Queensland border restrictions: Police reveal new changes to border pass processes
New changes to Queensland’s border pass processes should eliminate confusion and reduce the number of people who are unintentionally declaring false information, police say. See what is changing.
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New changes to Queensland’s border pass processes should eliminate confusion and reduce the number of people who are unintentionally declaring false information, police say.
The changes, to be implemented from tomorrow, will allow people wanting to cross the Queensland border a more streamlined approach in the form of an online questionnaire.
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Queensland Police Service Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the system will take the guess work away for those entering the state.
“What happens at the moment is you go online to apply for a particular type of pass, and the person has to work out whether they want a G pass or an X pass or if they in fact have to quarantine,” Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski said of the current process.
From tomorrow, however, he said the system makes the decision based on responses to the relevant questions.
“It has the smarts. In there are a series of set questions that allows the information to be determined as to what sort of pass it should be.”
He said the other key difference is the system allows validating documentation to be upload prior to crossing the border.
“So typically if you get off the plane in Brisbane and you’re going to the border, you need to clarify who you are and what you’re there for. That all happens at the border. The validation now is all pre entry.”
The new pass
Police will now be able to scan a QR code on the documentation, which still needs to be printed out and displayed at the checkpoint, to learn what pass a person has entered the state on.
Since March 27, police have processed 965,000 vehicles entering into the state, and have declined entry to 20,700 people within those vehicles on COVID related concerns.
The new processing system, which takes up to three days from completion to issue, will flag people who may be a health risk, or deny them entry prior to their arrival at the border.
Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski predicted because of this, there may be a very slight ease in traffic at the Gold Coast border checkpoint, however said the infrastructure would limit any significant changes in traffic.
“We’re constrained by the flows of traffic, and it’s always the same flows because of the nature of the roads,” he said.
“We will have border access points as long as we have hot spots.”
The new passes will be valid for 14 days, and people with existing passes are still able to use them until they expire.
