Simple form made big difference for Queensland easing border restrictions

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the decision followed a number of discussions between ACT health authorities and Queensland over the screening of travellers going through Canberra Airport.

“I spoke to the Chief Minister Andrew Barr [on Thursday] night, and we had grave concerns about the identification and making sure the people who were coming through from the ACT are residents of the ACT,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“[The ACT] has given us an assurance, and we’ve also had some correspondence from the airport as well, and that now gives us the week to make sure all that is bedded down.”

Canberra Airport previously did not screen outgoing travellers who would now receive a simple paper form to declare they had not been in a coronavirus hotspot for 14 days and were therefore free to enter Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk said the ACT had to implement a screening program at its airport to secure a border easing with South Australia, and now that process was in place they had revisited the arrangement from the Queensland side as well.

Mr Barr said on Friday that he was happy the travel arrangement was in place in time for the ACT’s school holidays.

Mr Barr said he had been “frustrated” by Queensland treating the ACT as part of NSW because it had not put up a hard border, even though there had been no cases in the capital territory for 10 weeks.

“I understood that they would want to see what would happen could we manage the situation here with an open border with New South Wales,” he said.

“We have done so, the lived experience for six months has been we've managed that border.”

People travelling from the ACT to Queensland have to fly, not drive, because the rest of NSW is still considered off-limits.

The change comes too late for one high profile case, that of Sarah Caisip, who came to Queensland from Canberra to attend her father’s funeral but was forced to spend two weeks in quarantine.

The case received national attention and resulted in a renewed chorus for Queensland to ease its border restrictions, but the Premier insisted they were acting on best practice health advice.

Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the border easing with the ACT was good news that came too late for many who had already tried to enter Queensland.

"The Palaszczuk Labor government needs to demonstrate a lot more consistency, compassion and common sense when it comes to border controls and exemptions,” Ms Frecklington said.

Ms Caisip was permitted to privately view her father’s body with full PPE and social distancing in force.

Her step-sister, Alexandra Prendergast, wrote a scathing letter to the Prime Minister, saying he had politicised her father’s funeral, after Scott Morrison raised the issue with the Premier before calling in to talk radio host Ray Hadley to highlight the matter.

The lifting of restrictions on the ACT means the Prime Minister can now travel to Queensland to campaign on behalf of Ms Frecklington and the LNP opposition in the state election campaign, which kicks off next month ahead of the October 31 election.

But he will have had to have spent the previous two weeks in the ACT, away from his Sydney electorate or any other declared hotspot.

Asked on Friday about Mr Morrison’s potential presence on the campaign trail, Ms Palaszczuk said he can "come [to Queensland] if he wants", before adding "it doesn’t worry" her whether he comes or not.

Queensland will allow travel from the ACT from 1am next Friday, September 25, just in time for the capital territory's school holidays.

Queensland has also committed to increasing the number of international arrivals from 300 to 500 a week on Monday, September 28 increasing by a further 500 on Monday, October 5 — taking the total to 1000.

Stranded Australians returning from overseas could complete 14 days of quarantine in hotels across the state including Brisbane, Gladstone and Cairns.

“It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of Queenslanders trapped overseas," Ms Palaszczuk said.

“The Prime Minister has agreed to extra Australian Defence Force personnel to help and I think him for that — this is the way we should be working, in cooperation.”

For his part, Mr Morrison thanked the states for agreeing to the arrangement.

“We've got to remember, these are Australians coming home. These are Western Australians coming home to Western Australia. They are Queenslanders coming home to Queensland,” he said.