NSW makes long-awaited call on Victoria border reopening
The border between NSW and Victoria will open in three weeks, Gladys Berejiklian has announced, as Victoria records its fifth consecutive day of zero coronavirus cases.
"Come a minute past midnight on November 23, there will be free movement between NSW and Victoria," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Wednesday.
"Very proudly I say NSW will be the only jurisdiction in Australia that will be welcoming residents of all states, of all jurisdictions," she told reporters.
Ms Berejiklian also announced QR codes will become mandatory for venues from November 23, as NSW Health is still identifying non-compliance seven months after the pandemic began.
The change was prompted in part by the failing of a southwest Sydney restaurant visited by a positive case to provide NSW Health with staffing and patronage records.
Jasmins1 Lebanese restaurant in Liverpool has been directed to close until NSW Health no longer considers it a public health risk.
NSW recorded three locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and six in returned travellers in hotel quarantine from more than 17,000 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday.
All three were household contacts of known cases who were already isolating.
Berejiklian’s unanswered text to QLD Premier
The border announcement comes as Ms Berejiklian continues to pile pressure on Queensland Premier Annastacia Pałaszczuk over her decision to bar Sydneysiders from entering the state.
Ms Berejiklian admits her relationship with her northern counterpart remains frosty.
The NSW Premier says her text sent on Sunday congratulating the Queensland premier on her election victory remains unacknowledged.
"I just congratulated her, I said 'especially during a pandemic congratulations on your win and I would love to talk borders with you'," Ms Berejiklian told Sydney radio Nova on Wednesday.
"I haven't heard back yet ... (but) I've had bigger disappointments in my life," she said.
She added “our Blues will reply tonight when we win against the Maroons”, in reference to the State of Origin match.
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