Queensland border closed, border bubble activated
Queensland will close its border to all of NSW from 1am on Friday, July 23, amid growing Covid-19 fears.
Lismore
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Update 3.35pm: Lismore MP Janelle Saffin said she thought most Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands residents were expecting that the QLD Government would close its border with New South Wales due to the threat of the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 spreading.
“In case the border closure happened, I wanted to get ahead of the game,” Ms Saffin said.
“This is why a few weeks ago I started lobbying the office of QLD Deputy Premier and Minister for Local Government Dr Steven Miles for a border zone which included the state electorates of Lismore, Tweed, Ballina and Clarence on our side of the border.
“The border zone hopefully will make the process more streamlined for thousands of NSW residents needing to do business, keep medical appointments and make compassionate visits to Queensland.
“It certainly is a much better situation than a hard border closure.
“Our NSW Cross Border Services Commissioner James McTavish has done a superb job in representing border communities during this pandemic.
“I have suggested to QLD that they need their own Cross Border Services Commissioner just like NSW and Victoria, and they seem amenable to the idea.
“I will closely monitor how the border zone operates in practical terms and if constituents within our Electorate of Lismore need assistance, they should contact my office on 02 66 213 624 or lismore@parliament.nsw.gov.au
“We are here to help.”
Update 3pm:
Tweed Shire mayor Chris Cherry said she had been expecting a hard border closure ever since Chinderah had an exposure site.
She said she was happy to see a number of exceptions listed for going across the border including work, education, medical appointments, organised sport, court dates and more.
“I think the advocacy we’ve been doing to have that happen has really paid off,” she said.
She said the biggest impact would be on local business.
“Because Queenslanders are being told not to come for NSW except for essential purposes, I just encourage locals to really support local businesses at this time,” she said.
She asked for patience, especially on Friday when the border goes up and to expect delays.
“If history is anything to go by, the first day is very hard in terms of people getting themselves organised,” she said.
“Just expect that, understand that, make allowances in your travel plans.”
Ms Cherry said she believed the border closure was “necessary” due to the ongoing outbreak in Sydney.
“I think it was a pretty well organised step at this time, on the information that we have,” she said.
She said she was thankful the Queensland Government had advised the closure was for four weeks and there was an end in sight.
Richmond MP Justine Elliot passed the blame onto Prime Minister Scott Morrison for not ordering enough vaccines and NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian for not locking down Sydney sooner.
She said the NSW state government should have implemented a border zone separating Northern New South Wales from the rest of the state.
“We are much safer being aligned to Queensland than New South Wales given this crisis in Sydney,” she said.
“It is getting worse day by day.
“When we look at all the circumstances surround the Chinderah exposure site – I’ve never seen such incompetence when it comes to the lack of information about all of the circumstances surrounding that outbreak.”
She said given the increasing Covid cases in NSW she believed the Queensland government would have had no choice but to put up hard borders.
“I would say to all of our local residents who are now inconvenienced, remember who put you in this situation,” she said.
“Geoff Provest and his Premier did this because they failed to lock down Sydney and failed to get a NSW border zone declared.”
Update 1.45pm:
Ballina MP Tamara Smith has called for a uniform, measured approach to Covid lockdowns and border closures and has blamed the pace of the vaccine rollout for some of the restrictions her constituents now face.
When Queensland closes its border to New South Wales from 1am on Friday, border zone residents will still be able to travel north for specific reasons, but this excludes weddings and funerals unless the gathering has “an approved exemption which includes a Covid safe plan”.
“We did not need to be in the situation where you can’t go to the funeral of a loved one,” Ms Smith said.
Ms Smith said she holds the federal government mostly responsible for the slow pace of the vaccine rollout and challenged perceptions of “vaccine hesitancy” on the Northern Rivers.
“People want to be vaccinated but there are waiting lists because there’s just not the supply,” she said.
“Everyone should be able to go and get a vaccine tomorrow. I think it’s really unacceptable.
“I’m not trying to just political point score.
“I think your average Australian has got a lot of compassion for the decision makers.
“This is a tough time. But to have given mixed messages about AstraZeneca in press conferences is crazy and then now to try and flip on that.
“You’d have to say that one of the hallmarks of an efficient democracy is how they run public health campaigns; there has been none of that, no effective public health campaigns.”
Ms Smith said she wanted to see a united approach to Covid management.
“I think I share the feeling of so many people in our border communities that we just wish that the states and territories and the federal government would work out some kind of uniform plan because it really does come down to the whim of the individual premiers,” Ms Smith said.
“And that is just not providing the level of certainty for everyone.
“We understand that the border closures can be triggered by very valid public health matters … but we don’t have the states and territories agreeing to a standardised models of how many cases in a state or territory before you actually (close a border),” she said.
“I said it in the past with regard to floods and fires; these kinds of crises don’t recognise electoral boundaries, they don’t recognise state boundaries.
“It would make a lot more sense to map and ringbark vulnerable hot spots.
“It just seems to me that’s where the politics has come into play.”
“The border closures seem to be more about optics than actual common sense.
Ms Smith said as to whether Queensland’s decision was proportionate to the risk at this time, she made the “generous assumption … the Queensland chief medical officer is making that call rather than politicians”.
“This is going to keep happening, so why aren’t we going towards a model where … we can see this coming,” she said.
Update 11.30am: The QLD border is closing at 1am on Friday morning, and while the Northern Rivers was part of the declared border bubble, it has raised questions about who can cross into QLD, and for what reasons.
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin says from tomorrow, you can only go to QLD for essential purposes, such as access healthcare, work, education, essential shopping and caring for vulnerable people.
“In the past several days, I have advocated for our region, through the QLD Deputy Premier Office, for the return of a border zone should the QLD government decides to close its border to NSW,” Ms Saffin said.
“I can advise that NSW residents, who live in the border zone areas, will still be able to travel to QLD for essential reasons only, including to access healthcare, work, education, essential shopping and caring for vulnerable people.
“QLD residents will be able to travel into the NSW border zone for similar reasons, but not further than the border zone.
“I can advise that the four Local Government Areas in the Lismore Electorate (Tenterfield, Lismore City, Kyogle and Tweed) are in the border zone.”
Original story: Queensland will close its border to all of NSW, effective from 1am on Friday July 23.
Queensland Deputy Premier Stephen Miles confirmed the news in a Thursday July 22 morning press meeting.
He said a border bubble will be activated for residents in Northern NSW.
It will go as far south as Clarence Valley but will exclude Coffs Harbour.
“We’ve seen ongoing escalation in case numbers and numbers infectious in NSW,” he said.
“We won’t include Coffs Harbour because there are some risks there.”
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said the border zone will be activated for essential reasons such as medical appointments, work, school and essential shopping.
“People in the Tweed of course, they’ve got all got local shops there, they can manage that,” she said.
“People should not be crossing the border for social reasons, not to come to restaurants … not to come to cinemas, not to come to football matches.
“People on the border will be fully aware of the types of things sensible to cross the border.”
Queenslanders who return home after the 1am deadline must undergo hotel quarantine.
For border zone residents who travel south, they will not be able enter Queensland until 14 days after travelling.
It comes as Queensland reduces restrictions for residents, increasing household visits and venue capacities.
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said travellers could continue to use the existing travel pass until the new border declaration was implemented.
“When we do first implement this, it does get very congested,” he said.
“I’m asking all the community to work with us on this.
“We also know we’re going to see reduced flows once the restrictions kick in.”
Dr Young said residents could expect the situation to remain for a month at least.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest said another hard border closure was disappointing but not unexpected given the Covid-19 outbreak in Sydney.
“It’s going to be a blow and cause significant impacts on social lives and business,” Mr Provest said.
“I’m disappointed.”
He said his main concern was for the 30 per cent of people who live in Tweed and work in Queensland and the 15 per cent of students who go to school in Queensland.
“I think it’s had a significant effect on people’s mental wellbeing,” he said.
“It causes a lot of stress and strain and financial impact.
“I think we are just resolved to the fact that we need to encourage people to get more vaccinations.”
His message to border residents was to “stand firm together.”
“Remember this is a Queensland health directive.”
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