Slamming interstate borders shut again is not the answer to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in this country.
Last time we checked, Australia was one country without actual physical borders barring the island state of Tasmania.
If you drive across the Nullarbor you don't suddenly hit a brick wall requiring a new passport.
Trigger-happy premiers putting up the shutters again is not the approach we need when we are all trying to get on with our lives both physically and emotionally.
We were well aware when we started to open up again the coronavirus had not miraculously disappeared.
We are amid a global pandemic for which the only cure is a vaccine and we don't have that yet.
There was always going to be outbreaks.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was spot on when she said hot spot areas should be treated as such without penalising entire states.
"Governments should be allowed to act sensibly and responsibly to manage those outbreaks locally without the need for shutters to be pulled up and barriers to be wheeled out at border crossings again," the Premier said.
"I will just ask every state leader to take a proportionate response.
"There is no doubt if this was occurring in another state, we would regard the Northern Beaches as a hot spot and we would take measures at our airport to keep our residents safe."
We need to be safe and sensible.
We need to protect ourselves and each other by adhering to social distancing and wearing masks when in areas where that is appropriate.
We need to get tested when we are showing symptoms.
However, penalising someone in Bega from travelling to Victoria because of an outbreak happening in the Northern beaches of Sydney is flat out ridiculous.
Premiers, stop playing politics.
Help us to live our lives in this pandemic because it's not going away anytime soon.