AN online group calling for change to end crippling border restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis is resonating with frustrated residents.
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Facebook public group Albury Wodonga Open The Border gained 5300 members to 2pm on Tuesday since its inception at the weekend.
Albury-based James William Potter, Eagle Boys Pizza co-founder, started the group to highlight the crippling effect of the border restrictions and to give residents a platform to share their concerns.
Rutherglen businesswoman Fiona Myers, who is a page administrator, said border communities had already been hard hit this year.
The co-owner of Rutherglen Brewery, Taste @ Rutherglen and Ripe @ Buller Wines said summer bushfires, financial downtowns and now COVID-19 had impacted border towns.
"We want to create awareness of the size of the border bubble, the restrictions within and the crippling effect that they have on all, overall," she said.
"We want to support those who are struggling overall, to provide a platform for people to air their grievances, their frustrations, their sadness, their hope; a place to ask a question, a place to share how they are feeling about the situation. We aim to strengthen our community and to help facilitate change."
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Ms Myers said border restrictions kept families apart as students and business operators had to move out of the family home to comply.
"We're being punished on the border for the behaviour of a few," Ms Myers said.
"It is not a group for radicals, we will not allow people to bully or harass others; it is a group to provide our community with an outlet and a voice calling for change."
A change.org petition to allow border residents to cross into their border communities had gained 7000 signatures up to Tuesday morning.
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