How to get in: What new border rules mean for travellers
New border passes, relaxed restrictions, travel loopholes and changes to flight bookings. Here’s what today’s border changes mean for you
QLD News
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New border passes will be issued and New South Wales residents, outside of the greater Sydney area, will be allowed into Queensland from 1am on November 3, with the State Government further relaxing its border restrictions.
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Residents in the expanded border bubble will be permitted to travel into Queensland “for any reason”. It will be the same for Queenslanders travelling south.
These residents will be allowed to travel to Queensland via Sydney Airport but will need to travel through Sydney without stopping in the city.
Queensland’s border will remain closed to the 32 Local Government areas – and some 4.8 million NSW residents – that comprise Greater Sydney due to recent unlinked COVID-19 cases.
Those areas include: Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Camden, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Inner West, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Liverpool, Mosman, Nth Sydney, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Strathfield, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, The Hills Shire, Waverley, Willoughby, Wollondilly, Woollahra, Sydney Harbour.
Residents from these declared hot spots will only be allowed into Queensland under special circumstances, including if they reside in Queensland or are moving to Queensland, and will be required to enter hotel quarantine.
Other New South Wales residents who have visited these 32 hot spots must wait 14 days and must test negative before they would be allowed into Queensland.
Residents of the Greater Sydney hot spots will be allowed into Queensland if they have spent at least 14 days out of the New South Wales hot spots without testing positive, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young this morning confirmed.
Virgin Australia will increase the number of flights between Brisbane and Newcastle from November 9, however plans to increase flying to Sydney have been put on ice.
Sydney residents who had booked a Virgin flight to Brisbane in the hope the border would open can change their booking without cost until January 31.
“Our decision to reintroduce Queensland services which were suspended as part of our response to COVID-19 is heavily reliant on the Greater Sydney region reopening to Queensland,” a Virgin spokesman said.
“The announcement by the Queensland Government will allow us to increase frequencies between Brisbane and Newcastle from three times per week to six flights per week from November 9.
“Virgin Australia will continue to monitor border restrictions and make any changes to our network as travel restrictions ease.”
Queensland remains firmly closed to Victoria – a decision that will not be revised until after Victoria’s lockdown ends.
Queensland Police will not be changing its border enforcement regimen and will continue enforcing restrictions at its current staff levels.
Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski warned the revised restrictions mean that border declaration passes are likely to change and could cause problems and delays at the NSW border.
“Every time we’ve changed this system it has caused problems,” he said.
“Everyone that currently has a border declaration pass … check what they should have, it’s likely that will change.
“On November 3, they’re going to need the correct pass.”
Mr Gollschewski said the Queensland Government and Queensland Health websites would be updated in the “next few days” with the revised passes and criteria.