Border rule forcing Victorian shearers to fly by plane to enter NSW
Victorian shearers must drive to Melbourne, fly by plane to Sydney and then drive to their NSW job even if it’s just over the border, under NSW’s new cross-border permit system.
A GLITCH in the new Victoria-NSW cross-border permit system will mean Victorian shearers have to fly into Sydney to shear in NSW.
While shearers have been considered essential workers, the permit only allows entry to NSW via Sydney Airport and not drive over the border.
While a shearer might live at Wangaratta, they would need to drive to Melbourne, fly to Sydney and then travel to their shearing job, even it that job was just north of the Victoria-NSW border.
Shearing Contractors Association of Australia secretary Jason Letchford said his association had tried to apply for a new permit for a member last night.
It was then they became aware that the new cross border permits required everyone to enter NSW through Sydney Airport even if they were essential workers.
“It surely is an aberration that this is happening,” Mr Letchford said.
“We are hopeful that this will be rectified today and changes will be made so shearers can come from Victoria to NSW without going through the COVID-19 hot spots in Melbourne and having to fly to Sydney with all their gear.”
Mr Letchford said he spoke with one of his members last night who had allowed her shearing team to travel home to Victoria at the end of last week due to wet weather.
The contractor has 100,000 sheep to shear in NSW over the next couple of months.
With many of her shearers stuck in Victoria, they can only take their place in the team if they drive to Melbourne, fly to Sydney, then fly to Griffith and then drive to the shed three hours north of Griffith.
Mr Letchford said not only was this unnecessary cost for the contractor but it exposed shearers to more people when travelling, and those shearers would then have to make contact with people along the way to their jobs when fuelling up vehicles or buying food.
“We appreciate the permits that allow everyone in agriculture to work, to allow Victorians into NSW to carry out critical tasks like shearing, and with the previous permits, these people had to self-isolate in NSW when they were not performing the critical work,” Mr Letchford said.
“Surely this is just a hitch in the permits, and we will be working hard today to make sure these critical workers in agriculture don’t have to enter NSW only by Sydney airport.”
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