Covid Qld: Worrying sign border with NSW may be shut for some time
It’s the worrying new sign that Queensland’s border could stay shut for some time, with new structures being put up over the Gold Coast Highway. And the last time such structures were used, the border was closed for more than six months.
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It’s the worrying new sign that Queensland’s border could stay shut for weeks and even months.
Giant drive-through marquees have gone up over the Gold Coast Highway to protect checkpoint officials from the elements.
The four structures, anchored to hefty concrete blocks, were installed spanning the northbound lanes of the highway at Bilinga, near Gold Coast Airport, just last week.
It’s the main border checkpoint through which all semi-trailers have been diverted as police ramp up inspections of heavy vehicles after a spate of Covid-positive truckies entered Queensland in recent months.
A similar structure was installed on the M1 during the extended border closure last year, which ran for more than six months.
Extra barricades have also been erected at the Bilinga checkpoint, where a drive-in vaccine hub for truckies has also been established.
The marquees will shield checkpoint cops and troops from the sun and rain as they process thousands of vehicles crossing the border daily.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has repeatedly dodged questions on when she will reopen the border, despite the National Cabinet agreeing to an 80 per cent double dose vaccination target.
Tourism and business leaders have voiced fears that the border could stay shut through Christmas.
The border was slammed shut to NSW in July and later closed to Victoria and the ACT as cases in the southern states surged.
In August, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she hoped the restrictions would be in place for “no longer than 10 weeks’ - meaning the end of October.
But Queensland is not expected to hit the 80 per cent double jab target until mid-November at the earliest.
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