"I'm sorry to write this, but I have to say, I'm disgusted to find out that there have been people coming to their holiday houses in Gerringong from Sydney, arriving late at night in the hope that their arrival will go unnoticed," says Sarah Atkins in her Facebook post to the people of Gerringong.
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Her post attracted over 140 comments and over 200 likes with one commenter writing "It's even more frustrating when your neighbours are from Greater Sydney and have had to be sent home from their holiday house twice!! Because apparently they didn't learn the first time the police sent them home"
Sarah Atkins is the owner of Bombo Clothing Co in Kiama, a small clothing business which has been around in the local area in one form or another for the past sixteen years.
She said she was alerted to a few cases of Sydneysiders flouting the Public Health Orders including one person from Hurstville who came to visit their holiday house only to be dobbed in by their neighbour to the police.
"The one next door to my parents had changed their address on their licence to her Gerringong address - so they're basically using loopholes to get through," she said.
She said she just wanted everyone to do the right thing because businesses like hers were doing it tough and wanted to get through this difficult time as quickly as possible.
"When you know people are sneaking around doing the wrong thing, it just makes you really upset because that's the whole reason this is continuing," she said.
According to Mrs Atkins, Kiama is a ghost town with trade in every commercial area except real estate hit hard by the lockdown to the north.
"My mum spoke to the owner of a fish and chip shop who said she hadn't received a single customer throughout what as normally a busy lunch period," she said.
"We're all feeling the pain and we don't want this lockdown to continue any longer than it has to - we just need people to do the right thing and respect the rules and look out for each other."
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Liam Cormican
I'm a journalist for the South Coast Register. Got a tip? Email liam.cormican@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I'm a journalist for the South Coast Register. Got a tip? Email liam.cormican@austcommunitymedia.com.au
