Coronavirus: Tension over Queenslanders exploiting open NSW border

Gold Coast beaches have been reserved for locals only for the Easter weekend as tensions mount in NSW over Queenslanders taking advantage of surf south of the closed state border.

The closed Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast. Picture: Scott Powick

Gold Coast beaches have been reserved for locals only for the Easter weekend as tensions mount in NSW over Queenslanders taking advantage of surf south of the closed state border.

Six days after she closed the border to people from NSW to prevent coronavirus spreading, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said only a local could swim on Gold Coast.

“Look, my understanding is if you are a local, you’re allowed to go for a swim and come out,” she said on Wednesday.

“But you’d have to talk to the mayor about that, he’s made the rules about the beaches on the Gold Coast.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate closed beachside carparks from Main Beach to Coolangatta, on the state border, on Tuesday.

On the southern side of the border — which NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has not closed — Tweed Shire Mayor Katie Milne then shut carparks at 22 beaches as far south as Pottsville.

But resentment has grown in NSW over the inability to do business in Queensland, while workers, Easter visitors and surfers are free to roam south of the border.

Melanie Rabo, 21, from Switzerland, soaks up the sunrise at the largely deserted Surfers Paradise. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Tweed Councillor James Owen said “closing the border has gone beyond just being a health recommendation but is now a societal issue”.

“We are being inundated with Tweed residents calling for the border to be closed and they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of action by the NSW government,” he was quoted as saying by the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper.

Mr Owen added: “What concerns me and my fellow councillors is that tensions are rising, seeing Queenslanders freely coming and going and that could lead to a tense situation.

“The politicians in Sydney have no idea just how intertwined Tweed Heads and Coolangatta are or how this border issue is causing divisions in our community which normally wouldn’t be there.

Orchid Avenue in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Picture: AAP

“Tweed people are abiding by that but when we have Queenslanders coming down to our beaches and seemingly ignoring the social-distancing and travel rules, it’s no surprise that locals are getting hot under the collar.”

Tweed Byron Police District commander Superintendent Dave Roptell warned that Queensland surfers caught on NSW waves would be fined.

“Your beach may be closed on the Gold Coast, but you coming down to surf the waves at any of the beaches in northern NSW is simply not on,” he told the Bulletin.

“That’s not essential (travel) … and we will take action.”