NSW-Vic Border Restrictions: Boarding students permit one step closer
The Federal Government has called on state health ministers to finally solve the cross-border travel debacle for boarding students.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee will consider a plan for simplified cross-border travel arrangements for boarding students, to ease stress for thousands of families.
Regional Education Minister Bridget McKenzie has provided all state and territory education ministers with a draft code, which sets out principles to consider when establishing border-crossing directions.
Minister McKenzie said the code was developed following distressing accounts from families who have been separated due to Covid-related travel restrictions.
“With the ever changing situation during the pandemic, particularly with the increased threat of the Delta strain, we need to consider our arrangements to support young people, such as boarding students, while ensuring our communities remain safe,” Minister McKenzie said.
“I have received hundreds of harrowing accounts from boarding families who have been separated for extensive periods.
“Stories have included a teenager left to suffer agonising mental health issues while their families were denied permission to travel across state borders to them. I have heard of students who have, or are considering leaving school, even in years 10 or 12, because they feel they can no longer cope with the isolation and anxiety caused by being separated from their loved ones.”
Since the start of the pandemic, families whose children attend boarding school outside their state have had to apply for travel exemptions every time they cross state lines.
In many cases, exemptions have been denied.
NSW parent and farmer Sue Braid has a daughter who attends Geelong Grammar as a boarder.
She said a permanent solution to the problem was way overdue.
“It’s the hoops we have to jump every end and start of term to get our kids back from our interstate bases to their Victorian boarding schools,” she said.
“Each time the goal posts are positioned differently with Victorian border exemptions for boarding school students. Currently there are no goalposts.”
Geelong Grammar has given interstate parents until Monday to decide if they want their children to travel home for school holidays, which start on September 18 for most campuses.
Students who leave Victoria currently risk not being able to return to their campuses at the start of Term 4, as the state’s strict cross-border exemptions policy does not view education as a valid reason to travel.
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