Phil Donato has called for Orange's lockdown to end as confusion mounts regarding its neighbouring LGAs.
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On Thursday, Cabonne and Blayney were both lifted out of lockdown due to a lack of COVID cases in the past couple of weeks. This allows those living in the LGAs extra freedoms that places like Orange and Dubbo do not currently have.
But according to the government if you live in an area not currently subject to stay at home restrictions, such as Cabonne or Blayney, you must have a reasonable excuse to enter a stay at home area such as Orange.
This means if you come from Molong to Orange to do your shopping, for example, you have to then adhere to stay-at-home orders for the next 14 days - although special conditions apply if you must enter a stay at home area for a vaccination appointment.
The Orange MP has sought for Orange to be lifted out of lockdown, or for dispensations made for Cabonne and Blayney residents so they too don't have to abide by stay-at-home orders.
"A lot of those people frequent Orange and Orange is obviously still in lockdown at the moment," Mr Donato said.
"So what does it mean for them if they have to come to Orange for work, for business, for medical appointments which a lot of people in those LGAs do.
"This is the confusing thing, what do those people do who need to come to Orange?"
He pointed to places like Nashdale and Clifton Grove - both in Cabonne - as areas where a good proportion of residents would work in Orange and as such, would be subject to stay-at-home orders.
"All those people do their business and shopping in Orange, all of their appointments are in Orange and most of them probably work in Orange," he added.
"It's impractical and needs some consideration.
"While you leave Orange in lock down and you've got Blayney and Cabonne open, you're going to have this confusing issue and a lot of uncertainty. There needs to be clarification and common sense."
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