As NSW Police closed off border crossings last Tuesday night, many small communities woke to find that, instead of a police checkpoint, their local bridges had been blocked by heavy concrete barriers.
Mr Clancy along with Member for Benambra Bill Tilley, State Member for Northern Victoria Region Wendy Lovell MP, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell and Liberal Democrats Member for Northern Victoria Tim Quilty are all of the consensus that something needs to be done about the border closures as residents and businesses on the border are suffering.
“There are 15 border crossings in the Albury Benambra electorates stretching from Mulwala in the west to Biggara at the eastern edge of the electorates,” Mr Clancy said.
“There has been mounting concern over the escalation of COVID cases in Melbourne hotspot suburbs and now spreading across the city.
“The NSW government has acted on the best medical advice that seeks to protect the state and border communities.
“Our communities are co-dependent – students, teachers, shoppers, business owners, tradies, health professionals and workers in a range of industries traverse the border each day.
“The economies, health care and support networks of both cities are based on a population extending into the districts of 200,000, not just the 50,000 in Albury or 40,000 in Wodonga.
“Our communities have been through so much already, and I am under no illusion as to the impact of this new development. It will be challenging.
“We understand that regional Victoria is so far relatively free of the virus.
“We recognise this is going to create hardship and frustration for our communities, but we have to place our faith in the frontline medical teams and contact tracers to drive this down.”
Mr Quilty added to Mr Clancy’s comments saying that the border towns are essentially one community but being split into two and causing unnecessary troubles.
“When this border closure was announced, I held great fears for the many residents of small communities who rely on essential services across the border,” Mr Quilty said.
“Residents along the border cross the river every day, sometimes several times a day. We have much more in common with each other than with Sydney or Melbourne.
“The idea that the people in the little isolated towns along the river are a virus risk is ludicrous.
“One email describes how a woman whose child attends day care would need to spend six hours daily on detours to get to childcare, work and then home again.
“This is repeated up and down the river. Clearly this is not an acceptable situation. I will be contacting both the Victorian and NSW ministers responsible to seek answers on these closures.
“These roadblocks are clearly the work of Sydney pen pushers who will have absolutely no idea – and couldn’t care - how disruptive their box-ticking has been for regional residents in both states.”
