Revealed: How police can shut down the M1 so Coast is not in lockdown
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has confirmed he will speak to Annastacia Palaszczuk about an M1 checkpoint to stop Brisbane motorists - but police warn it will cause major traffic congestion.
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POLICE can enforce a checkpoint on the Pacific Motorway to stop Brisbane motorists driving to the Gold Coast in a future lockdown but it will cause major traffic congestion.
Mayor Tom Tate on Monday confirmed he would speak to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about the Coast being isolated and protected from south-east Queensland shutdowns if the Glitter Strip was free of community COVID transmissions.
He said the Logan River section of the Pacific Motorway would be the best location where police could check on workers returning to the Coast and stop Brisbane residents visiting only to soak the sun in at the beaches.
“Absolutely, put a checkpoint there,” Mayor Tate told ABC 91.7 Coast radio.
Police sources suggest the system could replicate the hard border initiative at the Tweed on the Queensland-NSW border.
“You would hard border the main arterial roads to the Coast (along the M1),” a police source said.
Small suburban streets where there was a cross-over between Logan City and the Gold Coast City local government areas would be shut down on the Logan side where enforcement would occur.
“You would be hard bordering the Logan side. It’s no different to what’s gone on with the NSW border. You would have to have a pass (on your car) to go to Brisbane for work,” the source said.
Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman told the Bulletin: “It’s a government decision. It would be extremely difficult to make that work in an operational setting with the sheer volumes of traffic and the multiple entry pathways into the Coast.”
The challenges included not just shutting the M1 but checking the rail corridors southbound. “The flow on implications, I imagine would be quite significant,” Acting Chief Superintendent Wildman said in an earlier ABC interview.
“There would have to be detailed discussions between governments to see how that would roll out.”
Senior police have questioned whether it would be “legally possible” to isolate the Coast.
“It’s an idea and it’s certainly one for the mayor to float with government, operationally I think it would be extremely challenging,” Acting Chief Supt Wildman added.
Cr Tate told the Bulletin: “The challenges of Covid will be with us all for years so it is vital we work out more sophisticated ways to respond to local outbreaks.
“I will be asking the State to look at investing more funding, and resources, into whatever technology can be deployed to manage the movement of people should another Brisbane outbreak occur.
“That may include further investment in number-plate recognition technology or an APP-based program such as the QR Code scan-in facilities that operates at all businesses today.
“Now is the time to prepare for the next localised Covid outbreak. It is coming and we need to be more sophisticated with our response so entire communities are not brought to their knees overnight, simply because a local outbreak occurred 80km from the Coast.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was asked about Cr Tate’s checkpoint idea at Queensland’s daily COVID-19 briefing and said the region was still of concern.
“The reality is we are still investigating that case at the moment on the Gold Coast, there have been exposure sites on the Gold Coast, the Gold Coast is incredibly close to the NSW border, so the Gold Coast is still of concern. That is why it is included in one of the 11 LGAs, (Local Government Areas)” she said.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan backed the “ring of steel” concept, saying a more targeted approach to lockdowns would allow businesses in unaffected areas to continue trading.
“We support the Mayor’s position around this – we need to find ways of keeping people moving while managing the health issue is the strong balance we need to take,” he said.
“We’re now nearly two years into this and our leaders are taking a more targeted approach but absolutely the Mayor is relaying what industry is saying at the moment and if we can get some form of business moving, it helps with confidence in the long run.”
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