"On the eve of their busiest trading period over Christmas and the New Year, festive cheer is making way for frustration and confusion. Uncertainty is crippling confidence and jeopardising jobs."Victoria, Queensland and South Australia quickly closed their borders to Sydneysiders and Western Australia barred all NSW residents this week in response to the growing number of cases linked to Avalon and the northern beaches.
Simon Birmingham, on his final day as tourism minister, said border closures had been a fraught issue all year and had been kept in place longer than necessary. Ms Osmond said the response to the Avalon outbreak should be a "massive wake-up call" to people not to be complacent about the tourism industry.