THE Victorian Government advised this morning that the existing permit system will remain in place for residents of border communities crossing the NSW border.
Residents of local government areas along both sides of the border will not need a permit to travel between states, but can use their driver’s licence or other photo ID to prove their address when crossing the border.
Residents under 18 do not need to provide identification.
However, anyone who has been in a Red Zone in the last 14 days cannot enter Victoria, regardless of whether they live in a border region.
The local government areas that are exempt from needing a permit are:
Victoria: Alpine Valleys, Benalla, Bendigo, Buloke, Campaspe, East Gippsland, Gannawarra, Indigo, Loddon, Mildura, Moira, Shepparton, Swan Hill, Towong, Wangaratta, Wodonga, and Yarriambiack
New South Wales: Albury City, Balranald, Bega Valley, Berrigan, Broken Hill, Edward River, Federation, Greater Hume, Hay, Lockhart, Murray River, Murrumbidgee, Snowy Monaro, Snowy Valleys, Wagga Wagga, Wentworth, and other “unincorporated local government areas” (not including Lord Howe Island)
Victoria recorded five locally acquired cases on Thursday, leaving the state’s total number of active cases at 18.
NSW recorded three locally acquired new cases.
EARLIER:
VICTORIA will close its borders to the whole state of New South Wales from 11.59pm on Friday, in response to NSW’s spreading COVID-19 outbreak.
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan announced the border closure on Thursday afternoon, saying that from 11.59pm on New Year’s Day, the entire state of NSW will become a red zone.
Anyone who returns to Victoria from NSW until then needs to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate for 14 days.
In addition to the border measures, from 5pm on New Year’s Eve, masks are mandatory indoors if outside the home, and gatherings at private homes are limited to 15 guests.
“This is not an easy choice,” Ms Allan said.
“Closing borders, putting in place restrictions is never an easy choice to make — certainly not one we wanted to be making and announcing on a day that is supposed to be about celebrating.
“As we have seen throughout the course of 2020, this has been a difficult year, with many difficult decisions to make, as a consequence of a virus that causes great damage to the health and well-being of our community.
“Unfortunately the virus doesn’t expire at midnight tonight and we have to remain vigilant.”
It is still unclear exactly what the changes to border controls will mean for border residents, but Ms Allan said appropriate arrangements would be made.
“For those in our border communities, we understand that you need to be able to travel in between New South Wales and Victoria, and we will have a process in place to allow that to happen,” she said.
“Details will be confirmed shortly.”
Existing provisions for freight, medical care and emergency services remain the same.
Ms Allan apologised for the “disruption” to Victorians visiting NSW, but said the border closure was in the best interests of the community, and the logical next step to combat the outbreak.
“This is going to cause some disruption for Victorians who may be holidaying, we do apologise for this disruption, however these difficult decisions are about protecting the community, protecting and keeping case numbers low and doing everything we can to lock in the gains we made over the course of 2020, so we can move to 2021 and have a much better year for 2021,” she said.
“We have been saying for some time now encouraging people to think carefully about travelling to New South Wales, understanding if they did and there were further cases, that were coming out of NSW, that we would need to potentially move very quickly to close the border.
“Unfortunately that is where we are now.”
Ms Allan also announced a further two COVID-19 cases on Thursday afternoon, in addition to three in the morning.
The new cases are close contacts of previous cases, and are currently in quarantine.
EARLIER:
THE Victorian Government announced tightened coronavirus restrictions ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations, as the government encouraged Victorians visiting New South Wales to come home.
Victorians who have visited the Blue Mountains or Wollongong since December 27 had until midnight on Thursday to return to Victoria, and will need to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.
From 5pm on Thursday, masks are mandatory indoors when outside the home, and the limit of people who can gather in a private home was reduced from 30 to 15.
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan announced the changes on Thursday morning.
“We do apologise to people who have put plans in place, who was looking forward to having events in their home, or in other people’s homes, but this is a necessary step,” she said.
“If you are planning to leave your home at the moment, we ask people to carry their masks with them, we are now asking them to wear a mask if they are indoors in any location which is not their private home.”
Ms Allan also encouraged Victorians to think carefully about travelling to NSW amid the current outbreak.
“It is important that people think about their travel plans, as we are seeing what is emerging from New South Wales is that this is a very dynamic situation,” she said.
South Australia also reinstated its hard border with NSW from midnight on Thursday, with a 100km buffer zone for border communities.
The new restrictions came as authorities investigated exposure sites in Melbourne, which were believed to be linked to the Sydney outbreak.
