Cut-off Victorians to fend for themselves after border closure
It was relief for some and frustration for others as Victoria’s border with New South Wales slammed shut.
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It was relief for some and frustration for others as the border with New South Wales slammed shut at midnight on Friday.
As the clock struck 12, just a handful of holiday-makers were waiting in their cars to make the last-minute dash back into Victoria.
Kelli Rippon, Rachel Bartlett and dog Meisie were the very last to be let into Victoria at the Hume Freeway checkpoint near Wodonga.
The women were relieved to have squeezed in seconds from midnight, having travelled through Dubbo from Brisbane.
Tim Roberts and his wife Renee made it into Victoria with just minutes to spare.
“We were a bit stressed about actually making it,” Mr Roberts said.
The Ferntree Gully couple, along with their children, Chloe, 8, and Amelia, 4, cut their holiday to Taree on NSW’ mid-north coast short by almost a week.
“By the time we got across the border and into Victoria it was about 10 to 12,” Mr Roberts said.
“We were supposed to be up there for two weeks. So when we got the notification our car was actually in the workshop, at the Toyota dealership, because it blew an airbag on the way up there.”
“So if there was any sort of hold-up it wasn’t going to work.”
Tasmanian resident Eric Petersen is one of many people already turned away at the newly locked down border.
Mr Petersen approached the Wodonga checkpoint early on Saturday — hours after the closure — and was told by police he could not pass through to make his Monday voyage home on the Spirit of Tasmania.
“The Victorian government has made it impossible for some people,” Mr Petersen said.
“It’s crazy. They should have common sense and let me go through with my full tank of gas. I am not going to stop anywhere. I just want to get home.”
He would now need to wait in New South Wales and apply for an exemption to enter Victoria, which could take up to 48 hours to process.
Victoria Police said it turned away a total of 318 vehicles in the 24-hour period to 11pm on Friday — an hour before the hard border closure came into effect.
People who have been in Greater Sydney or the NSW Central Coast region have been banned from entering Victoria since December 22.
CUT-OFF VICTORIANS TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES
Victoria’s border with NSW slammed shut at midnight, with the government making it clear anybody who missed the deadline should now stay put.
Any hopes late-returning Victorians had of quarantining in their home state were quashed yesterday, with Department of Health COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar saying only exceptional cases would be allowed to return from NSW after January 2.
The hotel quarantine system was designed to cater for Australians returning from long periods overseas, not those having interstate holidays, he said.
“If you seek to cross the border after midnight tonight you will be turned back,” Mr Weimar said Friday. “We are not running a hotel quarantine scheme for convenience.
“We have been very clear for a number of weeks now around the risks of travelling to NSW. If you intend to cross the border after midnight tonight you’ll be turned back by VicPol colleagues … We need to close the border because we do not wish to continue to import high-risk COVID cases back into Victoria.”
As streams of Victorians scrambled to return home on Friday, they were told anyone not already in a queue at a NSW border checkpoint by midnight would be locked out.
While Australians returning from overseas are being accommodated in Victoria’s mandatory coronavirus hotel quarantine program, the Andrews government will not offer the same option to those who have travelled to NSW despite warnings they should not do so.
There is better news for those cut off in Queensland and the ACT, with the Department of Health set to roll out a permit system allowing them to transit across NSW under strict provisions.
About 70 people are already housed in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system after entering the state from NSW over the past 10 days.
Anyone who returned to Victoria from NSW on Friday must be tested for coronavirus and isolate in their homes for 14 days. Those who did not return before the deadline have been told to find accommodation in NSW. Although exemptions will be granted to extreme cases who have nowhere else to stay, sources said they expected the number of special permits to be in the dozens, not hundreds.
The tough stance comes after the Andrews government first warned against travelling to NSW and the likelihood of snap border closures on December 18, when Sydney’s northern beaches cluster escalated.
As queues of Victorians trying to return over the border flagged concerns at crossing delays and only being given a day-and-a-half’s notice, Health Minister Martin Foley said he understood their frustrations but had to act. “Our message really hasn’t changed over the last two weeks,” he said. “I stood here some time ago and said ‘reconsider going to NSW, don’t go to Sydney’.”
Mr Weimar said arrangements allowing people to transit across NSW and into Victoria would be in place after today. “People who need to make the long drive from Queensland back into Victoria will — under very strict conditions around 15-minute stops, wearing a face mask and social distancing — under certain conditions will be able to make cross-state journey,” he said.
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien called on more fairness for returning Victorians.
“We understand the government is in the difficult position … but we need to be fair to Victorians as well,” he said.
ANGER OVER MAD DASH
As Victorian holidaymakers raced home to beat the NSW border lockdown, anger and relief were written across their faces.
Many were frustrated they were not given enough notice, with the roads leading to checkpoints clogged with cars and excessive waiting times.
The Davies family — including Jamie and his wife Melissa, along with their 14-year-old son Clay and pooch Charlie — said the short notice to pack up their belongings and boat was “absolutely ridiculous”.
The East Gippsland family were forced to cut short their Albury holiday and make a mad dash home before the border closed at midnight on Friday.
They must now undergo 14 days of isolation at their Bairnsdale farm.
“What we’re cheesed about was basically given under 10 hours to vacate NSW,” Mr Davies said.
“We had the Victoria Police direct us to come home, minimal stops, food, fuel, toilet stops that’s it, keep going.”
Dreams of toasting the New Year with an idyllic getaway were quickly dashed, and instead thousands were forced to ring in 2021 in their cars — trapped for hours as they tried to dodge toughening border restrictions.
Beaumaris couple Luke Napoleone and Jaclyn Paltos were on the sandy shores of Eden with seven-year-old daughter May and 10-year-old son Lenny when they learned of the Victorian government’s plan to lock down the NSW border.
Immediately, they packed their bags in a mad dash for the state border line on Thursday.
The 40km journey from Eden to the checkpoint, that should have only taken them 30 minutes, turned into a five- hour debacle.
Luckily, the young family passed over the border just in time to avoid having to self-isolate at home for 14 days.
“Now we’re back in Melbourne queuing up again but this time it’s for a COVID test. We just want to get it over and done with so we can get the results and enjoy the rest of the school holidays.”
Over 600km away at the Echuca-Moama border, David Crispin wasn’t so lucky.
After travelling to Moama on Thursday to ring in the New Year with friends metres from the Victorian border, the 42-year-old didn’t make it back across before midnight.
Mr Crispin now faces two weeks in isolation at home in Lancefield.
“Our plans definitely snowballed. We got here, had a few drinks and then the announcement came through. I couldn’t drive then so we couldn’t leave,” he said.
“It was New Year’s Eve, they could have given people more time to get (back across the border).”
Not only does Mr Crispin face missing out on work while he self-isolates, he has also been forced to cancel his family holiday next week.
Dave Rosier and Kim Cullen were overjoyed to have made it through the checkpoint in the nick of time with their sons, Hugh, 2, and Sean, 9 months. Despite having their trip cut short in NSW, the St Kilda East family were determined to ring in the New Year on a positive note.
They were forced to pack up and travel home before the border closed on Friday at midnight. They made it across the border after enduring an hour-and-a-half delay but will undergo 14 days of isolation when they get home.
“We were continuing our holiday in Victoria but now we subsequently can’t because of the requirements of quarantine,” Mr Rosier said.
Melbourne street artist Kaff-eine was also among the droves who crossed the Albury-Wodonga checkpoint after holidaying in Nelson Bay.
After escaping NSW on Friday morning, other holiday-makers revealed the chaos at Moama’s campgrounds and guest accommodation that followed the Victorian government’s shock announcement.
“Everyone just got up and left. People were driving on the nature strip to try to get around the traffic. It was crazy,” on traveller said.
“One of our friends left yesterday after the announcement, got in the line and moved 2km in six hours.”
While traffic at the border flowed more freely on Friday morning, tensions were high among frustrated Victorians.
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