A breakdown in interstate co-operation

They are prevented from crossing, and therefore from returning to Canberra, because of a change to NSW's COVID-19 border restrictions on Friday that blindsided both them and, apparently, the ACT government.

The travellers had organised the necessary paperwork to return home only to be told by NSW police they would instead have to turn back to Melbourne, catch a flight to Sydney and quarantine for 14 days at their own expense before going to Canberra. Their cars, apparently, would drive themselves to the ACT from Albury-Wodonga.

Stranded because of NSW's unilateral decision to tighten its border controls with Victoria, the Canberrans have since spent several days at the mercy of a slow-moving NSW government.

They are caught in a situation beyond their control and entirely within that of officials leading NSW. Yet from the NSW government, in response, there has been indifference and indecision.

NSW has evidently not communicated its plan to the ACT nor considered how it would affect people living in a jurisdiction well inside its own borders.

That the border restrictions came without warning or consideration for those travellers returning home to the ACT reflects badly enough on the NSW government.

It has also sat on a practical solution it received from the ACT government on Sunday morning, one that would have the territory's police escort car loads of Canberrans back to the national capital.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr was measured in describing the situation on Monday, but made clear his disappointment at having to call NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in an attempt to expedite a solution to the impasse. As he spoke, there still was none in sight, three days after Canberrans were first stuck at the border.

For those stranded, the ACT's proposal is safer and less expensive than returning to Melbourne for a flight to Sydney, and later, a lengthy and self-funded quarantine in a hotel.

It would minimise the risk, reportedly feared by the NSW government, that the Canberrans would stop in regional towns on the way home. There would be no diversion of resources required of NSW to escort them to the ACT.

One of the fiasco's most alarming elements is what it says about interstate co-operation, and federalism, during the pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis is stretching individuals enough without governments warding them into a bureaucratic hall of mirrors as they try returning to the safety of their homes.

The nation's successful response to COVID-19 will rely largely on co-operation and coordination between states, territories and the federal government.

In the earliest days of the pandemic, Australians saw not only that this was possible, but that it saved lives, jobs and could give a safer route out of COVID-19's health and economic dangers.

NSW has not met the mark on this occasion.

Mr Barr said the issue of surprise announcements from states and territories was raised at National Cabinet last week. That it doesn't seem to have helped this situation raises questions about the effectiveness of that new and relatively untested forum of federal relations.

When asked about the border situation, Prime Minister Scott Morrison deferred to NSW and the ACT to work it out. To be fair, the federal government shouldn't have to get involved in a matter that can be solved simply between the state and territory.

Nonetheless, it may have to wade into the matter, if common sense doesn't prevail.

That the group of stranded travellers is relatively small and not from NSW makes this situation no less in need of urgent repair. Government, in this case, isn't moving fast enough.

The Canberrans waiting in Victoria are the ones paying for it. They should be allowed to drive home, now.