The Cross Border Commissioner remains busy, with key work taking place to strengthen regional connections and engage with border businesses and communities to help secure the outcomes that are important to them.
Stronger regional communities
The Cross Border Commissioner works with communities, businesses and government to identify cross-border issues, inform policy and coordinate responses across state borders.
Stakeholder engagement
The Commissioner travelled more than 60,000 km in 2025–26 and met with more than 350 cross-border stakeholders from government, industry, business, community organisations and emergency response agencies.
Policy advocacy
The Commissioner uses information gathered through discussions with stakeholders in rural, remote and regional border areas to identify new and ongoing cross-border issues for senior policy makers, including Victorian Government department secretaries.
This information contributes to policy advice and decisions affecting border communities.
Key areas of focus have included:
- improving transport connectivity
- providing better access to healthcare services
- policing and legislative issues in border settings
- creating opportunities for workforce mobility and equitable education for border communities
- emergency management
- economic development.
The Commissioner delivered key initiatives to enhance cross border collaboration:
- The Strategic Plan 2024–26 was adopted.
- Memorandums of Understanding for Cross Border Collaboration were signed between South Australia and Victoria, and between New South Wales and Victoria.Signed South Australian / Victorian and New South Wales / Victorian Memorandums of Understanding for Cross Border Collaboration.
- Since the program began, 454 cross border anomaly enquiries addressed, with a 73% resolution rate as of June 2026.
- Provided letters of advice twice a year to government department secretaries and key agencies outlining key cross border anomalies, strengthening policy engagement and ensuring greater awareness and coordination.
- Cross-border issues were included in Australia’s Mutual Recognition Schemes for Workers Review and the Modernisation of the National Construction Code Review.
- As the result of joint efforts with industry bodies, 192 apprentices from border areas received the Apprentice Registration Discount and saving $154,000, while since March 2023, 625 border apprentices accessed the Discount with the total saving of more than $500,000.
- Elevated Victorians’ access to Free TAFE in New South Wales and South Australia as a priority between Victorian, NSW and South Australian governments.
- Working with Department of Transport and Planning, achieved funding allocation in the State Budget towards design of the Tooleybuc Bridge.
Plan for Victoria
Plan for Victoria includes recognition of cross-border issues and identifies integrated service delivery and economic development in border cities including Mildura, Wodonga and Echuca.
For a clearer version of this map, download a copy of the written plan on the Plan for Victoria website.
Creating stronger collaboration
Cross-border collaboration was a focus of the Commissioner’s work during the year. The Commissioner led or participated in the following initiatives.
Quarterly Cross Border Commissioners Forum
These forums addressed interstate priorities and opportunities involving the Australian Government, and included meetings with Australian Government members and representatives.
Annual Cross Border Local Government Breakfast
Held in Canberra, the events brought together state Cross Border Commissioners, local government Chief Executive Officers and Mayors from border regions.
At the 2026 event, the Commissioner hosted the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, who presented information on current business conditions and opportunities for border businesses.
Annual Tri-State Health Forum
The most recent forum was held in Wentworth, New South Wales, and brought together health leaders from New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria to discuss cross-border healthcare issues.
Participants discussed options for coordinated responses to regional health issues across the three jurisdictions with a focus on practical, actionable solutions.
Plans are underway for another Tri-State Health Forum to be held in April 2027.
Cross Border Ambulance Working Group
The working group brings together relevant stakeholders to consider ambulance and patient transport issues affecting border communities.
Participants are working to improve cross-border coordination and identify options for emergency response and patient care across state jurisdictions.
Workforce and volunteer shortages in ambulance services are an emerging priority for the group.
The Commissioner and working group members supported coordination between Ambulance Victoria and NSW Ambulance to address transport arrangements for discharged patients in the Swan Hill region.
Annual Victoria and New South Wales Cross Border Policing and Justice Forum
The 2025 Mildura forum brought together law enforcement agencies to discuss cross-border policing and Justice of the Peace issues.
The Commissioner supported Victoria Police’s establishment of a police academy in Mildura for recruits from north-west Victoria, with potential to train recruits from New South Wales and South Australia.
The Commissioner worked with Victoria Police and the Department of Justice and Community Safety on amendments progressed through the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2025. The amendments enable Victorian police officers, in specified circumstances, to perform duties and exercise powers in New South Wales and South Australia when transporting people in police custody or care.
Victoria New South Wales Cross Border Social Services Forum
Held in Wodonga for the third consecutive year, the 2026 forum brought together government and service agency representatives to discuss coordination for shared clients and identify issues for local action or referral to the Cross Border Commissioners. The forum included a focus on family violence.
Regional Engagement
Regional discussions covered economic development, connectivity and infrastructure.
Annual Victoria and South Australian Local Government Areas CEO Cross Border Forum
Held in Naracoorte, the 2026 Victoria and South Australia CEO Cross Border Forum provided state and local government representatives with an opportunity to discuss economic and community development, transport and infrastructure, tourism and biosecurity.
Business Without Borders, Albury
The event brought together the Small Business Commissioners and Cross Border Commissioners for New South Wales and Victoria to discuss business issues and opportunities in the Albury–Wodonga cross-border region.
East Gippsland Cross Border Economic Development Forum
In July 2026, representatives from local government, industry and government agencies met to discuss economic opportunities across the Victoria–New South Wales border. Topics included the economic corridor from the High Country through East Gippsland to the Bega Valley and Far South Coast; tourism and regional investment; workforce mobility and access to skills; transport, freight and waste management; a cross-border economic strategy; and the Port of Edrom precinct.
Budj Bim: Aboriginal economic development
During a visit to the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south-west Victoria, the Commissioner met with the Gunditjmara Traditional Owner Group to discuss partnerships with First Peoples and tourism opportunities involving Budj Bim and South Australia’s Limestone Coast.
First Nations-led and place-based initiatives
The Cross Border Commissioner supported:
- Barmah–Millewa National Forest: a culturally and ecologically significant landscape. More information is available on the Yorta Yorta Traditional Owner Land Management Board website.
- Ulunja Farm, Moama: a Yorta Yorta enterprise and the site of Australia’s largest medicinal-grade Manuka honey plantation.
- Woka Walla: an Aboriginal labour hire business operating in land and water management. More information is available on the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation website.
- Dharnya Centre: a $10 million cultural and educational centre on Yorta Yorta Country that blends culture, education and More information is available on the Dharnya Centre website.
- Moama Annex: a proposal for cross-border representation and coordination.
- Port of Edrom: maritime development through cross-border collaboration.