18 September 2020

Queensland to open border to ACT in time for school holidays

| Dominic Giannini
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Canberra Airport

Queensland will open its border to the ACT from next Friday (25 September). Photo: Dominic Giannini.

Queensland will open its border to ACT residents from next Friday (25 September), 10 weeks after the last case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Territory.

The border opening coincides with the start of school holidays in the ACT.

However, NSW residents will remain banned from entering Queensland while ACT residents must not have travelled to NSW or a designated hotspot in the 14-days prior to arrival.

That means travellers from the ACT can only fly to Queensland, and cannot drive through NSW.

“We will work with ACT authorities to make sure appropriate checks are in place at Canberra Airport for people flying into Queensland,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Twitter this morning.

“Anyone who has been in a declared hotspot in the past 14 days will not be allowed into Queensland.”

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said now was the time for Canberrans to start booking their holidays to the sunshine state.

“Now is the time we would urge [Canberrans] to start thinking about coming up to Queensland,” he said.

Queensland shut its borders to the ACT at the start of August, despite there being no new cases for more than a month at the time of the decision.

Mr Miles said the Territory must be declared a hotspot because people were flying into Queensland from hotspots via Canberra at the time.

The decision blindsided Canberrans and the Chief Minister alike, who was caught off-guard by his counterpart’s announcement.

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HiddenDragon6:32 pm 18 Sep 20

Heartening to see Socialist solidarity paying practical dividends.

How utterly tactless to make this announcement just days after Sarah Caisip from long-running coronavirus-free Canberra was so cruelly denied an opportunity to see her dying father for the last time or to attend his funeral. The Queensland government really know how to rub salt into the wound, don’t they? It would’ve shown a bit more class to postpone the announcement for a few more weeks to avoid causing Ms Caisip the additional pain of having just missed out.

Instead, we see a money-driven decision to open Queensland to ACT residents on – surprise, surprise – the final day of school in the ACT before the school holidays. I hope the people of the ACT will stand behind a badly-wronged fellow Canberran and reject Queensland’s dismissal of us as humans while cynically embracing us as wallet objects. I’m with harcm: if you’re planning on going away during the school holidays, give Queensland the big miss it deserves and support the South Coast and other local communities instead.

All based on health advice!

Not.

What a completely cynical move by Qld. The ACT Covid status is no different now to what it was 10 weeks ago when they called us a “hot spot”. Now they want our money so suddenly we’re in the clear. ACT residents should boycott Qld. Go to the south coast instead and support our local communities.

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