Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate calls for adoption of new technology to ease border traffic chaos
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has called for fast adoption of new technology to ease traffic chaos at the border as police continue to insist on the use of printed paper border passes.
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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has called for fast adoption of new technology to ease traffic chaos at the border as police continue to insist on the use of printed paper border passes.
A fifth vehicle checkpoint has opened at Miles St, Coolangatta, joining patrols at Griffith St, Coolangatta; Gold Coast Highway, Bilinga; Nerang-Murwillumbah Rd (operating 7am-7pm); and M1 Stewarts Rd, Currumbin.
Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman urged motorists travelling across the border to have their border passes printed out and displayed rather than on their mobile phone.
The border zone travel X pass has to be renewed and printed out again every two weeks.
Cr Tate this month vented his frustration over the state government’s failure to move beyond the “clunky paperwork passes”.
He suggested number-plate recognition technology or a live-tracking app would ensure the shutdown had little impact on people living and working in a Tweed-Coolangatta bubble.
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A Queensland Police spokesman said while automatic number plate recognition technology was being used as part of border compliance measures, it was unable to be combined with real-time border pass systems at this time.
On Tuesday, Cr Tate again questioned why QR code technology was being used for the state government’s Check In Qld app, but the same could not be implemented at the border.
“I am already on the record in saying that technology should be used to make it easier to recognise number plates and allow people to cross the border quicker,” he said.
“If border closures are going to be an ongoing measure by state governments to manage Covid outbreaks, there has to be ongoing developments with how people travel within border bubbles.
“If we can QR code our way into Woolies and Coles, there has to be a way to efficiently and quickly do the same as we travel across the QLD-NSW border.”
Cr Tate said police had his “100 per cent support” as they managed the difficult task of border crossing.
Supt Wildman said the new Miles St vehicle checkpoint should help ease bubble congestion.
He said police turned around nine cars at the border in the 24 hours to 6am Tuesday.
A majority of those involved people trying to get into Queensland on insufficient grounds, such as for surfing or exercise.
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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has vented his frustration over the state government’s failure to move beyond “clunky paperwork passes” in preparation for a future border closure.
He urged state leaders “on both sides of the borders” to better plan for a possible hard border closure between NSW and Queensland.
Cr Tate suggested number-plate recognition technology or a live-tracking app would ensure the shutdown had little impact on people living and working in a Tweed-Coolangatta bubble.
“This is a matter for both state governments and their agencies including the police. It is not a council responsibility,” he said.
“I’m sure people in a Tweed-Coolangatta bubble would embrace any seamless technology so they can move about within the bubble.”
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Cr Tate said those moving between Tweed and Coolangatta could not be expected to return to last year’s chaotic system when the hard border was imposed.
“We cannot go back to the clunky paperwork passes that saw the M1 and feeder roads clogged for hours as the hardworking police checked each car,” he said.
“It is 2021 and we need technology to assist us – not hinder commerce and people’s livelihoods – if a hard border becomes a reality.”
The Gold Coast Bulletin contacted Queensland Health for comment, but was told to speak with the Queensland Police Service.
A QPS media spokeswoman said it was “not a matter for police to comment on at this time”.
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Bond University Associate Professor of Criminology Terry Goldsworthy said police already used number-plate recognition technology to catch unregistered cars.
But Dr Goldsworthy questioned whether Queensland police would have access to a national database to be able to detect NSW number-plates.
“I think it probably could (be implemented) if the mayor is concerned about the delaying of traffic and long queues,” he said.
“I think that was the issue at the start of the hard border closure – by the end, I think police had the traffic management down pat.”
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Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said the previous hard border closure was a “big impediment” for workers trying to get across the border from Tweed to Coolangatta.
“I think (Cr Tate’s proposal) is certainly worthy of a further conversation,” Mr Hall said.
The proposal came as officials on both sides of the Queensland-NSW divide this week backed calls to keep the bubble in order to protect already struggling communities.
Deputy Premier Dr Steven Miles said the border bubble had “served us well” during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.
“We learnt a lot about how to put those restrictions in place last year,” he said.
“Sometimes it didn’t go as smoothly, but it did serve us very well.
“We have the border declaration pass ongoing, that’s a requirement that’s there now, and (we will) probably keep the border bubble.
“But again that would depend on the circumstances.
“If there was an outbreak within that border bubble then obviously we would have to reconsider how that might work.”
The NSW shutdown has been extended by two weeks after another 97 cases of the virus were recorded on Wednesday.
Queensland recorded another five cases, all detected in hotel quarantine but three of which were likely infectious on their flights.
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