Annastacia Palaszczuk sends the military to the Queensland border in a bid to stop Sydney’s Covid outbreak from spilling across the state line
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has requested soldiers be sent to the border with NSW to help enforce tighter restrictions, as the state announced no new cases of community transmission.
Ms Palaszczuk had repeatedly expressed fears about the incursion of NSW's growing outbreak into Queensland over the past few days, while chief health officer Jeannette Young said one case of Delta in the state could spark another lockdown.
On Wednesday night the Premier made a request to the Federal government for 100 soldiers be deployed along the border with NSW .
Most will head to the Gold Coast to help police and SES volunteers at border vehicle checks.
It follows the announcement 50 more police would be sent to the border on Tuesday.
Ms Palaszczuk said at Thursday's update that just one positive case from NSW could cause south-east Queensland to go into lockdown once more, and said the revised list of essential workers would be 'very narrow'.
'The more people who cross the border, the more there is a danger to Queenslanders,' she said.
Up to 100 military personnel will be sent to the Queensland-NSW border to help police and SES volunteers do vehicle checks as Queensland tightened entry restrictions for NSW residents
Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said traffic congestion was beginning to ease at the Tweed Heads-Coolangatta checkpoints as people understood the new restrictions
The announcement restrictions on essential workers entering Queensland from NSW would be tightened came as the Queensland Premier said some restrictions would ease from 4pm Friday, including the wearing of masks outdoors
The NSW border will be strengthened after that state's new infections jumped to 633 new locally acquired cases.
'The situation in NSW is a real and present threat to Queensland,' Ms Palaszczuk said on Wednesday.
'We want to put tighter restrictions on our border… at the moment there are too many people crossing our border.'
The classification of essential workers allowed to cross from NSW to Queensland would be further examined to further restrict movement, Dr Young said.
'Authorities go through all the people who may need to cross and work out if they are absolutely essential,' she said.
The director-general of the premier's department will conduct the review and new restrictions will come into effect next week.
The announcements came as Queensland said a number of Covid restrictions would ease from 4pm this Friday, including the return of community sport this Saturday.
A man shows his border pass at the Gold Coast Highway checkpoint as Queensland Police said it would take a 'rigid approach' to enforcing public health directions
The classification of essential workers allowed to cross from NSW to Queensland would be further examined, chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police would continue the 'very rigid application' of public health orders at border checkpoints.
At today's update, he said the number of people trying to cross rose to 6,478 vehicles, up from 5700 on Tuesday. Vehicle turnarounds fell from 513 on Tuesday to 317 on Wednesday. Four on-the-spot fines were handed out for border breaches.
'Please question whether you really need to make that trip, even if you're authorised to do so,' he said.
'We're hearing lots of sad stories around how this impacts on people, I'm terribly sorry about that, we are going to continue to do that.'
Only essential workers such as police, health workers and certain construction workers who have had one dose of a vaccine will be allowed to cross into Queensland from 1am on Saturday.
In the state's north, a police investigation had started into how a family travelled from Sydney to Townsville without entering quarantine.
The investigation was sparked after a boy told his school teacher he had come from a hotspot.
Authorities were alerted when a student at Pimlico State High School was sent home after sharing the news.
'The situation in NSW is a real and present threat to Queensland,' Ms Palaszczuk said on Wednesday
A man argues with a border official when trying to cross from NSW into Queensland this week
The boy did not show any symptoms, but will be tested for COVID-19. Authorities believe the risk of infection is low.
Police say they are investigating the validity of the family's border declaration form and how they were able to pass through Queensland's hard border without notice.
'The border restrictions were well in place and the issue has got to be the accuracy and validity of the border pass,' Townsville Chief Superintendent Craig Hanlon said on Wednesday.
'It's really important for us to make sure that all the allegations of the breach of the chief health officer's directions is investigated.'
The Townsville Public Health Unit says the school is expected to remain open on Thursday.
Meanwhile, concern about the spread of the Delta variant has led the state to shut its border with New Zealand and tighten its already-closed border with NSW.
From 1am on Thursday, inbound passengers from NZ will go into 14-day hotel quarantine after four new Delta cases emerged there.
Dr Young says border closures and lockdowns remain the best health responses to outbreaks until 70 per cent of the population is vaccinated.
'Then people will be able to go about their lives,' she said.
'Otherwise, I can see in the future that the people who aren't vaccinated are going to have to minimise their lives to protect their own health and safety.'
Tweed South MP Justine Elliot had now gained around 4,000 signatures on her petition for the border zone to be moved as far south as Ballina.
She has called on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to allow people in northern NSW access to south-east Queensland through creation of the extended zone but the Ms Berejiklian had to date dismissed the idea.
Queensland recorded one new COVID-19 case in hotel quarantine and four new cases on a liquefied natural gas tanker off the coast on Wednesday.