Regional Victorians allowed on Murray River after NSW amendment
NSW has eased rules that kept Victorians visiting border towns from entering the Murray River, with the move being described as “business-saving” by tourism operators who campaigned hard for the change.
Mildura
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New South Wales will no longer prevent regional Victorians who visit border towns from entering the Murray River, ending a bittersweet period for tourism operators.
While the easing of Victorian restrictions had brought tourists back to towns such as Mildura, the rules in NSW kept those visitors from paddle-steamer trips and houseboats.
The Murray River is part of NSW and the rule applied even if a boat journey began and ended at a Victorian port.
NSW on Monday night amended its border control public health order to allow Victorians to enter the river without a permit.
These Victorians cannot have been in an excluded area, or area of concern, in the past 14 days and any embankment, dock, port or wharf on the northern side of the river will remain off-limits.
Mildura Paddle Steamers marketing manager Ashton Kreuzer said the change as “business-saving”.
After the announcement she said she was on “cloud nine”.
“From numerous letters to ministers, phone calls, setbacks, meetings, emails, texts, to finally – a result,” she said.
Ms Kreuzer said other businesses had also fought hard for the change.
Residents of border communities who hold a border region permit have been allowed to use the river for the past two weeks.
While that allowed for river businesses to operate some services, they had to turn away tourists who weren’t from a border community.
Under the new amendment, operators of a vessel will have an obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure that those who board are complying with the rules.
The obligation does not apply in an emergency.
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