Mackay police to increase random car checks for Covid hotspot hoppers

Police will ramp up checks on travellers to the region in an effort to keep Covid-19 out and limit hotspot hoppers.

Tighter border restrictions on major highways and increased monitoring of flights into the region is set to be introduced as the Covid-19 outbreak continues to spread through Queensland.

Mackay District Superintendent Glenn Morris confirmed the extra security measures, saying there had been a “significant reduction” on visitors to the region.

“Police within this region are very active on our highways particularly, in terms of traffic enforcement and road safety messaging,” he said.

“The extension of that will include random checking of vehicles to determine whether it has been within those affected LGAs.

“That will increase, particularly on the Bruce Highway.”

Superintendent Morris said police were working with Queensland Health to conduct follow-up checks with people from the affected LGAs.

“If someone is subject to a home confinement direction, then we are working with Queensland Health in undertaking follow ups with those people,” he said.

“If we see blatant disregard of those directions then we’ll be taking action against those people breaching those conditions.”

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said the major concern for the region was the fly in, fly out workforce from Southeast Queensland.

“We have 5500 workers flying into our district every week from Southeast Queensland and they drive into our district every week from all over Queensland,” Cr Williamson said.

“We’ve had assurances from the chief health officer that they’re stepping up the whole testing and vaccination rates for the FIFO workforce because that’s our biggest exposure.

“We do not want to get it into our region, particularly into the resources sector, because that will do enormous damage to the Queensland economy.”

Queensland Health Nursing and Midwifery Executive Director Julie Rampton said rural mining sites would receive mass vaccinations.

“After this week Vanguard will be doing all the vaccinating in Moranbah, they’re already set up out there,” she said.

“We’re at the moment looking at a tender process for other panel providers to work in our other rural sites to get mass vaccination as quickly as possible.”