NSW officials were rushing to issue daily crossing permits for residents on both sides of the border, but said delays on the ground were likely. Kevin Mack, the mayor of Albury, a border town on the NSW side, said with an estimated 50,000 car movements across the state line every day "it will be a nightmare for everyone." BORDER CHAOSFor businesses on the border, which last closed during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919, it also poses an immediate logistics headache. "About a quarter of my staff like me live in NSW, and cross that border every day to come to work," said Paul Armstrong, who runs a petrol station in Wodonga, a border town on the Victorian side. Volunteers and residents have also reported the State Emergency Service confiscated donations of food and supplies on Monday night.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 07, 2020 02:03 UTC