The border restrictions imposed by the New South Wales Government continue to deliver personal and traumatic impacts to residents in Northern Victoria, denying people access to work, services and family.

Compassion needs to come to the fore for these communities, to allow border locals to access permits to care for terminally ill family members. Constituents with terminal illness have contacted me; their only wish is to spend quality time with their family in their remaining days. In these circumstances, these constituents need the support of their family immediately and ongoing; restricting family visits until people are in the last days of life is cruel.

These communities have low – and in some cases no – cases of coronavirus, and the restrictions are completely disproportionate to the risk, serving absolutely no purpose than to delivery misery to families already under enormous stress.