Victoria will put up a hard border with New South Wales as of midnight on January 1 2021, to prevent any further spread of COVID-19.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Victorian Acting Premier Jacinta Allan announced the border closure with NSW.
“This is not an easy choice – and certainly not one we wanted to make on a day that’s supposed to be about celebrating,” Allan said.
“But we know this is the right decision if we’re to protect everything Victorians have worked so hard to achieve.”
Under the new changes, Victorians currently in the Green Zone will have until midnight on January 1 to come home. Once they have entered the state, they will have to get a COVID test and self-isolate for 14 days.
To find out whether you are in the Green Zone, the NSW Government have created a handy address check, so you can be certain.
But Victorians currently in the Blue Mountains and Wollongong areas will only have until 11.59pm on December 31 to return home and must apply for a new permit.
Those in the Red Zones will unfortunately not be allowed to enter Victoria, and will be turned away at the border.
For those in the NSW/VIC border communities they will be able to travel between states, but there will a process in place which the Victorian government will announce in the coming days.
There will also be further processes for those travelling through NSW from other states.
“We also understand this will have implications for those who are travelling through New South Wales from other part of our nation. For those this applies to, we’ll also have more to say about our arrangements soon,” Allan said.
These changes coincide with Victoria’s new NYE restrictions which includes: a cap at 15 guests in the home and mandatory mask wearing indoors.
UPDATE: Western Australia announced that it will close its border to Victorians from January 1. Those who arrived in WA from Victoria will need to get tested immediately and self-isolate.
“We don’t want them to get caught out, so they will be dealt with on a compassionate basis, case-by-case,” Acting Western Australian Premier Roger Cook said on Thursday.
“The timing is terrible but COVID-19 doesn’t respect dates, it doesn’t respect celebrations,” he added.
