NSW shuts down border to Victoria
VICTORIA will be more of an island than Tasmania from midnight on Tuesday when NSW slams shut its border to stop a second wave of COVID-19 spreading from Melbourne.
It increases the likelihood Tasmania’s border will still open to the rest of the country on July 24 if Premier Peter Gutwein halts plans to reopen to Victoria.
Qantas has also confirmed it will be “significantly reducing” Qantas and Jetstar flights to and from Melbourne throughout July due to the border closure.
“We’ll continue to operate limited flights for essential travel only,” the airline said in a statement.
Mr Gutwein said the situation in Victoria was “very concerning”.
“We are taking daily advice, and will provide an update on Friday,” he said. “If the public health advice at the time, or in the immediate lead-up to 24 July, is that it is not safe to open — we will not open.”
The State Government is looking closely at whether travellers will be able to safely transit through Melbourne to other destinations.
“We are continuing to engage with other states as well as airports,” Health Minister
Sarah Courtney said. “We know that people do need to transit through Tullamarine Airport at the moment, and so, as we move towards opening our borders, that is a key consideration, to ensure that people that do come to Tasmania can do so in a safe way.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged all states to open borders to NSW after it cut off travel to Victoria for everyone but essential workers.
“Now that NSW has taken this decision and, given where we are, there is really no excuse for any other state, apart from Victoria, to have any border closures with NSW,” she said.
“We now anticipate that the rest of the nation will be able to deal with each other directly without any hard border closures.”
NSW and Victoria announced the border closures on Monday morning, after crisis talks between the two premiers and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
After staunchly opposing border closures for months and pressuring states to reopen, Mr Morrison yesterday described NSW’s move as “regrettable” but “necessary”.
He refused to criticise the Victorian Government over the outbreak, saying: “What they don’t need is any sort of commentary from me, what they need is support.”