National Cabinet has been urged to ditch its "one-size fits all" approach to border closures and introduce an agreed definition of COVID-19 hotspots, to free border communities from extra restrictions.
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Senator Bridget McKenzie told Parliament this week that there needed to be a plan for how to quickly deal with coronavirus outbreaks.
"The one-size-fits-all border closures imposed on regional communities by other states is not a localised, targeted approach," she said.
"Border communities are being impacted despite the fact that there are no community transmissions and in many cases no COVID-19 cases at all in those local communities.
"While state leaders are engaged in a political game of one-upmanship to garner support amongst capital city voter bases, COVID-19-free border communities that are hundreds of kilometres from COVID-19 hotspots are being torn apart."
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The senator said NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant did not provide an answer when asked for the medical evidence to support border closures.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has said the decision to extend the border bubble back to 50 kilometres was made after discussions with Dr Chant about Victoria's "stable" coronavirus numbers and a forum including officials from Albury Wodonga Health.
"We need our national leaders to set and agree on a national standard approach to inbound quarantine with stringent checks and equivalent processing systems that will give us the confidence to learn to live with the coronavirus," Senator McKenzie said.
"I call on state and territory premiers to have a heart and to act in good faith and with common sense at this week's national cabinet."
