OBERON coming out of lockdown on the weekend, while Bathurst remains in, is an advertisement both for the flexibility and the inflexibility of the NSW Government's coronavirus restrictions.
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Having Oberon-ites returning to a semi-normal life just to our south while we remain subject to stay at home orders will lead to some consternation.
But that's always been the trouble for the government as it has sought to enforce the COVID rules.
When the state was covered in a patchwork of restrictions - depending on whether you were in the Sydney metropolitan area or regional NSW, a suburb of concern or not - there was criticism about the resulting confusion and complication.
Tidying that up by putting regional NSW in its entirety into a lockdown reduced the confusion, but also put rural council areas that had yet to record a COVID case under the same restrictions as areas that had a number of cases.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro's announcement of last week has returned to the patchwork model - freeing councils in the state's north and Riverina, among others, and the high country close to Bathurst.
It's a reward for Oberon's good luck or good management (or both) in keeping COVID out, but it's also inconsistent with the fact that Oberon remains connected with Bathurst in a number of ways.
Even in a lockdown, Oberon is not hermetically sealed: it would have workers who travel into Bathurst for jobs, and there must be others who have to cross council boundaries for medical or other reasons.
Oberon's freedoms shouldn't be begrudged, but a government that has been at pains to emphasise the collective nature of this crisis is running a bit of a risk as those in some council areas socialise and have a drink while their council neighbours watch jealously from afar.
Or maybe that's the wrong way to look at it.
The state's economy must have taken a terrible beating over the past few months and the more businesses that can get back to business - employing locals, earning money, supporting their community - the better.
Maybe those of us still locked down should cheer for each of those who aren't. "We're all in this together" has been overused to the point of losing all meaning, but when it comes to the economy, we actually are.