Member for Albury Justin Clancy believes a highly visible police presence outside of Sydney and Melbourne will hopefully prevent Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews from re-introducing hard border closures with permit checks in Albury-Wodonga and other river communities.
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Mr Clancy said the ring of steel, which Mr Andrews and other community leaders locally have been agitating for, is unnecessary even though NSW daily cases numbers soared into the 200s a day after a four-week extension to the Sydney lockdown was confirmed.
"There is already a highly visible police presence at Goulburn and in Sydney as well," he said.
"Having that highly visible police presence is a critical deterrent and it is taking place."
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Mr Clancy said that threat had raised anxiety levels on both sides of the border.
"That is real," he said.
"That does have an impact on a community at a time when certainty is important as is reassurance.
"A further example out of the Murrumbidgee area is volunteer drivers who take people from Jerilderie into Victoria for health care and can't now.
"It might not seem of great consequence to the powers that be, but it has a real and significant impact on that community."
Border communities have endured two previous hard border closures with the 12 month anniversary of NSW's decision to close the border to Victoria coming earlier this month.
The second one came in the Christmas-New Year period when Victoria responded to the previous Sydney lockdown.
Victoria has adopted "roving patrols" including stopping traffic near Chiltern since mid-July in preference to rushing to a hard lockdown.
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