Coronavirus Gold Coast: Police plan to enforce 50km rule

Police expecting ‘an influx’ into the Gold Coast this weekend have revealed how they plan to catch anyone breaking the new 50km rule.

POLICE will pour extra resources into the Gold Coast this weekend to keep tabs on an expected “influx” of visitors as lockdown restrictions are eased.

The restrictions will be relaxed from 12.01am Saturday, giving people the freedom to drive up to 50km from their property.

Police stopping cars at a border checkpoint on Griffith Street in Coolangatta. Picture: AAP

Gold Coast police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said maps on devices would be used to measure distances, but education was key.

“The first thing to establish is why they are coming down here. If they are coming down here for an essential reason ... the 50km does not apply,” he said.

“We will look at the reason ... and then we’ll look at where they’ve come from.

“Our last resort is to issue infringement notices and I think the operation that we’ve run to date, where we’ve intercepted 460 vehicles and turned 30 around without having to issue any COVID-19 related infringement notices, is a testament to that.”

A Queensland Police car sits on the border of NSW and Queensland on the M1 Highway at Bilinga. Photo: Scott Powick.

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Extra police resources will be deployed on the Gold Coast ahead of the long weekend.

Officers will be patrolling beaches, national parks and the southbound lanes of the M1.

“This weekend ... we expect an influx of people into the Gold Coast area. There will be people who will take advantage of the easing of restrictions,” Supt Wheeler said.

“We would ask people to act reasonably and to act within the guidelines.”