In the past two months, first the entire state of Victoria and later Greater Sydney were locked down due to the outbreaks of the highly-infectious Delta and Kappa variants of COVID-19.

In both cases regional areas have been subject to additional restrictions.

Recently, Victoria Police established a 'soft border' with permit checks and automatic number plate recognition in place after the Victorian government designated Greater Sydney a red zone, and the rest of NSW an orange zone.

Australia Industry Group's Tim Farrah said the effects of the repeat border closures and lockdowns were being felt across the region.

"Unfortunately in some sections of the economy especially around tourism and hospitality and retail, they're still very much feeling that pain because of the lack of progress that has been made in the past year," he said.

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"Whether you want to blame state governments for locking down too quickly, not having good contact tracing in place, the right QR code systems... or you want to blame the federal government for the slow vaccination - the fact is we haven't moved very far in a year.

"That's disappointing."

The uncertainty of the pandemic and repeat lockdowns has taken a toll on the health of residents, the former Albury Wodonga Health board member said.

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"One of the hidden costs of the past 12 months had been the cost to people's mental health, especially for our young people," Mr Farrah said.

"The full toll of that won't be known for a couple of years but certainly the presentations we're seeing to mental health facilities and the [number of] calls to organisations like Lifeline indicate it's going to be a high price to pay.

"Which puts all the more urgency on the need to get out of a situation where we lockdown at the drop of a hat."

Mr Farrah said as a country we "desperately need to move forward".

"Hopefully the latest plan from the federal government will receive the backing it should get and action and support from the states, and then we can move forward," he said.

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