Finally freedom for more than 5 million patient Melburnians
After 122 days, Melbourne’s ring of steel is about to be dismantled and Victorians can finally get their freedom back, Sophie Elsworth argues.
Opinion
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Our national anthem says Australians are “young and free”.
And finally those words are about to become true again after months of lockdown.
With much elation, Victorians are set to see the demolition of Melbourne’s ring of steel on Sunday night.
Melburnians have been cut off from the rest of the state and country for 122 days straight, or a third of 2020.
There’s no doubt the major highways leading out of the city will be chock-a-block with traffic streaming out on Monday morning.
After being hemmed into our homes and confined to a strict 5km, then 25km radius limit, driving down the freeway will feel liberating.
Growing up on a farm in central Victoria, I’ve really missed the sniff of the fresh country air and the serenity of being in the bush.
It’s something you certainly don’t get living in the city.
There’s no traffic lights or busy suburban roads to battle and there’s a calmness that is vastly different from the mayhem of life in Melbourne.
I'll be one of those Victorians hitting the road this week, seizing the opportunity to get my freedom back and enjoy what this great state has to offer, albeit in a post-COVID world.
And thanks to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, I’ve made the most of her pulling down the NSW/Victoria border wall.
Within minutes of her announcement last week, I booked a trip to Sydney, a place I’ve missed visiting in 2020.
Sydneysiders have certainly been the envy of many Melburnians — they’ve been able to avoid a second lockdown and live what from all reports seems to be a pretty normal post-COVID life.
No masks, no kilometre restrictions, no being locked in their homes 24 hours a day.
Getting on the plane for the first time will feel a little strange, but it too will feel liberating to be able to go back to enjoy other parts of our wonderful country.
And the final piece of the puzzle awaits, when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and WA Premier Mark McGowan pull down their own border walls and let us Victorians back in.
If there’s one good thing that COVID-19 has done, is it’s forced Australians to rethink their travel plans and holiday locally.
Anything to help support our own economy is critical to getting Australia back flourishing again.
The sooner we’re back to enjoying everything that is in our own backyards, the better.
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