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9.03pm GMT
While we’re on border rules, police in Queensland are turning people away if they can’t prove that they were not in the greater Sydney hotspot.
Gold Coast police chief superintendent, Mark Wheeler, told News.com.au that 840 people had been turned away from the Queensland-NSW border in the past seven days because they “haven’t been able to prove, to our satisfaction, that they haven’t been in a hot spot”.
When police questioned these people further, they got evasive … they could not provide receipts or photographs of the last 14 day period (to prove they were not in a hot spot).
Where we have doubts, we will not let you in the state.
8.57pm GMT
A teenager camping with a group of friends along the Snowy River has told ABC news that they did not learn of the border closure until they tried to come home to Victoria on 2 January, and discovered the border had closed.
Daniel Forrest, from Wangaratta, told ABC News24 that he was camping with three friends 10km over the NSW border. While he lives in the border bubble, and can return home, his three friends cannot – so he is staying in NSW with them until they can all come home. He said:
We were camping down on the Snowy River. We decided to camp 10km over the border, which is just a Victoria-New South Wales sign. We didn’t have phone reception for the four days of camping. We had a New Year’s Day like normal. Enjoyed New Year’s Day. On the second, we just decided to leave. And then, as we went to leave, we went up to the checkpoint, which is 60km up the road, past the actual official border. And we showed our permits that were correct as of 29th, the day before we went, and showed our permits to get back into Victoria. And then they said, nah, sorry, they’re not valid any more. That’s the first we heard about the border actually being shut. We had no idea.
I think it’s ridiculous there’s no system for us to get home, in a special circumstance, we have been in the bush, it would’ve been fine for us to come home the day before, and being isolated in the bush for that 24 hours made all that difference. And yeah, apparently now we’re outlaws and I think it’s – even with the other restrictions in Melbourne, there were systems in place to get people home from overseas. We can’t get back to our own state, 10km across the border.
Continue reading…More than 2,000 customers of a bottle shop in western Sydney at risk after employee worked while infected; masks made mandatory in Sydney; and Victorian authorities to ramp up testing. Follow the latest updates NSW hotspots list; Victoria hotspots listCovid restrictions state by stateDownload the free Guardian app to get the most important news notifications 9.03pm GMTWhile we’re on border rules, police in Queensland are turning people away if they can’t prove that they were not in the greater Sydney hotspot. Gold Coast police chief superintendent, Mark Wheeler, told News.com.au that 840 people had been turned away from the Queensland-NSW border in the past seven days because they “haven’t been able to prove, to our satisfaction, that they haven’t been in a hot spot”.When police questioned these people further, they got evasive … they could not provide receipts or photographs of the last 14 day period (to prove they were not in a hot spot).Where we have doubts, we will not let you in the state. 8.57pm GMTA teenager camping with a group of friends along the Snowy River has told ABC news that they did not learn of the border closure until they tried to come home to Victoria on 2 January, and discovered the border had closed.Daniel Forrest, from Wangaratta, told ABC News24 that he was camping with three friends 10km over the NSW border. While he lives in the border bubble, and can return home, his three friends cannot – so he is staying in NSW with them until they can all come home. He said:We were camping down on the Snowy River. We decided to camp 10km over the border, which is just a Victoria-New South Wales sign. We didn’t have phone reception for the four days of camping. We had a New Year’s Day like normal. Enjoyed New Year’s Day. On the second, we just decided to leave. And then, as we went to leave, we went up to the checkpoint, which is 60km up the road, past the actual official border. And we showed our permits that were correct as of 29th, the day before we went, and showed our permits to get back into Victoria. And then they said, nah, sorry, they’re not valid any more. That’s the first we heard about the border actually being shut. We had no idea.I think it’s ridiculous there’s no system for us to get home, in a special circumstance, we have been in the bush, it would’ve been fine for us to come home the day before, and being isolated in the bush for that 24 hours made all that difference. And yeah, apparently now we’re outlaws and I think it’s – even with the other restrictions in Melbourne, there were systems in place to get people home from overseas. We can’t get back to our own state, 10km across the border. Continue reading…