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Queensland border bubble inches south, letting thousands in from NSW
By Lydia Lynch and Toby Crockford
Queensland's border bubble will be shifted further south next month, letting 152,000 more people from NSW into the state without having to quarantine or apply for an exemption.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fast-tracked the easing of border restrictions on Tuesday, before her government's scheduled review on September 30, to allow residents of 41 more NSW postcodes access into the state.
Residents in an additional five local government areas - Byron Shire, Ballina, the city of Lismore, Richmond Valley and Glen Innes - will be allowed into Queensland, as long as they fill out a border declaration.
The easing of the border regime removes Queensland's northern border bubble line, which means people living in declared zones inside the border bubble will be allowed to travel anywhere in the state without going into quarantine.
For example, a Townsville resident will be allowed to travel as far south as Casino and a Byron Bay resident could visit Mount Isa.
The changes come into effect at 1am on Thursday, October 1.
Commuters are stopped by police at the Queensland-NSW border checkpoint in the Gold Coast hinterland.Credit: Nine
"So residents will be able to apply for a border pass and then they will be able to freely travel around Queensland and Queenslanders will also be able to travel there as well," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"I think this is a great effort to consider how we can make our border zones more effective, but also to look at these areas that have a lot in common with Queensland.
"They usually do a lot of their business in Queensland, so we believe this is the right measure to take and we have also been in contact with the NSW authorities to advise them of this today."
Restrictions across Brisbane are one day closer to being lifted after no new cases were detected on Tuesday.
Queensland must go 14 days without community transmission before gathering restrictions in homes will be eased and aged-care lockdown will be lifted in Brisbane.
Tuesday marked day 12, which the Premier said was "great news".
Sixteen cases remain active across the state.