Businesses on the New South Wales-Victoria border are backing calls for a "ring of steel" to be established around Sydney, saying it could offer a ray of hope.
Key points:
- Businesses on the NSW side of the border bubble have seen revenue plummet as COVID fears drive Victorian customers away
- Some businesses say a ring of steel around Sydney makes sense, but reopening Melbourne is the priority
- A business leader says the uncertainty is taking its toll not only economically, but on people's mental health
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called for the hard border on Friday as the COVID-19 threat continues to spread across NSW.
But NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the measure would not be "the appropriate approach".
The same day, Victoria created a new category for its traffic light permit system, declaring NSW an "extreme risk zone" and introducing tighter controls.
As the situation escalated Albury Business Connect chair Barry Young said a Sydney hard border could offer a level of protection for border businesses.
"Freight still needs to move between regional areas, so there's always going to be some risk," he said.
Hopes bubble will be burst
Mr Young said a ring of steel could also eliminate the need for a border bubble if Victorian case numbers continued to drop.
"That would be an advantage," he said.
Fears of growing COVID-19 numbers in NSW have seen revenue plummet even further for businesses north of the border.
"In Albury, we're missing 50 per cent of our market," Mr Young said.
"We rely on that north-east Victoria and Wodonga trade."
While a Sydney ring of steel could solve this, Mr Young said it would need to be properly policed.
"It's a good idea in principle, but it would be a difficult one to implement practically," he said.
Reopening Melbourne top priority
In Echuca-Moama, the Moama Bowling Club is feeling the impact of border closures.
But sales and marketing manager George Santos said while he could see the sense in a Sydney ring of steel, the main priority was restoring Melbourne clientele.
"Eighty per cent of our members are from Melbourne," he said.
While he stopped short of backing a ring of steel, Rural City of Mildura Mayor Jason Modica agreed more needed to be done to stem Sydney's COVID-19 spread.
"I think we need people to be able to go back and forth across the borders," he said.
"But also, we need to be reassured that there's no-one coming in from 1,000 kilometres away in Sydney to bring another case."
In the meantime, Mr Young said the uncertainty was taking its toll.
"Businesses are tired," he said.
"We talk a lot about the economic impacts COVID has had on business, but there needs to be a lot more recognition and a lot more thought given to the mental health aspects."