Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Since the start of COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria in March 2020, much of my and my team’s time has been devoted to managing COVID-related enquiries from our border communities as well as members of public across Australia. We responded to more than 9,000 enquires seeking advice about various and sometimes multiple border restrictions.

During this busy time, I advocated into SA and NSW on border bubbles, opening bridges, allowing emergency access, approving compassionate cases, and simplifying border area movement. I advocated on behalf of our border businesses impacted by the various border restrictions, including for those businesses impacted by the physical location of checkpoints.

We had good success through these efforts, including at the final stages the adoption by South Australia of an LGA-based boundary (mirroring the LGAs that Victoria had used) for the Victorian side of its border corridor, instead of the 70km line. This brought easier (but certainly not easy) access into South Australia to many more of our border residents.

The landing now is that Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT have no domestic border restrictions in place. And at the time of writing Queensland has decided to join that group. So the deal is that you can enter each jurisdiction quite freely, but must follow its rules while there. This does mean setting up the relevant QR scanner for that jurisdiction, eg. Service Victoria, Service NSW, mySA GOV and Check In CBR. You can link your vaccination certificate to each of these through the Commonwealth’s myGov.

For the most up to date information about coronavirus (COVID-19) and current measures in Victoria visit the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria website, or call Victoria’s coronavirus (COVID-19) hotline on 1800 675 398.

Businesses can call Business Victoria’s dedicated hotline 13 22 15 from within Victoria, or 1800 136 034 outside Victoria, or visit the Business Victoria website. 

Visiting Communities in Far East Gippsland

Once the restrictions on travel lifted in Victoria in late 2021, I was glad to be on the road again visiting cross border communities in far East Gippsland. In late November, I visited the communities of Bendoc, Bonang, Delegate, Tubbut and Mallacoota, as well as the health services in Cann River and Orbost. My NSW counterpart James McTavish joined me for the Delegate, Bonang, Tubbut and Bendoc visits.

These border communities are remote in the context of Victoria and are very reliant on services from across the border. The impacts of border anomalies and restrictions can be most profound in these locations. Even relatively straightforward activities, such as getting a Vicroads appointment and vehicle inspection, can take many hours of travel on narrow, winding, mountain roads, perhaps towing or floating heavy equipment to the nearest service centre many hours away. It is easy for those not living in such locations to assume these challenges away – let us work to make it not so easy for that to happen!

This visit also illustrated how apparently-unrelated border anomalies can accumulate:

1. There is current uncertainty about the status of the hospital in Delegate, NSW, which services that northern section of far East Gippsland. Significant changes there would impact health services demanded from Bombala, Orbost, and probably Cann River.
2. Later in 2022, the last section of the Bonang Road will be sealed (at last, see below). This will also make the Bonang Road an even more attractive motorcycle touring route, providing business and tourism opportunities and placing further demands on tourism infrastructure along the road.
3. However, it is still a winding road and increased motorcycle touring might also see more road incidents, placing more demand on acute health services, such as Delegate hospital’s Emergency Department, not to mention ambulance and police demand.
4. The area of the Bonang Road around Goongerah is also a mobile phone blackspot, which could exacerbate the impact of road incidents through reporting delays.

So that visit triggered new advocacy into local government, police, roads, ambulance, health, local health services, tourism and indeed into the Connecting Victoria team in Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions concerning the mobile blackspot.

Bonang Road Upgrade, Far East Gippsland

There is good progress with Bonang Road upgrade. Bonang Road runs from Orbost, in Gippsland, to Bombala, NSW. This is an important local route used regularly by area residents to connect with the town of Delegate in NSW. Local school children travel north along Bonang Road on school buses into Bombala, NSW, as there are no Victorian schools in the area. It is also the main exit path in the face of fire given local fire and weather patterns. As mentioned above, it is also a popular but challenging motorcycle touring route.

The Bonang Road is being progressively upgraded by the Victorian government with the assistance of $9m funding allocated by the Commonwealth. The project will seal Bonang Road between Goongerah and Bonang. The road to the north of Bonang has been sealed. The works on the remaining unsealed 12km section commenced in February 2021 and an upgrade of 1.7km sector was completed in May 2021. There remains a further 11km section of Bonang Road that is still unsealed, between Bonang and Goongerah. The Department of Transport expects that the final plans and other approvals will be completed by the start of 2022. Remaining works are likely to commence in early 2022 and are expected to be completed later in the year. More information on the project is available at the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities website.

Bonang Road, far East Gippsland

Strategic Plan 2021-2023

I am pleased to announce that our Strategic Plan 2021-2023 has been approved and is now available our website. Download the Strategic Plan 2021-23 (PDF). While the Plan sets out the framework for our operation, in practice the team’s work always still comes down to the specific border issues that people raise with us. For example, we will continue to advocate into 2022 on:

• Access to Vocational Education and Training across borders, particularly in relation to state subsidy portability
• Improved inclusivity for border communities in state grant program – reforming grant guidelines to recognise border communities and finding opportunities to coordinate grant programs with neighbouring states
• Improved access to accurate information for P and L plate drivers to understand which rules apply to them as they cross borders
• Fairer access to the apprentice registration discount – to recognise Victorian resident apprentices undertaking NSW or SA registered apprenticeships
• Reforming regulatory impact and policy guidelines to require cross-border assessment, to help avoid the uninformed creation of new anomalies.

Funding Programs

Enabling Tourism Fund is open for applications. The Fund provides support for feasibility studies, design work and business cases for high-potential regional and rural attractions. The fund delivers grants of up to $500,000 per project, focusing on four growth sectors – nature, epicurean, arts and culture, and First Peoples’ led experiences. For eligibility details and information on how to apply, visit Business Victoria. Applications close on Friday 4 March 2022.

Several Sport and Recreation Victoria funding programs are also currently open. For more information visit Sport and Recreation Victoria.

Consultations

Many government consultation processes in Victoria go through Engage Victoria, which can be found at Engage Victoria. You can check there regularly or register to be notified of topics that are open. Have your say, so that border views are heard.

These consultations are now accepting contributions:

• 2022 Proposed Variation of The Code of Practice for Timber Production - closes 15 March 2022.
• Review of the Victorian Preparedness Framework and Goal in response to recommendations made in the Inspector-General of Emergency Management’s 10 Year Review of Victoria’s Emergency Management Sector - closes 18 March 2022.
• Aboriginal self-determination in education - closes 22 April 2022.
• Genoa-Mallacoota Road Upgrades - closes mid 2022.
• Consultation for Senior Secondary Reform - closes 30 June 2022.

You may also wish to take part in parliamentary committee inquiries. Submissions and hearing for these in Victoria are listed on the Parliament of Victoria website. Similar committee inquiry details can also be found on the websites for the Parliaments of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Australia.

NSW

• Animal Welfare in NSW - closes 28 February 2022.
• Food production and supply in NSW - closes 28 February 2022.

Don’t put up with it

If you know of a border issue, raise it with us. No matter how big or small, or even if you think others have raised it already. Ideas that seem fine in Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide don’t always make sense at the border. One voice can make a difference!

You can get in touch via:

Email: enquiries@crossborder.vic.gov.au  

Post: PO Box 1332, Wodonga VIC 3689

Phone: 0436 642 436

Connect with us on LinkedIn

What happens with an issue after it has been raised?

At a minimum, every border issue or opportunity raised is reported to the Minister for Regional Development, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas MP, the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Victoria, Ms Danielle Green MP, relevant Victorian and interstate government departments or agencies and relevant Ministers.

When required we play an active role helping departments and agencies to understand the issues raised and how they are impacting on border residents and businesses. This includes bringing agencies to the border to meet with their cross-border counterparts and to hear from impacted residents and businesses directly.