Law enforcement agencies called in to enforce Queensland quarantine, isolation orders

Queensland law enforcement agencies will work under Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath to enforce quarantine orders. More than 40,000 Queenslanders have been told to isolate or quarantine since the coronavirus crisis started.

EXISTING staff will be pulled from the Justice Department to ring people who are self-isolating to make sure they’re not breaching the strict orders.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the staff will bolster the efforts of Queensland Health and Police to contact trace and check in on those at home.

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Law enforcement agencies will be deployed to monitor and track 40,000 Queenslanders who have been ordered to quarantine or isolate. Picture: Dan Peled

“We need to be throwing everything that we have at this to make sure that we are helping health do this enormous job,” she said.

It’s understood about 100 staff will initially be deployed.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath has been appointed to head the new team.

“There may be additional people from law enforcement agencies,” the Premier said.

“They have one job and their job is to make sure people are complying.

“Police are checking up on people, so let me give you that warning out there to people who are on those orders, police are checking up on you, but the Department of Justice people will be contacting you and making sure that you know you must be staying home for the protection of not just yourself, but your family and your community.”

Queensland Health has so far contact traced 50,000 people, with a team of 500 working on this.

The Attorney-General said the Government wanted to make sure that when Queensland Health says, “We need to ramp this up”, that support was ready.

About 40,200 orders have been issued in Queensland to either self isolate or quarantine.

The Premier also made clear “there is no north Queensland border” amid calls from leaders to separate the north during the COVID-19 crisis.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she expected this year’s flu season to impose less of a strain on the health system because of the work that was being undertaken to combat the coronavirus.

“So we will see less transmission of flu in our community this year but having said that, and we’ve purchased additional supplies of flu vaccines and I know the private sector has additional supplies, I very, very strongly recommend of everyone go out and get vaccinated against the flu this year,” she said.

Dr Young said it was possible to be infected by the flu and COVID-19.