Gold Coast border stories: Vaccine drama along Queensland-NSW border as teenage criminals avoid hotel quarantine
It’s been a wild week along the Queensland-NSW border divide - with teens fired for getting the jab, teenage criminals dodging quarantine and heartbreaking Father’s Day reunions. SEE OUR TOP STORIES
Southern
Don't miss out on the headlines from Southern. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT’S been a wild week along the Queensland-NSW border divide as teenage criminals joyriding through a checkpoint avoid hotel quarantine and heartbreaking photos emerge of Father’s Day at the border wall.
Here are some of our top stories from the last week.
SEP 5: Heartbreaking Father’s Day reunion at Coolangatta border wall
HUNDREDS of families separated by hard border closures gathered at the Coolangatta border for picnics across blockades to celebrate this Father’s Day.
For Merrimac resident Bradley Church, his one wish was to see his 10-month-old daughter Isabella on his first Father’s Day.
SEE OUR ROLLING BORDER COVERAGE
SEP 9: Teenage criminals avoid hotel quarantine after joyride across Gold Coast border
TEEN crooks who took a stolen car for a joyride across the NSW border before re-entering Queensland were let off hotel quarantine by Queensland Health.
The stolen Volkswagen Amarok, taken from a Pacific Pines property, sped through a border checkpoint on Saturday.
It was found the following day at Tamborine, where two children, aged 13 and 16, were charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
SEP 8: Border clinic patients miss cancer treatments after worker denied exemption
“WE’RE screaming but no one is listening”.
That’s the grim reality facing dozens of speciality health clinics on the border, including a cancer clinic denied an exemption by Queensland Health for the return of their Tweed-based support worker.
“We have been informed the work we do treating hundreds of cancer patients is not critical to Queensland,” said Fiona Sillar, practice manager of East Coast Urology in Tugun.
SEP 7: Care for Cooly: Full list of Coolangatta businesses needing support
THE Gold Coast Bulletin and 7 Gold Coast News have partnered in a joint initiative to help the Coolangatta business community recover from the devastating impact of the border closure.
If you want to share your business, let us know in the comments below or send a message to our social medias.
We will also profile businesses over thee next two week, hoping to promote businesses and attract customers.
SEP 5: Missing Gold Coast dog’s mystery trip across NSW-QLD border
JUST like the mythological hero he was named after, Hercules the dog has shown his strength during one incredible adventure.
Parkwood resident Prue Howard’s beloved family pet went missing from her backyard last month and was found five days later in NSW.
Due to border closures, it took almost two weeks before Hercules could be reunited with his family on the Gold Coast.
SEP 3: Crisafulli accused of refusing to reveal LNP official stance on Gold Coast border closure
OPPOSITION leader David Crisafulli is again under fire after claims he would not explain the LNP’s position on the question of when to open up the Queensland-NSW border.
But he has since labelled the accusation “ridiculous”.
During a Sky News First Edition interview on Thursday, the Broadwater MP was asked a direct question about whether he would open up the borders given growing Covid case numbers.
LAST WEEK
AUG 28: QLD border protests: Attendees warned of $4135 fines
MEMBERS of the public planning to attend rumoured border protests at the weekend could face fines up to $4135 if they are caught failing to comply with health orders.
Reports of protests along the Queensland-NSW border on Sunday emerged online in recent days, prompting Queensland Police to issue a stern warning to attendees.
AUG 31: Interstate truckies fined after M1 blockaded in Covid-19 protest
POLICE have slapped two interstate truckies and a van driver with significant fines after the “Freedom of Choice” Covid-19 truck rally on the Gold Coast, which caused chaos on the M1.
Gold Coast police confirmed the truckies have been issued infringement notices totalling more than $4000 due to their alleged involvement in Monday’s rally.
SEE OUR FULL BORDER PROTEST WRAP
SEP 2: Border battle: Ping Pong player slams ‘Karens’ for dobbing on Covid-safe game
A GROUP of mates have eased tensions over Queensland’s border closure to NSW with the help of some friendly competition at the state line.
James Longstaff, Lacclan Gottfried, Michael Croker took to the border on Wednesday, facing off in their own version of State of Origin – a table tennis match.
SEP 1: Border blues: Outrage as Tweed schoolgirl, 8, blocked from QLD-based parents
THIS is the moment an eight-year-old girl shut-out of Queensland amid ongoing border closures reunites with her devastated parents over a barricade.
Brisbane residents Boyd and Kathy McNamara have been unable to visit their little girl in person for several weeks now – but this week they finally had enough.
AUG 31: Intercontinental Hotel Sanctuary Cove: Guests forced to make way for rugby teams
A GOLD Coast couple in their 60s are fuming at being forced to abandon a staycation at a luxury hotel to make way for the arrival of South African and Argentinian rugby teams.
The small business owners checked into the InterContinental Hotel in Sanctuary Cove on Tuesday but got a call on Wednesday requesting they leave on Friday. It was a day earlier than planned and was to make way “for a sporting team coming for isolation”.
SEP 2: Gold Coast restaurateur Daniel Ridgeway closes Coolangatta’s BiN 72 temporarily due to problems caused by Covid-19 restrictions
A PROMINENT Gold Coast restaurateur has been forced to shut a popular venue for the time being due to big losses and because most of its managers have been trapped over the border.
BiN 72 will close after Sunday until November 18, or until Covid restrictions are eased.
SEP 2: Plea for city to avoid full lockdown after truckie tests positive
MAYOR Tom Tate is pleading with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to not put the Gold Coast back into a full lockdown.
The city is on high alert after a truckie tested positive for Covid-19 after spending five days on the Gold Coast.
SEP 3: Border talks stall on getting chippies and check-out operators exemptions to cross
THE cross border talks about COVID restrictions have turned to farce with debate focused on whether chippies and retail check-out operators can enter Queensland, according to insiders.
The Palaszczuk Government is frustrated after being given what it believes to be an unreasonable list of demands while NSW will not budge on the solution of moving the border south to the Tweed River.
Prem’s pledge to Gold Coast: Transport you can ‘cherish’
Premier David Crisafulli is promising the southern Gold Coast will get a Burleigh-airport public transport solution it can “embrace, use and cherish” as electric buses emerge as an option. Read what he said.
‘Lucky to be alive’: Dad reveals harrowing state of woman shot in back
The father of a Gold Coast woman who survived being blasted in the back by a shotgun has revealed it missed her heart and spine but “sadly that’s where the good news ends”. FULL STORY