Cops to patrol Brisbane residents in lockdown on Coast

Added police will be on the beat today ensuring Brisbane residents and those who visited the area are in lockdown on the Coast. Multiple cars have already been stopped on the M1 and turned around.

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ADDED Gold Coast police will be on the beat this weekend ensuring Brisbane residents who fled to the city are adhering to lockdown rules as if they were at home.

A crack COVID investigation team has also been set-up to respond to any reports from Glitter Strip accommodation operators of out-of-towners not sticking to lockdown rules.

Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler on Sunday said traffic volumes on the M1 had been “very low” across the weekend.

As of 6am Sunday, Queensland police have turned back four vehicles, containing seven passengers, attempting to travel to the Gold Coast from Greater Brisbane during the lockdown period.

There have been 150 registration checks conducted by officers.

Police will be patrolling the streets and entry points at this Sunday’s Big Bash League game, being held at Metricon Stadium, asking people where they reside.

On Saturday, Chief Supt Wheeler reminded any residents from Greater Brisbane, or those who had been to the city any time since January 2, that they must take the isolation rules seriously, even outside the River City.

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“If we receive information that someone is in potential breach of the Chief Health Officer’s directions, we will have an investigative team follow up on that,” he said.

“Anyone from Greater Brisbane on the Gold Coast needs to abide by the lockdown rules, as if they were in Brisbane. There is only a small number of reasons why they should be leaving their accommodation.”

Empty Streets of Brisbane, Margaret St, George St intersection, Brisbane City, Brisbane, 9th of January 2021. Picture: Attila Csaszar.

The city’s top cop also said police would continue to patrol the M1 southbound for anyone who was travelling from Brisbane against the Chief Health Officer’s directions across the next three days.

He said checks would continue until Monday, with crews pulling over drivers and questioning them when it was safe to do so.

“The lockdown is only 72-hours,” Chief Supt Wheeler said.

“We don’t want to see it extend past this. The advice from the Government and the Prime Minister is just to stay where you are.”

On Saturday, police had not issued any infringement notices for breaches of COVID directions and many registration checks by police indicated people travelling south on the M1 were from Gold Coast addresses.

Meanwhile, police on the Queensland-NSW border at Coolangatta yesterday issued two infringement notices to people trying to dodge the checkpoints and talk their way into the state.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is seen wearing a mask during a press conference on January 09, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. Greater Brisbane is under a three-day lockdown until 6 pm on Monday, January 12 after a cleaner working at one of the city's quarantine hotels tested positive for a new variant of the COVID-19 strain that originated in the UK. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images.

At 9am Friday, a 37-year-old man tried to enter Queensland at the Miles St border crossing at Coolangatta, telling officers he hadn’t been to any NSW COVID hot spots.

Further investigations by police found the man had actually been in Randwick, in Sydney’s east, on January 4.

The man was refused entry into Queensland and issued with a $4,003 fine.

A Gold Coast man was also issued with an infringement notice shortly after 1.30pm on Friday after police saw him get out of a car on the NSW side of the Griffith St border checkpoint.

He then walked across the border into NSW and got into another vehicle, and attempted to cross the border without a pass, police allege.

He was issued with an infringement notice.

Chief Supt Wheeler said there had now been 907,000 people apply for border passes and officers had turned around 617 vehicles, with 1,338 people in them since mid-December 2020.

Chief Health officer Jeannette Young looks on at a press conference on January 09, 2021. Queensland has recorded no new cases of coronavirus overnight as Brisbane residents remain under lockdown. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images.

EARLIER

QUEENSLANDERS caught trying to flee Brisbane to the Gold Coast this weekend can expect to be intercepted by police on the M1 and turned back.

From 6pm today, additional Gold Coast cops will ramp up their presence on the M1, pulling over out-of-towners and speaking with occupants who have left the declared coronavirus hotspot.

Officers will beef-up patrols in marked and unmarked police cars, and number-plate scanners will also be operating to identify cars travelling to the Gold Coast that are registered in the Greater Brisbane areas.

If necessary, people trying to visit the city from Brisbane will be turned back or fined $1334 if they refuse to comply.

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Gold Coast police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler urged Brisbane residents to stay home this weekend, saying it was not the time to flout non-essential travel guidelines.

“ … People considering coming to the Gold Coast for a sporting event, to see friends, to come to the beach, from the greater Brisbane area, now is not the time to do that. Let me repeat that, now is not the time to do that,” he said.

Police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler says he doesn’t think it’s “too much to ask” for Brisbane residents to stay home for thee days. Picture: NCA NewsWire, Steve Holland.

Chief Supt Wheeler said police would also be speaking with attendees at this weekend’s Big Bash League match being played at Metricon Stadium.

He said Gold Coast police officers would be using “communication and compassion” when speaking with anyone caught travelling from Brisbane.

“If we can’t get compliance through those other means, it might be necessary to issue infringement notices, which we have done in the past,” Chief Supt Wheeler said.

“If you are intercepted doing the wrong thing and you blatantly ignore the Chief Health Officer’s directions, there will be penalties. The other thing is, do you really want to be that person who potentially spreads COVID-19 across Queensland?”

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The city’s top cop said those who were intending to leave Greater Brisbane and come to the Glitter Strip this afternoon, or had been in that area on or since January 2, would need to remain in self-isolation where they plan to stay on the Gold Coast for the next three days.

He said they would need to follow the same rules as if they were in Greater Brisbane.

“We want people to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do,” Chief Supt Wheeler said.

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