Huge police operation as Qld reopens borders to nation
Queensland reopening to Australia will be met by the biggest police operation since the G20 summit and the Commonwealth Games.
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This week police will embark on their biggest operation since the Commonwealth Games and the G20 summit – the reopening of Queensland.
The borders were again slammed shut to southern states 141 days ago, leaving families ripped apart, Queenslanders stranded and the tourism industry reeling.
The border has now been closed three times for a total of 435 days since the pandemic began.
From Sunday night, eager families were waiting near the border, preparing for their chance to cross.
Julie Aubrey and her family waited at a servo just nine kilometres from the Queensland border, and she wasn’t the only one.
“People are saying that the car park just before the border is choc-a-block full, you can’t fit another car in there.”
Other travellers have mentioned that the trend is continuing across the border with people poised to make a move.
At 1am, the long wait and uncertainty ends – tens of thousands of relieved and excited locals and tourists preparing to stream over the border at 1am.
FIFO dads will see their kids again – some meeting babies for the first time, grandparents will reunite with their families, couples will see each other for the first time in months and some Queensland locals will simply be allowed to go home.
Health authorities, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and new chief health officer Dr John Gerrard, have reassured Queenslanders there are no plans to shut the state down again.
Greeting the interstate arrivals at road checkpoints and airports will be about 500 police tasked with trying to minimise an expected explosion of cases in largely virus-free Queensland.
The state’s top Covid cop, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said it was the biggest police operation since the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane attended by world leaders including then-US president Barack Obama.
He said about 20,000 vehicles a day had been travelling through the Gold Coast border checkpoints alone since the state line was shut in July but ‘what we will see will be more than double that’.
“We could see up to 60,000 vehicles (crossing into Queensland) per day,” he said.
“The pandemic response has been by far the largest and most sustained major operation in QPS history but the anticipated numbers (of people) we will have to deal with when the border reopens will be significant.”
Business and tourism leaders, along with long-suffering border residents, say the reopening has been a long time coming and there can be no more crippling closures.
“There’s enormous relief that the State Government has held its nerve and stuck with the road map despite the emergence of the Omicron variant,” Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said.
“It should help rebuild shattered consumer confidence about travelling anywhere across borders. We have to learn to live with the virus and accept that it will spread in Queensland, but we can manage it.”
Mr Gschwind said holiday bookings and inquiries had surged since the border reopening announcement.
He said the decision to reopen four days earlier than scheduled, after Queensland’s double dose vaccination hit 80 per cent last week, had reinforced confidence.
“I would say industry confidence is the highest it’s been since early 2020, with the expectation of a very strong summer season, especially in the southeast corner.
“We’re really looking forward to a solid dose of Christmas cheer for our industry and there’s reasonable optimism that domestic tourism, at least, can return to pre-Covid levels.”
Chef Peter Kuruvita, who is opening a new foodie precinct at Noosa called Alba by Kuruvita said the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“The borders opening is the end of a long and sometimes very hard time, we cannot wait to reunite with family and friends,” Mr Kuruvita said.
“To the people in hospitality, this is welcome relief, we are super excited to be able to have interstate guests enjoy the food, beverage and stunningly diverse state that is Queensland.
“Excited is an understatement. We cannot wait to have people from interstate back.”
Many stranded Queenslanders have called the Murwillumbah Showgrounds in northern NSW, just 20 minutes from the border, home while they waited for the state to reopen.
Manager Greg Fallon said yesterday about 20 families remained at the showgrounds and as they pack up celebrations were “fairly low key”.
“Campers are fearful something will go wrong at the last minute,” he said.
He said there were a lot of mixed emotions
“There has been a lot of support from the local church and people – a dire situation which has undoubtedly brought the community together,” he said.
“We expect a lot of phone calls from people tomorrow but I don’t think it will truly become a reality until we hear the words ‘I’ve made it across – I’m home’.”
Meanwhile Brisbane and Gold Coast airports are bracing for a major surge in flight arrivals.
Domestic passenger numbers through Brisbane Airport were set to jump from 17,000-18,000 a day to up to 30,000 a day this week and increase further in the lead-up to Christmas.
Qantas and Virgin flights from Sydney and Melbourne were set to skyrocket from one or two services a day to 30 by the end of this week, while Rex Airlines is launching new services from the southern capitals and Jetstar will introduce flights to Canberra.
“We are still a way off pre-Covid normal, which during the busy December period would normally be at 50,000 passengers per day,” a Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman said.
“More significant regrowth is being hampered by the PCR test requirements that will continue to suppress demand for many traveller categories.”
However, Gold Coast Airport passengers numbers were predicted to reach pre-Covid levels this Friday.
“We are expecting to see more than 60 flights coming in on Friday and most of those will be from Sydney and Melbourne,” Queensland Airports Ltd CEO Chris Mills said.
The first flight from Sydney into Queensland on Monday will be a Jetstar Sydney-Gold Coast service, which is scheduled for 6.25am
13cabs Gold Coast manager Simon Mahoney said extra fully-vaccinated drivers had been put on in anticipation of a bumper holiday season.
“It’s good to see things returning to normal and our drivers are pumped to be able to help Queensland’s economy improve after this pandemic,” he said.
Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive Amanda Rohan said the border reopening was a huge relief for businesses but major uncertainty remained.
“Businesses who have had to navigate the process of potentially standing down or
dismissing unvaccinated staff are concerned it may all be for a potentially short-lived
mandate,” Ms Rohan said.
“They are very concerned conditions and rules for them, their staff and customers will
change again when the state reaches the next vaccination milestone, whatever and
whenever that may be.”
Police checkpoints are expected to remain in place until Queensland’s vaccination level hits 90 per cent but police are planning to use random intercepts rather than stopping every vehicle in a bid to reduce lengthy Christmas holiday traffic snarls.
Queensland has closed to Victoria and NSW three times, from March to November last year, again in December-January 2020-21 and since July 23 this year when NSW and Victoria were locked out
A new border pass, which will require motorists to declare their vaccination status, was due to go ‘live’ on Sunday night.
Police said that since the first border closure in March last year, they had intercepted more than 1.5 million vehicles, turned around 22,000 of them and issued almost 650 infringement notices for failing to comply with health directions.
Australian Defence Force troops have been deployed twice to help police seconded from across Queensland man the checkpoints, along with Queensland Fire and Rescue Service personnel and State Emergency Service volunteers.
Originally published as Huge police operation as Qld reopens borders to nation
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