The reasons you can and can’t cross the NSW border

As NSW went into a tighter lockdown on Saturday night, Queensland Health advised who can and can’t cross its border.

BORDER RESTRICTIONS: As NSW went into lockdown across the state on August 14, 2021, Queensland Health announced who will be allowed to cross the border and for what reasons.

Residents in Northern NSW cannot cross into Queensland for a wedding, funeral or to exercise, but they can cross if they are an emergency services volunteer or to look after a vulnerable family member.

As the whole of NSW went into lockdown on Saturday, Queensland Health issued its New South Wales Border Zone Update which restricts movement between the two states.

Following the announcement of a statewide lockdown in New South Wales, from 8pm on Saturday 14 August, 2021 NSW border zone residents can only enter Queensland for obtaining essential goods and services that can’t reasonably be obtained in NSW.

You will only be able to enter Queensland for the essential purposes below:

* Attend permitted work or emergency volunteering

* Attend school or childcare – only for children of essential workers

* Provide assistance, care or support to a vulnerable person or family member or visit a terminally ill relative

* Fulfil an obligation relating to shared parenting, child contact or contact between siblings

* Get a Covid-19 test or vaccination

* In an emergency situation

* For safety reasons (to avoid injury or illness, or to escape the risk of harm, including domestic violence)

* As directed by an emergency officer

* To follow an exemption you have been granted by the chief health officer

You cannot enter Queensland:

* To attend a wedding or funeral

* To exercise

* For recreational purposes, including: Holidays, Spectating at professional sporting events, Attending cinemas, theme parks or other tourist experiences.

If you go outside of the New South Wales border zone in New South Wales, or another hotspot, you will not be able to re-enter Queensland via road and will have to quarantine for 14 days in government arranged accommodation at your own expense when you come home by air.

A Queensland Health spokesman said, “importantly, and as we ask all Queenslanders, anyone who has been in northern NSW recently should get tested immediately if they have any symptoms at all, even really mild symptoms.”

For more information on this border update and the permitted reasons to enter Queensland, please visit https://www.qld.gov.au/travel-to-queensland