South Australia – Victoria border will reopen from December 1, but families living near it want certainty

An influx of travellers is expected as the Victoria border reopens without restrictions next week. But cross-state families want to be sure it’ll stay that way.

South Australia’s border restrictions with Victoria will be lifted on Tuesday, in a big relief for many families ahead of Christmas.

People entering from Victoria will no longer need to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Authorities expect an influx of travellers, who will initially still need to complete cross-border registration forms so numbers can be gauged and people traced in the event of an outbreak.

SA’s borders are already open to all other states, but restrictions remain in place for people travelling from SA to Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

People who have visited a high-risk site linked to the Parafield cluster are not allowed to visit Victoria, unless approved by that state’s chief health officer. Queensland will make a decision on the SA border by Monday. Currently, anyone can enter Queensland unless they have been in a COVID-19 hotspot in the previous 14 days. Queensland considers 20 of SA’s local council areas, including large parts of metropolitan Adelaide, as hot spots. WA and Tasmania require travellers from SA to complete 14 days of quarantine.

SA-based parents with children studying in Victoria, and vice versa, say they want guarantees of a clear pathway of return for children, regardless of the status of future border controls.

They also want new protocols to make it easier for parents to have access to them when needed.

Cross Border Call-Out founder Paula Gust, and Lucindale mother Georgie McKay, who have been advocating for families, say parents have had to apply to travel and pick up their children.

Many have had applications knocked back and others have faced the prospect of being unable to work or look after their other children while they quarantine.

With their family split up by tough border controls, Mrs Gust and her husband Scott Carberry recently bought a home in Naracoorte, moving there from their Apsley farm which abuts the Victorian border.

Their daughter Holli, 15, is a student at Seymour College, and son Bodhi, 18, works in the construction industry in the South-East.

Paula Gust, of Apsley in Victoria and her daughter Holli, a Seymour College student. Paula has resorted to buying a house at Naracoorte so she can keep her family together. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The pandemic severed the certainty the family once had of being able to come together whenever they needed, replacing it with an ever-changing suite of border control measures.

“We applied for permission to relocate and we had that granted – we’re just going to have to travel back and forth to the farm,” Mrs Gust said.

“We’ve got ourselves in more debt and purchased a house – we’re committing to this until the whole thing is over, even if it’s two years. We’ve had to do it for the children.”

Mrs Gust said last week was proof that COVID-19 restrictions could escalate quickly with little notice.

“It’s just the fear of if there was ever another big lockdown,” she said.

“My daughter is having braces put on – she’s a 15-year-old girl and as much as we have some support from family members we can’t expect them to do all the appointments.

“Holli never knew what was happening – ‘she was thinking, can I come home, will I be able to go back to school?’

“It’s difficult enough at the best of times sending a child to boarding school but throwing in the mix that you don’t know whether or not you’ll be able to see them until December, and her not being able to come home for exeats ...we just had to make some sort of change”.