Wodonga mayor calls for freedom of movement for residents on NSW border

The mayor of Wodonga says it is crucial that residents on the border of Victoria and NSW are allowed to travel freely so they can access work, health services and see family, as authorities prepare to shut down crossings to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The border will close from 11.59pm on Tuesday, after Victoria recorded 127 cases of COVID-19 on Monday. However, a permit system will allow residents to travel over the border where necessary.

Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie in April this year. Credit: Simon Dallinger

Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie said residents who lived in Albury and Wodonga were part of one community and regularly travelled across the border.

"We have families on both sides," she said. "We share a health system. It’s pretty challenging when our economy operates as one and our community operates as one."

Cr Speedie said rigorous health measures should be maintained to ensure freedom of movement could continue.

"We need to have sensible measures in place that enable our community and our economy to operate, otherwise we’re going to have real damage to businesses and our wider community."

Tourism North East chief executive Bess Nolan-Cook said health and safety must come first and she urged anyone travelling from Melbourne to ensure they had no symptoms and did not leave any hotspots.

"The last thing that we would need to see is any COVID-19 cases in north-east Victoria. We all just need to play our part and follow those rules," she said.

Ms Nolan-Cook lives in Beechworth but has a son who travels to school in Albury on the other side of the border each day. She said many others would be in a similar situation.

"It’s very common for kids close to the border to be going to school just across the border."

Ms Nolan-Cook said they were still waiting for more details to see how the permit system will operate.

Indigo Shire mayor Jenny O’Connor said the region had undergone repeated economic challenges in the past 12 months, with many tourists suspending their visits sincethe bushfires that devastated much of the surrounding area.

"We’re seeing businesses close their doors that were just hanging on during the fire season," Cr O'Connor said.

"People are undergoing genuine hardship and there is a genuine concern about the businesses that are so dependent on tourism and many day-trippers that come down from NSW.

"They’re relying on grants and government support, and when that dries up the outlook is pretty bleak for many of them.

"It’s hard to understand how people will survive in the current conditions."

She also said that many of the residents in the area did not consider Albury and Wodonga – which sit about 5km apart – as separate towns, but rather one regional centre stretched across a state border and a river.

"It doesn’t feel like you’re going interstate – you’re just driving across the river."

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