The Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says cross-border communities are being starved to death by the Andrews Labor Government.
Mr Walsh said, for example, at Echuca-Moama, the NSW half of the twin towns is being smashed by Daniel Andrews and his determination to make it orange, not green.
He said he had been approached by Echuca-Moama Tourism and several businesses, pleading for assistance as they are effectively locked out of Victoria.
“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” Mr Walsh said.
“We have already had the fight with the Turn The Bubble Green campaign; but even then the economic damage was extensive,” he said.
“Now we’re right back where we started; no COVID anywhere along the Murray – and there hasn’t been any, ever, in nearly every one of these communities, but for the sake of “caution” the Andrews Labor Government has condemned half the community to financial ruin and it is unnecessary, unwarranted and un-Australian.”
Mr Walsh said when he was contacted by EMT he was told one local venue lost 130 lunch/dinner bookings between Thursday and Sunday last week.
He said the big clubs are being pounded; losing as much as 75 per cent of regular business and relying solely on locals to keep going.
“It’s school holiday time and accommodation on the NSW side of the river is virtually empty; and now many Moama operators are losing even their Winter Blues bookings as people do not want to risk the border being closed; don’t want to have to test and don’t want to go into isolation if they go into the NSW half of the bubble,” Mr Walsh added.
“I urge every regional Victorian to send a demand to Daniel Andrews to once again turn the bubble green before he finally kills cross-border communities the length of the Murray,” he said.
“We have to work together to hammer home this message – we don’t have any COVID here and bringing Melbourne people to any of the twin towns will make the difference between saving businesses and jobs or sending them to the wall for no reason.
“Even if you can do nothing else, register your protest now to https://www.facebook.com/DanielAndrewsMP and get your friends, families, colleagues and employees to do the same.
“Daniel Andrews, safe and snug on his $8000 a week, has not had the courage to come and face these communities personally and see just how badly he has botched this whole regional COVID strategy.
“It’s almost as if the Andrews Labor Government is determined not to be rational in its tactics, instead hiding behind ‘the best medical advice’; medical advice he has repeatedly refused to justify by explaining who is calling the shots and why they seem to have the ruin of micro economies along the river list as a must-do.”