NSW Coronavirus: Premier’s grim Xmas border warning

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned the bitter border battles between the states could tear families apart in the festive season despite NSW managing once again to keep its new COVID-19 cases limited to single digits.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned that closed state borders will lead to the heartbreaking reality of people being prevented from seeing loved ones at Christmas.

Revealing that she spoke with Prime Minister Scott Morrison about the case of 26 year old Sarah Caisip on Friday, Ms Berejiklian today again urged for state borders to be opened to NSW residents.

Ms Caisip was only allowed a private viewing of her father’s body after his Brisbane funeral due to that state’s border restrictions under Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Labor Government.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Badgerys Creek Creek today.

Sarah Caisip, daughter of Bernard Prendergast arrives to visit at Mt Gravatt Crematorium and Chapel to visit her father’s body after his funeral ceremony. Picture: Glenn Hunt / The Australian

Ms Berejiklian thanked the South Australian Premier and Northern Territory Chief Minister for outlining “a path forward” for opening their borders.

“But I don’t understand when the case numbers are so low why you would even have borders up, especially when you hear those heartbreaking stories of people separated from their relatives,” she said.

WEST RINGS IN A COVID WEDDING BOOM

Western Sydney is having a wedding boom with more couples choosing to get married closer to home during the coronavirus.

New Births Deaths and Marriages data has shown Western Sydney suburbs are becoming more popular for weddings with nine of the top 20 suburbs in the west.

Granville jumped from the state’s number 37 wedding destination in June to August 2019 to number seven in 2020.

Parramatta was the second most popular, and, despite failing to crack the top 20 last year, Fairfield West and Blacktown took out spots 13 and 16.

Also in the top 20 was Lakemba, Fairfield and Punchbowl.

Byron Bay was squeezed out of the top 20 with less people travelling for destination weddings.

Aba Khristo and Kirsty Bakic are now excited to marry in a few months time. They are having the reception in Fairfield to stay close to family. Picture:Justin Lloyd

Kirsty Bakic and her fiance Abanob Khristo have been planning their Fairfield wedding for two years, and were devastated to have to postpone due to the pandemic.

“The emotional hurdle of having our life be put on hold … we’ve been together six years but because of our religion and culture we can’t live together,” Ms Bakic said.

“We have a house waiting for us to move into … that’s been the hardest thing,” she said.

Kirsty planned to be married this July and originally postponed to July next year, but despite the fear restrictions will still be in place the couple brought the wedding forward to February.

For Kirsty, planning her wedding in the western suburbs was a no-brainer, especially during the pandemic.

“We met in Fairfield and our church is in Guildford, so when we were planning our wedding Fairfield was a logical place to look at,” Ms Bakic said.

Western Bulldogs forward Josh Bruce and his wife Pip, pictured with daughter Poppy, were among the high-profile couples to marry at Byron Bay in 2019. However, the wedding hotspot is fast being overtaken by Sydney suburbs due to the pandemic.

“I know there are some gorgeous weddings up and down the coast, but for my fiance’s family and our older guests we wanted them to be comfortable and have the wedding near their house,” she said.

While the pandemic has brought wedding numbers down 50 per cent, the Births Deaths and Marriages wedding interviews are completely booked for the next month, showing demand is returning.

It comes as the NSW Government has made a click and collect service live for the Births, Deaths and Marriages office to save customers waiting in long lines at the Parramatta and Chippendale offices.

“Gone are the days of having to waste time in a queue and fill in paperwork to collect

these documents. Customers can now save time by applying for them from the comfort

of their home,” Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said.

NINE NEW CASES RECORDED, FOUR LINKED TO TWO CLUSTERS

NSW recorded nine new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, from 14,426 tests.

Of the nine new, four are returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, another four are locally acquired and linked to a known case or cluster and one is locally acquired and under investigation.

Two more cases have been linked to the Eastern Suburbs Legions Club cluster. Picture: Google

Two of the new cases are household contacts of a previously reported case linked to the Eastern Suburbs Legion Club cluster.
“Both had been in self-isolation while infectious,” NSW Health said in a statement.

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Another two of the new cases are household contacts of a previously reported case linked to the St Paul’s Catholic College Greystanes cluster. They had also been in self-isolation while infectious.

A known case visited KFC Concord on September 6 between 1pm and 1:20pm.

“Anyone who attended this venue at this time is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received,” the statement said.