QLD Premier slams border shut after COVID cases spike in Moree, Goondiwindi

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the sudden announcement late Thursday afternoon that from 12.01am, Friday November 5, Moree Plains Shire LGA would be declared a restricted border zone area.

It means residents of Moree shire will no longer have access across the Queensland border as part of the border bubble, except in exceptional circumstances: including for the likes of essential healthcare and essential work.

It follows an outbreak that has so far spread to 33 cases in NSW. This is in addition to three cases that were reported in Goondiwindi Thursday.

"Our tight-knit border community and businesses continue to bear the brunt of keeping Queensland safe. We've done our bit and it is now time for everyone else to lift their vaccination rates," said the Mayor of Goondiwindi Regional Council, the Honourable Lawrence Springborg, AM.

"We understand that the Premier has committed to keeping the virus out of Queensland until the 17 December and with slow vaccination levels in some areas, this means that some communities aren't ready, hence the Premier has introduced these changes.

"I genuinely hope that this will be the incentive needed for increased vaccination rates in areas that are lagging both in Queensland and our cross-border communities. In the cases known to us in this outbreak, in Goondiwindi and just across the border, the virus at this stage is generally amongst unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated people. This reinforces the importance of vaccination - protecting ourselves, our family and our community.

"The Premier reinforced the Goondiwindi region's success in regards to our high vaccination rate by saying that it averted the need to lockdown our community. We will have to wait and see if there are other restrictions bought into our community in the coming days.

"Goondiwindi residents at large are staying at home, social distancing and wearing masks when out in public. I urge all border residents to continue to be cautious, but positive that our highly vaccinated Goondiwindi region community has the best possible protection."

The Premier has confirmed that there will be an accompanying change to border directions, so that unvaccinated people in the border zone, won't be able to come to Queensland to places and services that are available only to vaccinated people in NSW.

Cr Springborg said, "whilst this change is a welcome step, it would be simpler and more consistent for the new directive to align to the existing requirements for workers, which requires every border zone worker to be vaccinated prior to travelling across the border".

"Earlier this week, preemptively I had discussions with the Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Deputy Commissioner - Queensland Police Services and sought assurances that if there were to be any changes to border access, that our harvest operations should be allowed to continue with minimum disruption to workforce and logistics. As late as (Thursday) evening, I have been assured that this will be catered for. We await the details of the practical effectiveness of this."

It is essential, that anyone experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 should get tested immediately: www.qld.gov.au/covid19testing

Council is also reminding all residents (QLD and NSW residents) with a valid border pass to enter the Goondiwindi region from the New South Wales border zone, that they must abide by face mask restrictions until 14 days have passed since they were in the border zone.

Best practice also recommends we all practise physical distancing as much as possible and:

Visit the Queensland Health website directly for the latest advice. You can also keep up to date on the Darling Downs Health Facebook page.

For information about where to get the COVID-19 vaccine, visit: www.vaccinebookings.health.qld.gov.au