Since March, my team and I have been battling with the fall out of State border closures.

First, it was South Australia, then Queensland, and then the NSW Government’s decision to shut our border with Victoria.

With every border closure, and rule change about who can travel where and when there is a fall out.

This fall out is affecting our economy – that’s well reported – but what’s not so well reported are the impacts on individuals.

Not a day has gone by since the first closures that my office hasn’t been contacted by people who have serious medical issues that require care interstate – people who need care urgently – who have been told they cannot cross, or have been sent into a maze of bureaucracy.

Some people have been able to access care in NSW, but it has meant drives across NSW – a dash from Broken Hill to Orange for critical care. And, the final frustrating slap for people has been having their Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme claim rejected.

I have written to the NSW Health Minister imploring him to provide a COVID-19 increase in IPTAAS for those whose medical care has been impacted by the border closures, and are seeking urgent care in NSW.

These border closures are having a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of people right across Barwon, our reliance on interstate care has become increasingly more and more obvious.

While it is important to note that the NSW Government did not make the decision to shut the Queensland or South Australian border, they must use this experience to review our total reliance on other States for vital services.

We keep hearing the message that we are all in this together, but the border closure decisions defy this logic.

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My opportunities to ask questions of the Government on the floor of Parliament in Question Time are rare – that’s just the way it works, all opportunities for questions are scheduled in by Parliament.

In the last sitting week, I had the opportunity to direct a question to the Premier.

It has been 160 days since her Coalition partner committed to a Federal Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on February 28, 2020:

“Will the Premier inform the House if the required documents have been sent to the Prime Minister to request a royal commission? If so, when? If not, why not?

When will the documents be sent?”

Surprisingly, to me, and to the House, the Premier had this to say: “I acknowledge the efforts of Minister Pavey, the Water Minister, who in June wrote to her counterpart in this regard.

“The position articulated by the Deputy Premier and the relevant minister is the Government’s position.”

So the NSW Government supports a Royal Commission into the Basin Plan, they’ve on the quiet written the letters, and I have since been informed provided a Terms of Reference.

There has been no public commentary on this from the Government and no say from the community about what the terms look like.

It’s time the Government stopped acting in the shadows when it comes to water – our most precious resource.

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In the last week I have been out on the road with my team, it was fantastic to see businesses stepping up and meeting their requirements to be COVID-19 safe.

It takes a lot to meet the requirements, new signage, hand sanitiser, dedicated staff members and new administrative tasks – I’m not complaining about these measures, they’re important to keep us all safe.

But, maintaining a COVID-19 safe business comes with a hefty price for our businesses – for some businesses its thousands of dollars.

All of this while our businesses are trading thin.

A recent Australian Bureau of Statistics survey showed that two-thirds of businesses reported a decrease in revenue due to the pandemic, for one in three businesses they’ve reported losing more that 50 per cent of their revenue.

For businesses out in Barwon, it’s doubly hard; we’ve been battling the impacts of drought for years, now COVID-19 is giving us another whack.

The $10,000 Small Business Grant offered by the Government earlier this year gave some of our businesses a hand.

Now there’s the Small Business Recovery Grant of up to $3,000 for highly affected industries.

This assistance really doesn’t go far enough to help our businesses meet their requirements to be COVID-19 safe – the NSW Government must step-up if we want to have a thriving Small Business community. I’ve made this view clear to the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance and Small Business.

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