Overseas arrival allowed to wander Brisbane Airport after returning from India

A man from Covid-ravaged India has been allowed to roam Brisbane Airport in a bizarre and alarming quarantine bungle.

A Queensland man will lose thousands of dollars after an “administrative” oversight saw him spend a bizarre day walking around Brisbane Airport despite flying in from Delhi just 24 hours earlier.

Mike Lockwood was told by authorities not to leave Brisbane Airport, but was allowed to roam around the domestic terminals, even after just arriving from Delhi via Sydney.

Mr Lockwood landed in Sydney direct from Delhi on the one flight a fortnight that travels between the two countries on Thursday night.

As the flight landed at 9pm but terminals in the Sydney Airport closed at 11pm, Mr Lockwood was forced to leave the airport, catch a taxi, and stay the night in the airport hotel.

He flew to Brisbane the next morning, where he admitted to police officers that he had stayed at the hotel in New South Wales.

Due to this, he was deemed a domestic interstate traveller rather than an overseas traveller meaning the only response was to fly him back to Sydney where he was required to spend 14 days there at his own expense.

“The police said I had filled in all the right forms, but that it was just the rules and I had to go back,” he said.

He was kept in a holding area for an hour before his bags were checked back in, and police told him not to leave the airport.

It was under these vague instructions that the international arrival passenger found himself roaming the airport, getting a coffee and sitting in the Qantas Lounge surrounded by everyday Queenslanders.

Brisbane domestic airport where Mike Lockwood was allowed to roam around despite just arriving from Delhi. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Mr Lockwood had a negative PCR test and is fully vaccinated, but given the state’s strict border rules, he said it still felt wrong.

“Why is it that we can’t have overseas arrivals given the grave risk it poses to Queenslanders and yet a recent overseas arrival, who had a quarantine spot, is now free to wander and potentially infect thousands because of an administrative decision? It makes no sense,” he said.

There was a hotel quarantine spot reserved for Mr Lockwood in Brisbane, which he now can’t access as he has already made his way back to Sydney.

The saga, which included 14 days hotel accommodation in Sydney, two new flights and hotel quarantine for him and his family when he returns, will cost him about $5000 and a month of his life.

The state government’s international travel rules state that travellers must go into quarantine in government arranged accommodation for 14 days in the city of their arrival at their own expense.

However, after November 1, quarantine is no longer necessary in NSW meaning Mr Lockwood was escorted off the flight like a normal traveller.

“They also knew I was landing in the Brisbane domestic airport, I just don’t know why that wasn’t flagged when I applied for my pass.”

Mr Lockwood, who has travelled overseas for work a number of times since the pandemic started and considered himself “savvy” in this area, said finding information online about what to do was “incredibly difficult”.

“It’s not a woe is me story, I’m lucky I can afford it. It’s just insane that it has to be like this.”

Directions on the Federal Government information page about travelling to Australia from overseas states that travellers are “responsible for complying with travel restrictions and requirements” that apply to them.

“If you are planning on travelling onwards to or through a different state or territory when you arrive in Australia, you need to check domestic travel restrictions. States and territories can apply their own travel restrictions,” the website reads.