Despite Wollongong Local Government Area being included in the NSW Government's list of restricted council areas, Mr Fares was on Monday granted a permit from the Victorian government to travel to Essendon.

This is because - perhaps surprisingly for most Wollongong residents, who have spent the past three days trying to work out if they are included or excluded from COVID restrictions and border bans across Australia - the LGA is not listed as a restricted "red zone" according to the Victorian Government.

In a case that highlights the ongoing discrepancies between states, as well as the confusing inclusion of Wollongong as part of the NSW restricted areas, Illawarra Business Chamber executive Mr Fares believes he's in the clear to travel to Victoria to visit family.

"My wife's family is in Essendon, and we're meant to be going down there for the first time this year to spend some time over the festive season," he said.

"Everyone is pretty anxious to see each other - we've lost a few family members this year which has been hard and we'd normally be together in those times."

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When the Northern Beaches cluster started to spike and border restrictions were flagged on the weekend, Mr Fares went online and successfully applied for his first permit to cross the Victorian border.

This was then cancelled, via text, as case numbers in Avalon grew on Sunday and the NSW Government brought in restrictions for Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong.

"The text said to reapply after midnight, so about 5am, I decided to reapply," Mr Fares said.

"The website didn't give us the list of safe zones and at that stage we were going through that whole process of trying to understand whether Illawarra was considered part of Greater Sydney. I thought I'd still be in the Green Zone so I applied and it was approved.

"And it wasn't until late last night, that I finally saw [the Victorian Government] has re-listed all the red zone areas, and saw that Wollongong wasn't counted.

"On the website, the affected LGAs go down to Sutherland and Wollondilly - and that's all we can go off at the moment - so now we have a permit. My eight-year-old has already packed his bag because he just wants to go see his Poppy."

"We will obviously stick to whatever rules there are - but it will be disappointing if we can't get down there."

While the Fares' family holiday looks set to go ahead, many other Wollongong residents with ties to Victoria have not been as lucky, with people cancelling trips or rushing back across the border in the confusion.

Mr Fares was critical of the way the information about restrictions and interstate travel had been handled, and - like many in the region - questioned why Wollongong was being included in the NSW Government's restricted areas.

"It's been pretty poor - there's a lot of discrepancies and confusion," he said.

"I do think it's unfair to lump us in with Sydney, especially for businesses, because there are no cases here - and haven't been for months. It's really weird for the government to have us lumped in with this now - it's makes it hard to understand and there's added confusion because of the other states have brought in all these different border rules."

Wollongong residents can't travel to Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory or the ACT, but - according to the fine print from Tasmanian and Victorian websites regarding border bans, people from Wollongong appear to be allowed to enter those states as long as they have spent no time in Sydney recently.

Keira MP Ryan Park and Wollongong MP Paul Scully have called on the NSW Government to provide its reasoning why Wollongong - not previously considered part of Greater Sydney under COVID-19 restrictions - has been included in the recent round of gathering limits.

They have also asked whether its inclusion will be reconsidered on Wednesday morning, when the Premier is expected to make a decision on what the rules will be for Christmas Day.

There are no active cases in Wollongong, and there have been no cases of community transmission for months. Additionally, none of the recent NSW Health alerts for venues or public transport, relating to the Avalon cluster, have been near Wollongong.