Tough times for cross-state communities as new South Australian border controls come into effect
Schools will split, businesses will close and the mental-health effects of the state’s strict new border controls will take a massive toll on cross-border communities, locals say.
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Residents are counting the cost of a decision to ban cross-border travel, except for those with essential traveller status or other approved exemptions, such as farmers with properties straddling the border, Year 11-12 students, and people needing urgent medical treatment.
Premier Steven Marshall said the State Government was extremely worried about coronavirus cases emerging in parts of regional Victoria, and the changes were needed to help keep South Australians safe.
Mr Marshall said while he felt for people living in cross-border communities, tougher controls would help prevent the disease spreading into SA.
“We are extraordinarily concerned about the seeding of the coronavirus into regional Victoria,” he said.
“Along our border at the shires … there are something like 14 current cases. It’s not a disease that is ring-fenced in Melbourne.”
Mr Marshall said the government needed to do all it could to protect the South-East and the rest of the state from COVID-19.
The changes come into effect from Friday, with a seven-day transition period.
THE BUSINESS OWNER
Bec Oakley lives only 2km across the border in the small Victorian farming community of Panitya.
Eighteen months ago, she opened a fashion and lifestyle store called Harvested in Pinnaroo’s main street – a strip that has many empty stores.
Being the sole employee working at the store, Mrs Oakley believes if she can’t enter SA, she will have to close the doors.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be classified as an essential worker,” she said.
Mrs Oakley also works at the Pinnaroo public library, another role she will have to forgo.
THE TINY SCHOOL
About 120 students and at least 20 teachers living on the Victorian side of border communities will be affected by the restrictions on people entering SA for education.
Some small schools will be most heavily affected, including Frances Primary.
“It’ll have a big impact – more than half of our students are from Victoria,” said Joyce Dinan, principal of the school, which has 28 students.
“We do have a contingency plan. We want to keep the students engaged in their learning and connected to the school community.”
Under the new restrictions, students will no longer be able to enter SA for schooling unless they are in Years 11 and 12.
Penola Primary principal Anna Copping said eight of about 180 students would be affected.
Pinnaroo Primary principal Sunyl Vogt said three staff and four of its students lived across the border. The school has only 16 staff.
THE KIOSK OWNER
Preventing residents travelling from the small town of Nelson to Mount Gambier will create a bigger problem not just for locals but for South Australia, the local kiosk owner has claimed.
Paul Singleton lives in Donovans, 1km west of the Victorian border, but works at the Nelson Kiosk 4km east of the SA border.
He said many in the Nelson community travelled to Mount Gambier for work, shopping and health appointments.
Instead, Mr Singleton said they would now have to head to Portland, where there are seven active COVID-19 cases.
“It’s going to bring this virus right on to (South Australia’s) doorstep,” he said.
The mental-health effects of tough border controls were causing anxiety among locals, Mr Singleton said, and their isolation would only worsen when their ability to travel to Mount Gambier was taken away.
“I’ve had people crying in my shop today,” he said.
“The town is ready to explode. It’s just terrible.
“There are several ladies in town who work in aged care in Mount Gambier and their boss told them they’re not allowed back over.
“And there’s a lot of single parents who share custody of children (with people in SA).
“It’s a real issue.”
THE FORESTRY WORKER
Noel Bull lives near Dartmoor, 25km east of South Australia’s border with Victoria and hopes “common sense prevails” so he and his family members can keep going to work next week.
He regularly travels from Victoria to work at forestry management business SFM in Mount Gambier.
The town is where his family does their shopping and banking – “everything”.
Mr Bull hopes he’ll be able to keep going to work because he is employed directly within the primary industries sector.
But things might be tougher for his son who lives in Mumbannar, 20km into Victoria, and who works as an electrician at a sawmill in Mount Gambier.
Another question mark remains over the workings of his farm at Dartmoor.
“All our hay and veterinary (help) comes from Mount Gambier – our whole life revolves around Mount Gambier,” Mr Bull said.
He said decision-makers in Adelaide were not taking into account how cross-border communities worked.
“It’s just going to wreck whole economies and all those communities,” he said.
THE TEACHER
Victoria’s Murrayville Community College is already a step ahead and has set up an education hub at the Lutheran Church hall, in Pinnaroo, for its South Australian-based students.
Teacher Sonya Inglis, who lives in Pinnaroo, said she, along with two other teachers and three support staff, were working at the hub.
It will cater for about 10 students, four days a week.
“We set up last week, with Victoria going into stage three restrictions,” Ms Inglis said.
“We felt like we just had to do it. The social interaction between students is just so important.”
THE PARENT
For Leonie Pieterse, having an education hub at Pinnaroo has been a godsend.
Her children Lenard, 16, and Bernice, 8, both usually attend the Murrayville Community College.
“(Having the education hub) means a lot,” she said.
“My husband and I both work, so without the hub I would have been forced to quit my job.
“It also means a lot to my children. Bernice was so excited when she found out about the hub and wants to go there every day to see her friends.”