Travel permits announced for NSW and Victoria boarding students
Common sense has prevailed, with rural and remote boarding school students finally granted travel permits after months of campaigning.
THE NSW Government has announced changes to cross-border permits that allow NSW and Victorian boarding students and their parents to travel between the two states by road to attend boarding school.
Valid from today, the new permit states students and parents must take the most direct route between their homes and campuses, and are no longer required to fly to Sydney and quarantine.
Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association of NSW president Claire Butler welcomed the news.
“After six months of remote learning at home, these school holidays were the turning point where 97 rural and remote NSW children were anxiously wondering what their return to school in Victoria would look like,” she said.
“The prospect of the border closures being a barrier to NSW boarding children returning home for weekend visits has been a very worrying time for our families.”
Before this announcement, boarding students were facing a long, costly and more risky journey through the state’s major airports, and a 14-day quarantine period in boarding precincts upon the return to school.
Now, they will be able to travel without being forced through urban COVID hot spots.
ICPA-NSW started advocating with all state governments in March, calling for consistent and reasonable travel policies related to rural and remote boarding school students.
“ICPA-NSW is an entirely voluntary organisation and the huge workload that COVID-19 has placed on our State Council during this time has been immense,” Ms Butler said.
“So when the (NSW) Government eases restrictions it is welcome news, however the inconsistency between the states just highlights the fact we need a national consistent approach towards the movement of children accessing education across the borders and we call on the AHPPC to pick the best parts out of what each state has done and come up with a clear and concise plan as we have no doubt this situation will fluctuate into next year.”
“We thank the NSW Minister for Education and her staff for being at the forefront of assisting these families to have a clear path to access education and we look forward to working out a solution or exemption to enable the remaining, small number of children who board in restricted areas such as Melbourne to also return home.”
The new permit does not apply if the boarding school student or their parents have been in a COVID-19 area of concern or a restricted area in the previous 14 days, unless they have been in that area only while travelling to Melbourne Airport or to transit by car to NSW.
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