Member for Murray, Helen Dalton said that since the snap lockdown had commenced 5pm Saturday evening, she had been contacted by very concerned and very confused community members who were either unaware of the incoming lockdown or what the rules of the lockdown were.

"Since Saturday, my office has received over 500 messages from confused constituents," Mrs Dalton said.

"The NSW Government announced a statewide lockdown via Twitter,

However many people in the Murray region don't know what Twitter is," Mrs Dalton said.

The tweet in question first came from Deputy Premier John Barilaro's Twitter account at 2:30pm, only two and half hours before the lockdown was due to commence and no press conference was held.

NSW Health also did not officially confirm the lockdown until after 3pm.

Mrs Dalton said how the news broke was 'unacceptable.'

"It is simply not acceptable to give country people just two hours' notice of a major lockdown, and announce it via social media" Mrs Dalton said.

"Like many, I was out on my farm away from Internet access, it is only by chance I found out in time to be able to inform people."

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Whilst COVID-19 has not yet reached the Murrumbidgee, MLHD Chief Executive Jill Ludford said that an outbreak was 'inevitable', making timely and communication between the relevant authorities critical to keep regional communities safe from COVID-19.

"Without effective communication and financial assistance, we can't expect people to do the right thing and control the spread of this virus" Mrs Dalton said.

"It seems as if the Premier has 30 people working on media spin and one person updating the Service NSW website."

For more information about the current NSW lockdown rules you can click here.

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