Victorians banned from entering Tasmania

With the coronavirus crisis escalating in Victoria, stricter rules will be enforced from midnight tonight that will affect interstate travellers and Tasmanians returning home from Melbourne.

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VICTORIANS have been banned from Tasmania as Premier Peter Gutwein puts into place a slew of new safety measures to avoid a second wave in the state.

The measures will come into place from midnight tonight and will see Tasmanians heading back to the state from Victoria after the cut-off, quarantined in a government hotel.

Border restrictions to Victoria will also not be lifted on July 24.

>> SEE THE FULL LIST OF RULES BELOW

“As of midnight tonight we’ll put in place additional restrictions on Victorian travellers,” Mr Gutwein said.

The Premier said quarantine measures came into place for travellers last week, however they were unannounced and the travellers who had to quarantine were contacted directly.

“It’s important to know those restrictions were put in place at that particular time,” Mr Gutwein said.

READ MORE: Government considers ‘stringent rules’ for FIFO workers

The only exception for travellers coming from Victoria will be those with an exemption letter, or Tasmanians returning home.

Returning Tasmanians could previously quarantine in their homes, however under new measures, they will be forced to quarantine in government hotels. Victorians will be turned around at the borders.

Businesses seeking essential workers will have to look further abroad than our closest mainland neighbour to mitigate risk.

Premier Peter Gutwein updates new border measures with Victoria due to their COVID-19 outbreak on Wednesday, 8 July 2020. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“I would say to businesses and organisations that are seeking essential workers, you will need to demonstrate that (specialty) cannot be recruited from any other state in Australia,” Mr Gutwein said.

A further update is expected on Friday regarding travel in and out of the state, but Victoria’s ban remains firm, Mr Gutwein said.

Interstate travellers from the rest of the country will be allowed to travel through Melbourne, before landing in Tasmania.

“They will be allowed to transit through Tullamarine in the main, through the airport, provided they do so directly and do not leave the airport,” Mr Gutwein said.

“If you’re from Victoria, please don’t come to Tasmania.”

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch reassured Tasmanians that while things were getting back to normal, there was no need to be fearful of incoming travellers from the rest of the country.

“We’ve reached the settings with social mixing and proximity measures getting back to normal … but we certainly have to be very careful before we relax measures any further,” he said.

“I understand people in Tasmania may be quite fearful … about the coming months, because we’ve been in a situation with no cases and that has been reassuring.

“But I know that people are concerned about the risk of cases occurring and they’re probably looking towards Victoria for a setting where cases could be imported to Tasmania.”

But he followed Australia has among the lowest cases in the world, and therefore mainland travellers present very little risk for a second wave in Tasmania.

THE NEW RULES

New Tasmanian border restrictions are being implemented from 12am Thursday 9 July 2020. These restrictions will occur at Tasmanian borders and apply to people travelling from Victoria:

• Any visitors who have spent time in Victoria in the 14 days prior to travel are not permitted to travel to Tasmania. If visitors come from Victoria to Tasmania, they will be turned back.
• This does not apply to essential travellers (Specified Persons) from Victoria, who will still be able to apply to travel to Tasmania for a specified purpose. This is a category of people delivering time critical functions and services to support the Tasmanian community, from health care workers to freight and logistics.
• Any person granted essential traveller status who has spent time in Victoria in the last 14 days will be required to wear a face mask and limit their movement when not in the workplace.
• Essential travellers from Victoria under the ‘specialist skills critical to maintaining key industries and businesses’ category of specified person, will now need prior approval to travel from the State Controller.
• While Victorians can apply for a compassionate exemption to travel to Tasmania, these exemptions are unlikely to be granted in the short term due to rapidly changing circumstances in Victoria.
• Tasmanian residents who have spent time in Victoria in the 14 days prior to travel will be required to quarantine in government-provided accommodation. This includes families with children and fly in, fly out workers.
• People coming to Tasmania from other jurisdictions will be allowed to transit through a Victorian airport or port, provided they do so directly.
• Current quarantine requirements for people travelling from other states and territories remain in place.

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