Moama, Melbourne residents being turned away from Echuca venues

By Max Stainkamph

Aug 19, 2021

Businesses in Echuca are turning back people from Melbourne and Moama trying to enter venues illegally, and sometimes copping flak for doing so.

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Currently, people from metropolitan Melbourne and must stay within five kilometres from their homes, while NSW residents are only allowed to leave home with a regional excuse.

Neither are permitted to enter venues in regional Victoria.

Echuca Workers general manager Erin Langman said some Melburnians had tried to “pull the wool over our eyes” by saying they’d been travelling since lockdown began.

With no way to prove their claims, Ms Langman had instructed staff to turn them away.

“They get quite cranky with staff, my staff are getting abused and they’re just abiding by the rules,” she said.

She said some people had been crossing into Echuca from Moama to attend venues.

“A lot are coming over for [one of] the five essential reasons but assume once they’re over here they think they can do what they like and we have to turn them away,” she said.

However, Henry’s Bridge Hotel and Star Hotel owner Paul Jarman said he’d had few issues with Moama residents.

“We’ve had a very small amount of people presenting licences which aren’t correct,” Mr Jarman said.

“A lot of people are calling and asking what they can do — we haven’t seen a huge amount of non-compliance.”

He said by and large people in Echuca-Moama understood the rules and followed them, and said venues were determined to make the twin towns safe.

“Because we’ve been in lockdown for so long, we know what to do, and if we want to be a safe destination it’s good for all of us and it’s what we have to do,” Mr Jarman said.

He said the community had banded together to ensure the right thing was happening.

1895 The Royal owner Barry Saunders said he’d also had Melburnians trying to enter his business.

He said some workers from Melbourne had tried to enter, and while they had permits to enter regional Victoria it didn’t extend to entering venues, and had also turned away travellers.

“We don’t want to risk the $5000 fine and also don’t want to be the place which brings a case here,” Mr Saunders said.

He said he felt sad turning people away, and it was “frustrating” to see a small number of people trying to do the wrong thing.

“We’ve got to get on top of this [outbreak] so we can hopefully get back to normal,” he said.