Albury And Wodonga Mayors Plead With New South Wales To Keep Border With Victoria Open

Even with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Victoria, regional mayors from Albury and Wodonga are pleading with New South Wales to keep its border open.

Residents living along the NSW river are currently able to cross state lines freely, provided they don’t go further south of the border bubble region.

However, Victorians along the border are restricted from crossing due to the state’s seven day lockdown.

According to Albury Mayor Kevin Mack, both communities are preparing for any possible changes.

He said, "we understand what happens next if it gets out of control and we're preparing for that as two cities,".

Last year in July NSW closed its border with Victoria for four months. After reopening the borders for one month, Victoria closed the border to NSW.

It has been reported that during both these closures there was a lack of communication between the local governments.

Local councils were also not informed about those decisions and urged the government to please notify them first. Mack said, "keep us in the loop so we're across it and we're informed".

Victorian lockdown potentially extended:

He also said, “the reality is, our whole Murray border region will be impacted if it gets to a point where they're thinking closures again".

Preparations whilst monitoring the situation in Victoria were discussed during a morning briefing on Saturday between both cross-border commissioners, local authorities and mayors on both sides of the border.

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