Stronger Penalties for Border Crossing Rule Breakers in Queensland

A Queensland police officer moves a stop sign at a vehicle checkpoint on the Pacific Highway on the Queensland - New South Wales border, in Brisbane on April 15, 2020. (Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)

Queensland is closely monitoring its southern border and will increase the penalty for anyone caught breaking rules to stop the spread of COVID-19 as southern states face a surge of the CCP virus.

Legislation will be amended this week to introduce a sanction of up to six months in prison for people who flout the public health directions.

The state’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles told Queensland Parliament on July 14 that it was the state government’s “strong health response” that allowed people to get back to work and open up the economy sooner.

He noted that 851 confirmed COVID-19 cases came from interstate or overseas, with only 220 transmitted locally.

“That underlines just how important our border restrictions have been—first, on those who have travelled from China; second, on those who travelled overseas; and, third, in March when we made the difficult decision to close our domestic borders ...” the Deputy Premier said.

Authorities are wary about the outbreaks in Victoria and the cluster around The Crossroads Hotels in southwestern Sydney. Now that Queensland’s southern border has reopened there is an increased risk of travellers bringing the virus to Queensland.

The state government will move to increase the penalty for anyone caught breaking the rules, with Deputy Premier Steven Miles saying fines between $1300 and $4003 are not enough of a deterrent.

“I hope that will demonstrate to the public just how serious we are about enforcing these measures,” he said on July 14.