The Victorian government has continued to come under fire from state Nationals leader Peter Walsh and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for its decision to keep the border closed.
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"It's made access to health services and medical supplies, education and daily essentials that much more difficult for people living and working along the NSW and South Australian border," Mr Walsh said on Friday.
"But it's the ongoing failure to resolve basic problems with the onerous permit system that's cut some vulnerable Victorians off from the needs in daily life."
He said some older residents in smaller towns did not have photo identifications and had been left worried they will not be able to access basic supplies across the border, forcing a push to fast-track new IDs.
"There are a lot of people the length of the Murray whose lives revolve around their whole border communities, not just the Victorian side, who have slipped through the cracks and this is a matter I hope the government will treat seriously and urgently," Mr Walsh said.
"Each and every Victorian now requires the Andrews' Labor government's permission to return home - it's an unnecessary overreach into the lives of Victorians.
"It's not the way to keep us safe or protect our freedom as Australians to travel in our own country.
"Our local citizens shouldn't need a visa just to get back home from a COVID-free part of Australia, but that's exactly what the Andrews Labor government has enforced, and done a poor job of it."
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Ms Berejiklian said that governments needed a balanced approach when it came to closing borders and urged them to have more confidence in their communities' ability to follow advice.
"We need to think about how we approach borders. I think too many state leaders are moving too quickly in closing their borders without properly assessing what it might mean for their citizens and what it might mean for around the nation," she said.
"If you have confidence in your state's ability to get on top of an outbreak, then you should think a bit careful about when you need to move on borders."
She also defended her own decision to close the border last year
"Another difficult decision was closing the Victorian border because we knew that impact would have on tens of thousands of people," Ms Berejiklian said.
"I believe we've made all those decisions at the right time and we've made them with the motivation of trying impact as few people as possible while keeping the virus at bay."
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said 120,833 permit applications had been received so far and 1886 exemptions granted for people in red zones wanting to enter Victoria.
"I understand the frustrations and the dislocation this is causing," he said.
"I apologise for the dislocation has caused, but I make no apology for the principle of keeping Victoria safe."