Border woes: Frustration grows as locals face lengthy delays at checkpoints

Frustration is growing among locals in the Murray River’s tourist towns for lengthy delays to cross the Echuca-Moama border.

3AW Drive caller Roxanne lives in Moama and said she crosses the border daily.

“It is chaos, they have blocked off roads, we’ve got marshals,” she told Shane McInnes filling in for Tom Elliot.

“It will take about 2-3 hours to get across, I can walk quicker than driving across.”

It comes as tourism operators encourage people to still visit the region.

Andrew Hutchins who runs Bridges on Mininya in Moama, said some Victorians were under the impression they couldn’t travel to regional NSW.

Residents in the border towns are exempt from needing a permit to enter Victoria, and Victorians can travel to regional NSW at this stage, which is considered a ‘Green Zone’.

“Certainly cancellations have been a bit of a concern,” he said.

“I think word is slowly getting out that everyone can travel to country NSW from Victoria, we have been trying to emphasise that to our guests.

“We would just like to see people ring up and book.”

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