Covid Qld: Pedestrians illegally cross border near police checkpoint

Dozens of pedestrians are brazenly crossing the Queensland-New South Wales border every day, as police stop cars just metres away.

Bay Street at Tweed Heads has become ‘Disobey St’ as dozens of pedestrians, cyclists and even skateboarders illegally cross the border daily just a few hundred metres from the police checkpoint.

The Courier-Mail on Monday snapped scores of people defying strict border orders to stroll, or roll, in and out of Queensland from NSW.

They included women carrying yoga mats, elderly people lugging shopping bags, a man on a bike with a child riding pillion, a couple of young female surfers with boards under their arms, and a teen skateboarder doing a Maccas run from Tweed Heads into Coolangatta and back.

A young skateboarder ducks through the border barricades on Bay St at Tweed Heads.

The brazen behaviour came as Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young warned it was “only a matter of time” before Covid breached the border and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “there could be another outbreak any day”.

But the so-called hard border at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads is literally full of loopholes.

Concrete and plastic barriers stretch the length of Dixon St on the Queensland side of the border but it’s not stopping the hordes from slipping into and out of NSW as they please.

Many border-hoppers just amble through gaps in the barriers at the intersection of Bay St and Dixon St, or through another gaping hole just to the east where a Tweed car park conveniently meets a pedestrian crossing from Queensland.

Others are criss-crossing the border further up Dixon St, using a set of stairs between the barriers to go back and forth.

A traveller walks across the border from Griffith Street, Coolangatta.

A man who came out of a Tweed Heads apartment complex glanced furtively around before walking through the Bay St barriers into Queensland.

“Haven’t seen any cops around have you, mate?” he asked.

“You’ve got to be careful. There are undercover cops everywhere.”

While a marked patrol car did do a sweep of the Coolangatta border streets, The Courier-Mail did not observe police on either side of the border stopping pedestrians during the two hours we spent on Dixon St on Monday morning.

A man prepares to walk across the border at Tweed Heads.

Unmasked people met face-to-face at the corner of Dixon and Bay streets to pass items across the border, including tradies swapping tools and materials and a florist handing over a large wreath.

A Tweed Heads local said “massive” numbers of people were making “a mockery” of the so-called hard border closure.

“With the ‘hard border’ to NSW, there has been a massive amount of people parking on border streets in Tweed Heads and Coolangatta and simply walking across,” he said.

People coming and going across the Queensland and NSW border in Bay Street, Tweed Heads.

“(My) street is packed every morning with people leaving cars, walking through barriers and being picked up or getting into their Queensland spare cars.

“I have never seen (police) patrols in the area asking questions of anyone. (It) does make a mockery of Premier’s tough stance.”

Queensland reported just two new Covid-19 cases on Monday. But NSW had another 818 cases, prompting Ms Palaszczuk to warn “there could be another outbreak (in Queensland) any day”.

“We are seeing an escalation of the Delta strain in NSW and of course we are concerned that will creep further north,” she said.

Police have been stopping cars but cyclists have been pictured free-wheeling across the border.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said: “We are seeing increased cases getting closer and closer to our border, so it’s only a matter of time before one of them crosses.”

On Sunday, 10 people were arrested and dozens of fines issued during clashes with police as 2000 people protested against the border closure at Coolangatta and Tweed Heads.

Gold Coast police acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman said Queensland and NSW police were working jointly to try to stop border-hoppers but resources were concentrated on the ‘primary risk’ which was drivers.

Gold Coast Superintendent Rhys Wildman says police are forced to rely on pedestrians’ honesty and common sense, with officers concentrating of the ‘primary risk’ of vehicle crossings. Picture: Brad Fleet

“It’s not a solid wall between the states and I’m not sure the community would want that,” he said.

“We rely on people’s honesty and common sense.”

But Supt Wildman said anyone caught crossing the border illegally could face hefty fines in both states.

“Everyone’s working so hard to get where we are and we don’t have significant infections at the present time,” he said.

“But it only takes one individual to undo all of that hard work.”