinnaroo border crossing Murrayville residents use to access South Australia.
Sunraysia Daily reported on Wednesday that the border rules being relaxed would mean Murrayville residents could access Riverland towns such as Loxton, backed up by comments made by Member for Mildura Ali Cupper, but Victorian cross-border commissioner Luke Wilson on Thursday denied that.
“Current interpretations of the South Australia border restrictions suggest residents of Murrayville cannot access Loxton directly from the Pinnaroo crossing,” Mr Wilson said.
“We continue to work with South Australia Police to address issues associated with current restrictions.”
On its website SA Police said approved cross border community members are not permitted to travel more than 70km into South Australia or Victoria from the point they entered.
This means Murrayville residents could access Lameroo, which has full time GP and an alternative hospital to the one at Pinnaroo.
The cross-border restrictions are set to play havoc on Murrayville in a sporting sense as well as for the community, with Murrayville teams set to be unable to host games that would require visiting South Australians to have permits and weekly coronavirus tests
