Kirra Shores complex residents fear they would be left in lurch by Queensland hard border closure

This border complex faces a unique problem, it has one way in and one way out – with the road into the estate in Queensland but front gate to the community in NSW.

RESIDENTS of a small Tweed Heads gated complex – with an entry road in Queensland but gateway in New South Wales – fear for the future if a hard border closure kicks in.

Kirra Shores faces a unique problem, it has one way in and one way out – with the road into the estate in Queensland but front gate to the community in NSW.

The Bulletin has been told NSW police are scratching their heads to try to come up with a solution if they’re shut out of Queensland in a border closure, with police north of the border unable to uphold the law in the estate as it is out of their jurisdiction.

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Quizzed about the anomaly, Queensland Health did not answer questions. It declined to answer questions on whether or not NSW police will be able to enter the state on a hard border closure. New South Wales Police also declined to comment.

Kirra Shores is in NSW yet can only be accessed from Qld, creating a dilemma for police and residents alike. It’s next to the border checkpoint at Miles St, Coolangatta. Picture: Glenn Hampson

A police source said the complex would become a bit of a headache for law enforcement if there was no wriggle room under a hard border closure.

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“Kirra Shores is in New South Wales.

“To access that area, you need to go through Queensland. So if there’s a hard closure of the border that little pocket of residents, unless there’s exemptions, will have no policing.

“We won’t be able to cross the border to get to it and Queensland don’t have jurisdiction in there.

“The front gate is in New South Wales, but the road in is in Queensland, so who’s going to look after those people. Surely there’s some conversations happening around it.”

The front gate of Kirra Shores. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Most of the complex’s 1000 residents have been forced to cross the Queensland border daily only to re-enter NSW a few hundred metres away.

Building manager Scott Fernance said it was “absurd” to close the border to all NSW residents “for two active cases in the local health district” and worried what it would mean for his residents.

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“I’m very concerned how they’re going to treat our complex because the only vehicle access is via a Queensland road,” Mr Fernance said.

“Borders during a pandemic don’t work. The rules and legislation should be done on a federal level because we’re caught between two state governments.

“What happened to, ‘We’re all in this together’? We’re all in this together, but only if you’re from Queensland.”

Kirra Shores residents Mal Proudfoot and Alan Reynolds Picture: Jerad Williams

Kirra Shores retiree Kevin Murphy and wife Una cross the Ducat St border checkpoint daily to pick up grandkids.

Ms Murphy said if the border closed she would have to park her car in NSW and walk home with her grandchildren.

She said getting to a supermarket would be a “hardship” because she would have to walk and she also worried about her elderly neighbours.

“There’s frail and elderly people in here who really couldn’t walk the distance,” Ms Murphy said. “Everybody in here is of the same opinion, we have to leave through Queensland and we’re sort of stuck.

“I can see the necessities in some cases, but also it’s overkill in some instances. This is just something we’re all going to have to learn to live with until a vaccine.”

Long-term resident Mal Proudfoot has used Queensland supermarkets for his grocery shopping during the pandemic.

Mr Proudfoot said the closure would prevent him and other residents accessing food.

“If they close those gates, how are we going to eat? “They can’t do it,” Mr Proudfoot said.

“We’ve been shopping at the Pines and the Strand at Coolangatta and staying in Queensland.”