The NSW Premier will visit Albury on Tuesday, 55 days after her decision to close the NSW-Victoria border cut off its twin city.
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Gladys Berejiklian is expected to hear first-hand of the impacts of the closure and the permit system that has changed three times.
Albury MP Justin Clancy secured the visit for his community, reaching out to the Premier at the weekend.
"It's a positive step to have her visit," he said.
"An important part is meeting some local businesses, and having a conversation around how the government helps to provide an environment for the community to recover and rebound from a challenging few months."
It's expected Ms Berejiklian will confirm a timeframe for the return of a 50-kilometre border permit bubble.
Asked if the Premier's visit was belated, Mr Clancy said he had maintained regular contact with Ms Berejiklian in recent months.
"We ensured we were letting her know of the impacts down here," he said.
"It's certainly opportune to have her here now."
News of Ms Berejiklian's visit came after she was criticised for her reference in a media conference on Friday to "a few cases which were evident in Wodonga".
Her office would not provide clarification to The Border Mail at the weekend, with there being no active cases attributed to the city.
Business Wodonga chairman Graham Jenkin queried what cases Ms Berejiklian was referring to.
"It's not true, not as far as I knew then, and it certainly hasn't been in the numbers over the weekend," he said.
"Gladys seems to be speaking on the fly. I think she's trying to justify her actions with the border closure and clutching at straws.
"Perhaps she should be asked to contact the Victorian Premier before she speaks about these matters."
Wodonga Mayor Anna Speedie was also critical of the Premier's description.
"We know that as we look back at the cases that have been attributed to Wodonga, there haven't ever been any actually in Wodonga, and the region has now been COVID-free for more than 50 days with no new cases," she said.
"So it is incredibly disappointing for a state leader to talk about cases in such a way that makes people think, makes our community think and fear, that we have active cases on the border.
"We would expect to have the opportunity to meet the Premier to discuss the impact of closures on our community and region and confirm with her the good work this region continues to do in keeping COVID safe through this challenging time."
Mr Clancy understood comments made to the media on Friday were in relation to a contractor who visited Army barracks in Wodonga on August 18 and later tested positive.
"What it referred to was the fact that someone travelled from Melbourne to Wodonga, and then on their return to Melbourne was identified as being positive," he said.
"I think people on the Border are also concerned about the possibility of people travelling up from hotspot areas."
A Defence spokeswoman outlined the COVID-19 mitigations that were in place for the contractor, including a direction to stay on-base.
"All 18 Australian Defence Force members who were directed to isolate have returned negative results for COVID-19 and remain in isolation for the remainder of their 14 day term as a precaution," she said.
Friday was not the first time Ms Berejiklian has commented on virus cases outside of her jurisdiction; when Wodonga's second case was listed two days after the border closure was announced, the Premier said she had advice "at least" one person in the city was positive.
That case, listed by the Victorian DHHS, was not tested locally and was removed soon after.
Murray MP Helen Dalton said the reporting by the Victorian health department skewed the COVID-19 status of towns.
"We've got something like 400,000 people around the border communities who are impacted by this decision, and to justify the closures by saying 'this person has it', when they're in Melbourne, is not quite right," she said.
Wodonga's COVID-19 cases
- March 28: First case is listed. One month later, Wodonga's tally remained at one while Albury's tally was 8.
- July 6: second case. AWH confirms soon after it is not a local person. This case is removed by DHHS in the July 10 report. Meanwhile, three people from the same family in Albury who tested positive spark testing blitz by MLHD.
- July 27: DHHS lists case for Wodonga, bringing tally to 2 cases since the start of the pandemic, and one active. The person was not tested by AWH and believed to be outside of the region.
- August 17: Case listed in July 'recovered'. Wodonga tally back to 2, no active cases.
- August 26: Defence contractor who visited Gaza Ridge Barracks on August 18 receives positive test result six days later. 18 army workers were isolated as a result, but none met the definition of a close contact and none have tested positive.
- August 31: No active cases reported by AWH or MLHD. Albury case tally remains at 11, with 3 people from the same family still listed as 'active' despite being out of isolation.
"People in Liverpool, where there's a hotspot there, they can go to work, the kids can go to school - what are they trying to do to us?
"It's a very blunt instrument and it's over proportionate to the risk."
At an event in Cooma on Friday, Ms Dalton asked Ms Berejiklian why she didn't consult border MPs and councils before announcing the border closure.
"She came out with some fluffy answer which didn't really address the question at all," she said.
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"There are many ways to skin a cat, and this cat-skinning is not sustainable at any level.
"We're trying to hang on to businesses in our regional communities ... they'll never reopen."