QLD border blockade: Why it should end

The Premier is telling us to expect more long delays at the border. But she actually has a golden opportunity to bring them to an end, writes Keith Woods.

LITTLE good can come of what is happening in Victoria right now. All of us should be concerned.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and the communities of the southern Gold Coast and the Tweed should be the ones to benefit on this occasion.

Why? It’s very simple. At midnight last night, border blockades were erected between NSW and Victoria. It is no longer possible to travel easily between Melbourne and Sydney.

The border checkpoints mirror those that have been run by Queensland police on roads between here and NSW.

NSW PREM URGES QLD TO END BORDER BLOCKADE

Assuming the NSW border checkpoints are effective – and with 500 ADF personnel sent to help, there’s every reason to expect they will be – do we really need to continue with border blockades on roads between the Gold Coast and Tweed?

In essence, the NSW Government will be doing the job for us, and the border barrier will have moved 1300km south.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaking at Burleigh yesterday. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

It may take a little time to be sure that the NSW blockade is effective. But 14 days – the usual quarantine time – should be sufficient. If the Melbourne COVID-19 outbreak has not leaked beyond Victoria’s borders at that point, there will be little reason to keep stopping traffic travelling freely between Queensland and NSW.

Instead, all motorists have been getting is more dramas. The delays experienced last week when the pass system changed with little or no warning were outrageous.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday breezily informed locals to expect more of the same when the border is opened to all non-Victorians on Friday.

“There will be long delays,” she said.

“Maybe you can choose to come another day or don’t go during the peak times.”

Ms Palaszczuk suggested that it was just something people would have to get used to, giving no indication she had any intention of removing physical checks from the border.

Long lines of traffic at the border last week. Picture: Adam Head.

Currumbin MP Laura Gerber, whose constituents are among those most affected, told this column it is time for an end to the chaos.

“The Palaszczuk Labor Government needs to end this border blockade,” she said.

“The Premier needs to ensure that the process for checking border declarations isn’t causing unacceptable delays for people just going about their lives in our border community.

“There are parents who can’t get their kids to school. There are nurses who can’t get to work on the frontline. There are ambulances getting caught up in the traffic.”

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The Premier was in Burleigh yesterday to promote her government’s Good To Go campaign, which is designed to encourage visitors to return.

But who will want to drive to the Gold Coast if there is an hours-long wait to get in the door?

And where is the consideration for people who commute across the border for work, or need to cross for medical appointments?

People who have seen 10-minute journeys turn into two-hour nightmares.

Yes, what’s going on in Victoria is far, far worse. Yes, we don’t want the same here.

But that does not mean we should self-flaggellate in response. People in the southern Gold Coast have already done their bit. If NSW is going to do the heavy lifting to keep the COVID scourge confined to Victoria, then we should be able to end the painful border blockade sooner rather than later.

Assuming NSW does its job, sticking forms to windscreens and sitting in traffic for hours on end should soon no longer be necessary.

We should grab that silver lining from the COVID cloud.