NSW residents can now freely travel to the Apple Isle after Tasmania opened its border to Australia’s largest state for the first time in more than seven months.
The change, which came into effect at 12.01am on November 6, removes the need for people travelling from NSW to quarantine.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday ramped up the pressure on her interstate counterparts in WA and Queensland to follow suit in order to avoid the “devastating impact” of job losses next year.
This followed her announcement that from November 23 NSW will be open to people from Victoria.
“I worry about the June quarter next year unless we take action now,” Berejiklian told ABC TV.
“Yes, we’re all residents of a state but we have a national economy which we all have to support.
“If we don’t, the consequences for our citizens will be devastating, not just here in NSW but across everywhere.”
NSW on Thursday recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, while Victoria notched up six COVID-free days on the run.
Berejiklian appealed to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and WA Premier Mark McGowan to put the national good first.
“We’ve got no international students, no international travellers, markets are disrupted,” she said.
“We have to rely on each other in Australia to the short and medium term, but you can’t when some state premiers are being so stubborn.”
NSW Health said while the state had low numbers of locally transmitted COVID cases, the upcoming holiday period would present the challenge of increased social and community gatherings.
Late on Thursday, NSW Health called on people from southwest Sydney to get tested if they develop COVID-like symptoms after traces of the virus were found in sewage in the area.
“Fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been detected in samples taken on 4 November from the sewerage system that drains parts of Leppington, Catherine Field, Gledswood Hills, Varroville and Denham Court,” it said in a statement.
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