BORDER restrictions brought on by COVID-19 have caused challenges for Western Victorian communities which rely on Mount Gambier as a central service hub for their livelihood.
South Australian Police continue to monitor the state’s borders – including inbound traffic from Victoria – with only essential travellers, as classified by the state, allowed to enter without having to undergo a 14-day quarantine period.
Police have also received reports of Victorians being abused within the Mount Gambier district based off their vehicle registration plates, triggering a public plea to stop the behaviour given the region supports people living in Dartmoor, Nelson, Casterton and other cross-border districts.
Regularly visiting Mount Gambier for essential travel, Dartmoor resident Jenna Hunt said she was alarmed at the negativity being levelled towards some Victorians.
She also believes communities in far south-west Victoria should have automatically been considered local to the Blue Lake city given dozens of Victorians visit the district daily for employment, shopping, appointments and family visits.
“I have noticed people living close to the border who have exemptions have been copping a lot of social media lately,” Ms Hunt said.
“People are angry about why Victorians were allowed to travel and I think they forget how much we actually support Mount Gambier and have done for a very long time.
“If towns such as Nelson, Casterton, Portland and Dartmoor stopped supporting the town or were unable to visit, it would effect businesses hugely.”
Ms Hunt said if people in her household were unable to travel across the border, huge non-viable adaptations would be required to sustain their way of life.
“Police have been great and the first time we travelled over the border to do our shopping, we were able to collect an essential traveller exemption,” she
said.
“Country residents are required to do their grocery shopping differently as food needs to last sometimes two weeks due to the supermarket not being just down the road.
“It is how we have always done it even before coronavirus and now sometimes shopping for us can take up most of the day and sometimes the whole weekend, just trying to get the food we need.”
Ms Hunt said rural residents could not continue to drive to Mount Gambier four times a week to look to see whether toilet paper or rice was restocked.
“When you do happen to get something you need, it feels like everybody looks at you as if you are doing something wrong,” she said.
“Nobody knows that you have actually spent weeks trying to get anything for your pantry.”
With stricter social restrictions enforced in Victoria compared to South Australia, Ms Hunt said it was difficult to adapt.
“We can not just go out and get takeaway on a Saturday night because it is non-essential travel,” she said.
“People in Mount Gambier can still do that, but we do not have that luxury.
“It has definitely changed our life and we can not do the things we normally would do on weekends.”
Ms Hunt’s husband, Tristan – who runs an electrical contracting
business – said like many other proprietors, he needed to travel to Mount Gambier for work as well as for essential supplies.
“We have had to travel time after time to Mount Gambier to try and get the essentials and most of the time, they were not available anyway,” he said.
“At this stage everything is fine, but with my business, if the borders were completely closed, it would make things very difficult.
“If I can not travel to a Mount Gambier wholesaler and have to go to Warnambool to get supplies, somebody would have to absorb the extra costs somewhere along the line.”
Mr Hunt said the Glenelg Shire was usually thriving with activity during the Easter period, but Dartmoor’s popular free campground Fort O’Hare had been closed due to coronavirus restrictions.
“We have not had any tourists travelling through the area, where as normally the camping grounds would be full,” Mr Hunt said.
Dartmoor farm manager Chris Francis said the campground area would be used daily by people passing through the rural community when operational.
“The town is missing out on large economic benefits, along with many smaller communities,” he said.
“It is great to see people following restrictions, but those who are not are putting us all at risk of the borders being closed completely.
“There is about 50 ways people can come and go through Mount Gambier without passing police, but we are trusting people are doing the right thing.”
Mr Francis said he suspected many South Australians were also visiting Victoria to collect wood ahead of winter.
“Every weekend we see numerous South Australians travel the border to collect wood and then come back again,” he said.
“I think it is more serious for us smaller communities and we have all been following the rules because we do not want the borders to close.
“They are the ones who are going to spoil it for the rest of us.”
Hoping to flatten the curve, Ms Hunt said her biggest concern was people would get too comfortable with regulations and start pushing the boundaries.
“I feel like people will start to get bored and they will start to adventure that little bit further, see that one friend and it snowballs so we have a huge second wave,” Ms Hunt said.
“It is not going to blow over in a week’s time, but if we keep doing the right thing and stay the way we are, things might start going back to normal.”
