NSW-Victorian border closure: Murray River ruling suspends paddle steamers
Victoria’s historic paddle steamer cruises have been left high and dry by a bizarre NSW border closure ruling despite tourists only disembarking on the southern river bank.
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Several iconic regional Victorian tourist attractions have been left high and dry by a bizarre ruling from the NSW-Victorian border closure.
Paddle steamer rides operating along the Murray River from the Victorian side have been forced to suspend operations indefinitely after NSW Maritime ruled everyone entering the state’s waters from Victoria required a border permit.
The restriction has been applied to all recreational and commercial vessels despite tourists on the paddle steamer rides given no opportunity to disembark in NSW unless they jump overboard into the river.
NSW waters are considered to start from the high water mark on the Victorian side under a 1980 High Court ruling.
The Pioneer Settlement’s Pyap paddle steamer in Swan Hill is even moored in Victorian waters on the Marraboor River, but because it travels along the Murray during its 60-minute return cruise, it has been forced to shut down.
General manager Jessica Warburton said it was a challenging restriction to understand given there was no opportunity for passengers to disembark in NSW.
“Many of the rules and regulations make perfect sense, and we absolutely understand why they’re in place, it’s just the odd couple that seems to just lack a practicality such as our Pyap,” she said.
She said their customers had been understanding and they remained hopeful of being able to gain an exemption at some point, particularly if the border closure remains in place for a long period of time.
Mildura Paddle Steamers marketing manager Ashton Kreuzer said it was costing their business $2000 a week just in insurance payments to have their three vessels docked indefinitely.
She said they were at a stalemate and were still trying to seek clarification if they could operate from NSW with NSW passengers only.
“We’re coming into our fourth month of not operating whatsoever during the pandemic,” she said.
“Other cafes and businesses can do takeaway whereas we haven’t even been able to do that because part of our licensing is we’ve got to cruise to be able to serve alcohol.
“We haven’t even been able to adapt anything to try and get some sort of income into our business.”
Ms Kreuzer said they were able to operate in a reduced capacity for about a month when the initial restrictions eased, but the border closure on July 7 forced them to shut again.
“It’s eating into the business and we don’t know how it’s going to look in the future, if it’s going to have a future,” she said.
The Murray Regional Tourism Board, along with MPs and the councils that align the river, have been lobbying for the attractions to be exempt as well as a range of issues to do with the border closure, such as staff not being able to get to work.
In response to questions, a NSW Health spokeswoman said they it had a dedicated team of clinicians that assessed every exemption request to balance the need to keep the community safe.
“Each exemption is considered on a case-by-case basis and, accordingly, the specific provisions of each exemption will vary from person to person,” she said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he had an open line of communication with his NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian to discuss any border issues.
“It won’t be easy, we know that, but I can understand why Premier Berejiklian has made the decisions she has made,” he said.
“Let’s work together and make them as practical as we can, to make them as common sense as we can.”
Originally published as NSW-Victorian border closure: Murray River ruling suspends paddle steamers