Border communities remain on edge about tougher travel arrangements despite Victoria emerging from the state's fifth lockdown on Wednesday with a hyper-cautious approach.
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Wagga, Lockhart, Hay and Murrumbidgee council areas were dumped from the bubble yesterday in a strong pointer Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was prepared to also crackdown harder on border towns if he felt his state was left exposed by his northern neighbour.
His biggest fear remains COVID-19 seeping out of Sydney on a day NSW hit a new high of 172 infections and 87 mystery cases.
Victoria has resisted a return to a hard border or permit checkpoints to date as pleas from Mr Andrews for a ring of steel around Sydney continue to fall on deaf ears.
"We will not hesitate to do what has to be done to keep our state safe," he said.
"That's why keeping the Sydney problem in Sydney and not having it leach out into regional NSW and therefore put at risk Victoria makes sense to me."
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The Australian Industry Group's business services director Tim Farrah said any dismantling of the border bubble would inflict serious damage to already struggling business sectors including hospitality and tourism.
"We saw how bad things were in the early iterations of the border bubble last year," he said.
"To go back to something like that would be an absolute disaster.
"There is no evidence to suggest people from the bubble are bringing the virus into Victoria so why should those communities be punished?"
The majority of places in the four areas excluded from the bubble are situated closer to Melbourne than Sydney.
The latest lockdown ends overnight with metropolitan and regional areas coming out with the same level of restrictions.
Face-to-face learning returns for schools, the 5km travel limit is scrapped, pubs, restaurants, cafes and bars can open with limits of 100 people inside and 300 outside and hairdressers and beauticians can also open their doors.
"It is great news for all our community to be returning on Wednesday," Catholic College Wodonga principal Darren Hovey said.
"Whilst we still face some restrictions at school such as mask wearing, we are looking forward to doing what we do best, engaging with our students in our wonderful facilities at CCW."
Gyms, which have been one of the last to re-open after previous lockdowns, can also open.
"I was expecting the worst," .PT Fitness Wodonga owner Nic Conway said.
"But the sun is out today and coincidentally we get some good news.
"We just have to keep working with the hand we are dealt."
Home visits are off-limits for another two weeks and weddings and funerals are capped at 50 people.
Auctions and open houses are also back in Victoria with limits from this weekend.
"It is significantly easier to do both free of restrictions," Wodonga Real Estate's Clinton Harvey said.
"Uncertainty is the biggest barrier to conducting auctions."
Meanwhile, member for Benambra Bill Tilley said the border bubble had to be preserved at all costs.
"I'm pretty confident that the vast majority of border communities don't want to go back there again.
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