Qld borders: Queensland to reopen border to NSW on November 1

Queensland has revealed the date it will finally re-open its borders to travellers from all of NSW — but the good news comes with a condition attached.

Queensland has announced it will re-open its border to travellers from NSW — but the deal comes with a strict condition.

As part of the state’s easing of restrictions announced this morning, Queensland’s borders will open to all of NSW from November 1, with visitors and returning travellers not needing to complete mandatory quarantine.

They will still need to have a valid border declaration pass to enter the state.

However, the plan will only go ahead if NSW achieves 28 consecutive days of no locally acquired cases of COVID-19 without a known source.

NSW could record cases of community transmission during that time, but they must not be from a mystery source.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young would be watching the situation in NSW closely.

“Their health experts are also concerned about some undetected community transmission at the moment, so we will be watching that space very carefully, and Dr Young will be watching that space very carefully,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The border change is part of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s road map to easing virus restrictions. Picture: Annette Dew

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Today, NSW marked its seventh straight day of zero community transmission, with four new cases all confirmed as returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

Currently, Queensland’s notoriously strict border rules only allows travellers from the northern NSW areas of Tweed Shire, Ballina, Byron, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Glen Innes and a handful of border postcodes.

Queenslanders are able to visit these regions and residents can apply for a border pass to travel into Queensland.

All other approved NSW travellers to Queensland have to complete 14 days of self-funded hotel quarantine.

Travellers from NSW, including Sydney, may be able to enter Queensland from November 1. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

If NSW avoids mystery cases of community transmission over the next month and the border reopens on November 1, it will be the first time all travellers from NSW will be able to enter the Sunshine State quarantine-free since they were briefly allowed access in July.

After months of locking down the state during the pandemic, Ms Palaszczuk welcomed back interstate travellers on July 12 but by August had black-listed all of NSW and the ACT following a spike in local cases.

The proposed lifting of the hard border with NSW on November 1 will happen one day after Queenslanders head to the polls in the state election.

Police check cars at the Queensland-NSW border at Coolangatta on October 1. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Steve Holland

Travellers from South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania can enter Queensland freely.

Queensland’s border with Victoria will remain closed as the southern state continues to get its deadly second wave under control.

Ms Palaszczuk’s tough stance on borders has been a hallmark of the state’s fight against COVID-19.

While the premier’s approach has been attributed to getting on top of community transmission in the state, it was also expected to have cost millions of dollars in lost domestic tourism revenue, which was expected to hit holiday regions such as Far North Queensland particularly hard.

NSW visitors into Queensland spent around $23.6 million in 2019 while Victorian travellers splash out of $16.9 million.

“(This border closure) is likely to inflict collateral damage on Queensland’s tourism industry which is desperately trying to get back off its knees,” tourism lecturer Dr David Beirman from the University of Technology, Sydney previously told news.com.au.