Coronavirus Adelaide: SA/Vic border bubble extended to 70km, footy crowd being assessed
The SA/Vic border bubble will be extended from 40km to 70km, from midnight Wednesday, after pressure from border communities. There are also hopes the crowd for Port Adelaide’s preliminary final can be boosted to “at least 30,000”.
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The 40km travel bubble on the SA/Vic border will be extended to 70km either side from midnight Wednesday, Premier Steven Marshall has announced.
Travellers from NSW and the ACT who transit through Mildura also will be allowed in from midnight Wednesday without isolating, provided they are genuine travellers and have not stopped. Mildura residents and travellers from elsewhere in Victoria are not included in the change.
Mr Marshall is also hopeful the crowd for Port Adelaide’s preliminary final can be boosted to “at least 30,000” but this hinges on further discussions with SA Health. He said the excellent crowd behaviour at Adelaide Oval so far gives him confidence it will be lifted above the present 25,000 limit.
“We will be reviewing that in association with the Stadium Management Authority and SA Health and hope to provide advice on where that number may sit closer to the preliminary final,” he said.
Mr Marshall noted the border restrictions had caused huge inconvenience for residents on both sides but stressed it had been part of the necessary changes to keep SA safe.
“We are constantly looking at these arrangements,” he said, noting he did not want to keep any restrictions longer than necessary.
“This will provide huge relief for those affected,” he said.
Authorities also are looking at easing the need for COVID tests for such arrivals from once a week to one a fortnight, possibly within days, but this depends on a nationally consistent approach.
Currently, Victorians living within the 40km zone who enter SA must have completed a registration form and returned a negative COVID-19 test in the past seven days.
The police checkpoint at Yamba will check arrivals from Mildura to ensure they are bona fide travellers from NSW or the ACT who transited without stopping.
The Transition Committee made the decision on this change after taking into account that such travellers may face hours extra travel to enter SA via Broken Hill, with associated dangers from fatigue.
Mr Marshall indicated a coming step would be to ease the hard border on Victoria to one where arrivals could go into 14 days of self isolation, but said the situation does not allow such a change just yet.
The announcement came as SA records two new cases of COVID-19 but one previous case was removed as it had already been counted in another jurisdiction, taking the total to 472.
Both cases, a man and woman in their 20s, recently returned from overseas and tested positive while in quarantine. Both cases have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival and SA Health says there is no public health risk.
The pair, who are travelling together, tested positive on their day one test and will remain in isolation.
There are now three active cases in SA, 465 people have been cleared and there have been four reported deaths. More than 483,000 tests have been undertaken.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens welcomed the border bubble change, saying: “That should provide some relief for people who need to travel across for business and education and other services.”
The widening of SA’s cross-border travel zone is helping communities edge closer to normality, as businesses prepare to welcome customers from further afield.
Frances Strawberries owner Sam Frost said her business was focusing on wholesale and boosting its social media presence while the number of people travelling between SA and Victoria was limited.
“We’re just counting down the days to it all being back to normal,” she says.
Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin said the new 70km cross-border zone – up from 40km – would allow some families to reunite.
“We (also) do rely heavily on the economic contribution from the western districts of Victoria and this will certainly assist businesses,” she said.
Victorian residents in towns such as Goroke and Nhill can now access eastern SA, and locally, Lucindale residents are in the expanded zone.
Mildura MP Ali Cupper is disappointed her constituents will still not have access to SA. She will lobby the Victorian Government to better connect the region to Melbourne so “never again will we be so reliant on another state in terms of higher education, boarding schools and medical treatment”.
Move follows pressure from border communities
The move follows pressure from border communities who said South Australia risked alienating Victorian people and businesses if it did not keep up with the reopening timelines of other states.
Those affected by the 40km border bubble called for eased restrictions after the Northern Territory on Monday announced plans to open its borders to most of regional Victoria from November 2.
All but four council areas would be struck off the hotspot list, meaning people living in those regions will be able to travel to the Territory without undergoing mandatory quarantine.
Earlier, Nick McBride, Liberal MP for MacKillop – the electorate covering border towns including Naracoorte, Bordertown and Penola – said it was time for those rules to be revised.
He said news of Northern Territory’s reopening would leave Victorian residents wondering: “Why isn’t South Australia able to re-engage with us when Northern Territory’s willing to?”
“What it does is it adds to the angst and the concern and the frustration,” he said.
“If we don’t act, at least in partnership with the Northern Territory, and show some sort of leniency towards our border controls … that will further turn away our Victorian neighbours and business people and colleagues there.
“Now that we’ve done well (managing the virus), what can we do well in turning our economic fortune around and re-engaging with business and opening up our economy as fast as we can?” he said.
One of those affected by the restrictions is Stacey McBain, who lives near the Victorian town of Apsley, about a 9km drive across the border.
Ms McBain, who works as a real estate agent at Naracoorte, travels through a border checkpoint every day for work and is required to have a COVID test every seven days.
“We do everything in Naracoorte and we always have,” she said.
“Given that we’ve grown up and lived most of our lives in Naracoorte, all our services are there.”
She has also not been allowed to visit relatives in the town and has put off medical appointments in Adelaide.
Ms McBain said she has now had 11 COVID tests and, while she understands the need to protect the community, it was disappointing to hear South Australia was lagging behind other jurisdictions.
“It is frustrating to hear that other borders are opening … I can’t even see my family at all,” she said.
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