ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has offered to personally intervene after Canberra Raiders star George Williams was caught up in Victoria's border confusion over the New Year period.
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Williams revealed he had been forced into hotel quarantine after flying to Melbourne this week.
Some Canberrans have been ordered into Victorian isolation after travelling to the state on New Year's Day and the Department of Health and Human Services was refusing to clarify the situation.
Canberrans can travel to Victoria if they apply for a special transit permit, which allows them to drive through NSW before crossing the border.
But the Victorian government has implemented a hard border ban on anyone who has been to any part of NSW prior to travel.
Williams said he was at Batemans Bay on December 28-30 before flying to Victoria, and was told at Canberra Airport he would not need to quarantine because he had not been to a red zone.
"As we landed in Victoria the rules had now changed literally within an hour of leaving so we had to go straight into mandatory hotel quarantine for 2 weeks," Williams wrote on social media.
"The detention notice states interstate hot or red zone arrivals which Bateman's [Bay] or ACT is neither so that's false.
"This is something we and other [ACT] travellers was not aware of and there are many in the same situation as on the same [Virgin] Australia flight who can't understand this at all, again the airline at Canberra [Airport] that told us we was safe to travel without any restrictions.
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"Once getting to the hotel. The rooms are very small with a window you cannot open meaning fresh air is unavailable to us for 2 weeks.
"We are not even allowed to leave the room?! Sorry but criminals all get 1 hour a day fresh air or out of their cell. HOW IS THIS FAIR? Help!"
After being alerted to Williams' plight on Instagram, Mr Barr replied: "Victoria have retrospectively switched green zones to red. We'll talk to them and see what can be done. Best case is likely to be a covid test and direct flight back to Canberra if negative.
"We can't force Victoria to change their position but we may be able to get people back home after a negative covid test."
The Raiders are expected to return to training later this week to restart preparations for the NRL season.
The club asked its Sydney-based players to remain in Canberra over Christmas after the ACT government announced people from hot spots in NSW would need to quarantine for 14 days in the capital.
Some ACT Brumbies players arrived back in Canberra this week and will complete quarantine before joining their teammates at training.
Victorian government officials confirmed that Canberrans can travel to Victoria quarantine-free using a special transit permit.
That permit wasn't available on January 1, meaning people from Canberra were forced to apply for a generic permit for people returning to Victoria from regional NSW.
The online permit required people to declare that they would self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival at their destination. Canberra travellers had believed that requirement didn't apply to them because of assurances from Victorian COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar on December 31.
