Queensland border reopens...kinda

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queensland will open its borders to travellers from most of New South Wales but continue to ban travellers from Greater Sydney. Victorians have also been excluded from entering the state. The state will reopen to visitors from 1 am on November 3, 2020.

Queenslanders safety top priority

Palaszczuk said the safety of Queenslanders is her top priority and the decision to ban certain areas of NSW from entry to the state was to ensure the risk of community transmission remained low. As it now stands, residents from 32 local government areas (LGA) in the Greater Sydney area will be unable to enter Queensland when the border reopens.

“Keeping Queensland safe is also keeping our economy open and I will not risk the safety of Queenslanders. In relation to NSW, Greater Sydney will be closed to Queensland.” Palaszczuk said.

In only partially opening the border to NSW, the premier said she was guided by the advice of Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young.

CHO says community transmission a concern

Speaking at the press conference Young commented:

“I have reviewed the situation in NSW and prior to yesterday they had four LGAs [local government areas] in Sydney that had had cases of community transmission that NSW was unable to link to any known clusters, which means that they have transmission and they don’t know where it is coming from,” she said.
“Yesterday they had four new cases and one of those cases they could not link to any other known clusters. The other three cases were linked to that case. That then meant another area of Sydney was having cases.

“NSW put out an alert for six different sites across the city where they were concerned that transmission could have occurred. So based on that new information yesterday and the information up to that point, I believe it is important that Queensland remain closed to those 32 LGA is in Sydney.”

The 32 LGAs prohibited from entering Queensland

Residents from the following local government areas have been banned from entering Queensland:

Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Camden, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Inner West, Ku-Ring-Gai, Lane Cove, Liverpool, Mosman, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Strathfield, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, The Hills Shire, Waverley, Willoughby, Wollondilly, Woollahra and Sydney Harbour.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was disappointed by this morning’s announcement from her Queensland counterpart and saw no reason why the sate should bot open its borders to all NSW residents.

Want more? Get the latest coronavirus news and updates straight to your inbox! Follow Kochie’s Business Builders on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Now read this