Sydneysiders urged to keep Jervis Bay holiday bookings after border confusion

The president of the Huskisson Chamber of Commerce, Danny Payne, said the key townships and beaches in the region were open for business and welcoming visitors as usual.

They include the popular white sand beaches of Callala Bay, Huskisson, Hyams Beach and Chinamans Beach, as well as a number of others. The towns of Huskisson, Vincentia, Erowal Bay, Sanctuary Point, Falls Creek and Tomerong also have no restrictions in place for residents of Greater Sydney.

“It is just from the gates at Booderee National Park onwards which have restrictions applied to COVID-affected hotspots,” Mr Payne said. “There seems to be some confusion … with people unsure about the holiday region of Jervis Bay.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that drivers’ details were being checked and cars turned away at the entry point to Booderee National Park, which marks the beginning of the Jervis Bay Territory. The territory is subject to similar health directions in place for the ACT, which has barred all Sydneysiders from visiting since the northern beaches outbreak.

But that information, and pictures of cars being stopped at checkpoints, led Sydney tourists to cancel their bookings in the broader Jervis Bay area, which is not subject to the Commonwealth restrictions.

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Flo Pilorge, the owner of Bay and Bush Cottages Jervis Bay, said she received a flurry of phone calls on Tuesday from guests who were “really confused” and thought they had to cancel their holidays.

“We’ve been able to explain [that they don’t],” Ms Pilorge said on Wednesday. “It’s just been quite difficult. Some of the people obviously forwarded us the article.

“It was a big one yesterday, I have to say.”

Ms Pilorge said she was “quite surprised to receive those phone calls to start with” but understands where the confusion came from.

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The Jervis Bay Territory area is home to about 400 people, and includes the navy base at Jervis Bay Village, the largely Indigenous community of Wreck Bay, as well as Iluka and Murrays beaches. Residents told the Herald they were supportive of the measures in place to keep them safe.

Entry restrictions to the territory also changed on Tuesday, after the ACT reclassified which Sydney local government areas were considered hotspots.

A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications said the list of areas still restricted from the Jervis Bay Territory was determined by the ACT’s public health order.

They are the Blacktown, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, inner west, Liverpool, northern beaches, Parramatta and Strathfield council areas.

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“The current Jervis Bay Territory border restrictions are not applicable to all NSW residents, only the ACT-declared COVID-19 affected areas. Border restrictions only relate to the Jervis Bay Territory and not the wider Jervis Bay region,” the spokesperson said.

Since the Jervis Bay Territory was surrendered to the Commonwealth in 1915, services have been administered by the ACT.

An ACT government spokesperson said the territory was not a part of the ACT and the Commonwealth government was responsible for the public declarations in the area.

“While the declaration reflects some parts of the ACT public health directions, the ACT has no ability to make or change public health directions for the Jervis Bay Territory community – this is a Commonwealth government responsibility,” the spokesperson said.