Five North Coast MPs demand ban on Sydney visitors until region catches up on jabs

A bloc of five North Coast MPs is ditching party lines in favour of a geographical alliance, demanding Sydneysiders be banned from visiting the holiday region until it can boost its vaccination rate.

The group of Nationals, Labor, and Greens representatives on Thursday night sent a letter to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro to ask that Sydney residents – who will reach the state’s 70 per cent double vaccination target long before the North Coast does – be prevented from travelling there.

The letter was signed by Nationals MPs Geoff Provost and Chris Gulaptis as well as Nationals Northern Rivers MLC Ben Franklin, with Labor MP Janelle Saffin and Greens MP Tamara Smith also adding their names.

Together the group represents an area stretching 215 kilometres from the Queensland border at Tweed Heads down to Grafton.

“We don’t criticise the vaccination drive initially being concentrated on the major metro areas that most needed it and we accept that there has been less community urgency on the North Coast for the simple reason we have been infection free,” the letter says.

“We are however really concerned that, without policy changes, our region will suddenly become deeply vulnerable to a major influx of newly freed Sydneysiders, while we are still short of the 70 per cent safety target.”

When asked about the letter, Mr Barilaro flagged the possibility of altering the public health orders for communities with lower vaccination rates once the state begins reopening.

“Our priority has always been protecting the regions from Covid-19 and the road map to living with Covid is no exception,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“Our number one focus is lifting vaccination rates the length and breadth of regional NSW before we reach the 70 per cent double dose target state wide.

“If we need to amend the settings to protect vulnerable regional communities and those communities with lower vaccination rates, we will assess closer to the time, in accordance with NSW Health advice.”

Regional travel is currently set to resume on the Monday after the state hits its 70 per cent double dose target, anticipated to be October 11.

The North Coast MPs’ letter comes after Tweed and Byron regions were plunged into lockdown and booted from the Queensland border bubble after a visiting TV crew member was in the area while infected.

That incident led Lennox Head-based Liberal MP Catherine Cusack to call for the resignation of Health Minister and party colleague Brad Hazzard.

Ms Berejiklian on Friday said the state government was mindful of the vulnerability of regional areas but noted fewer than 40 of the state’s 128 local government areas were lagging the 70 per cent NSW double-dose target, and that this number continued to fall.

“While we appreciate all those concerns expressed by people, we will make cautious decisions based on the health advice,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The Doherty report says, depending on the number of cases, will determine how mobile we can be outside our areas and Greater Sydney for Sydneysiders”.

NSW reported 1043 new coronavirus cases and 11 more fatalities on Friday.

The Northern Rivers region has a reputation for having some of the lowest vaccine rates in the state, with a slower supply of vaccines to the regions seemingly compounding the issue.

While some of Sydney’s local government areas have reached single-dose vaccination rates of more than 90 per cent, others areas including Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads have just cracked 60 per cent.