Border restrictions ease around Victoria after political lobbying

The ACT government is set to ask NSW how the new relaxed restrictions will affect ACT residents, who currently are unable to transit through the state from Victoria, even if they have a permit to travel from ACT authorities.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro's office didn't answer questions on whether transit measures would be included in upcoming adjustments to border restrictions, only saying that further announcements would be made in coming days.

The news of eased restrictions came on the same day mining magnate Clive Palmer lost his Federal Court challenge against the West Australian government's border closures, with that case set to be heard in the High Court.

Federal MPs' frustration at closed state borders has been aired in Canberra, with many calls to ensure decisions made about restrictions and the definition of a hotspot are made on medical advice and not political reasons.

Border communities have been lobbying MPs to ease the rules, pointing out the number of cases of COVID-19 in their communities was low or zero, and restrictions were stopping important agricultural work from happening, as well as blocking access to health treatment.

In the next 10 days, NSW will extend its border zone to 50 kilometres beyond the border for residents with a permit to enter the state, and a 100 kilometres zone for agriculture workers.

The change was announced by Mr Barilaro, who visited the NSW city of Albury to make the announcement.

Under the hardened border closure announced by the NSW government in recent weeks, anyone travelling from Victoria was required to fly into Sydney airport and pay for hotel quarantine there, even if they were travelling from an area outside Melbourne to an area outside Sydney, both cities with high numbers of cases, while regional areas have few.

Mr Barilaro tweeted that the NSW government was working towards changes including creating quarantine areas closer to the border.

South Australia is set to reinstate a 40 kilometre border zone for communities on its border with Victoria, where residents on the Victorian side of the border live closer to healthcare and other services in South Australia than those in Melbourne.

It comes just days after South Australia hardened its border closure with Victoria, which prevented people getting health treatments like chemotherapy and other services in the southern state.

"As of Friday, students will be able to return to school in South Australia, businesses will be able to resume exactly and precisely as they were. There is one caveat on this, we do not have further community transmission in the western part of Victoria between now and midnight on Thursday night," Premier Steven Marshall said.

Restrictions on travellers from the ACT and NSW are also set to be eased, with travellers going to South Australia and transiting through Canberra and Sydney airports no longer needing to do two weeks quarantine.

South Australia and Queensland have justified their closed borders to the ACT by the number of cases in NSW, which has an open border with Canberra.

Mr Marshall said restrictions on NSW and ACT residents were being watched closely and could be eased within two weeks, depending on the number of cases seen.

"We are very pleased with the continuing good performance of those two jurisdictions," he said.

"If we continue to see very low levels, like we've been seeing, it is quite possible we will remove that requirement for 14-days self-isolation within the next two weeks."

Both states have closed their borders with Victoria since that state experienced its second wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, and while the original border closures included exemptions for those who lived in border-communities, they were hardened after initial measures were taken, causing issues for communities who often live and work on different sides of state lines.

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