Queensland will reopen to all of regional NSW from Tuesday, but Sydneysiders and Victoria will remain on the COVID-19 border blacklist.

October 30, 2020

Queensland will reopen to all of regional NSW, but Sydney remains on the COVID-19 border blacklist after another unlinked mystery case of the virus.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the border will remain closed to people who travel through Victoria and 32 local government areas of Greater Sydney.

The current restrictions will be eased from 1am AEST on Tuesday.

It means Queenslanders and people who have not been in Sydney and Victoria will be able to travel in and out of the Sunshine State.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young cited ongoing mystery COVID-19 outbreaks in the Greater Sydney area for her decision to continue blocking the 4.8 million residents from the city from entering Queensland.

“Yesterday they had four new cases and one of those cases they could not link to any other known clusters,” she said.

“(That) means that they have transmission and they don’t know where it is coming from.

“That is why those 32 (local government areas) all need to be declared hot spots”.

Dr Young said there was “a strong possibility” Queensland would open to Sydney once NSW health officials were “on top of” the community outbreaks.

She said she was also closely watching Victoria’s transition from lockdown to see if more outbreaks occurred.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian criticised Queensland’s decision to block Sydney residents.

“I’m disappointed … It’s extremely unfair and lacks logic and common sense to continue to lump NSW with Victoria – our states have taken very different paths,” she said.

The border closed in August, with Queensland saying it would potentially reopen on November 1 if NSW had control of virus outbreaks in the community.

But that was thrown into jeopardy on Thursday, when the southern state recorded another mysterious virus case with no links to a known cluster.

“Yesterday changed, so I was ready to make that decision and then I saw that four new cases came from an unknown source,” Dr Young said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has repeatedly said she won’t put Queenslanders’ lives at risk by reopening too early.

“I have to do what I have to do to keep Queenslanders safe,” she said on Thursday while campaigning for re-election on the Gold Coast.

The border has become a state election issue, with Labor warning voters the Liberal National Party can’t be trusted to make sound decisions to protect the community from the virus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Ms Berejiklian have also waded into the debate, with both repeatedly urging Queensland to open the border sooner than later.

It’s a call echoed by business groups, who say the closed border is stifling trade and crippling profits.

The border with NSW closed on August 8, with access only permitted to frontier residents, essential workers, freight drivers and people granted medical or compassionate exemptions.

But a border bubble was later extended to take in much of northern NSW, with residents from communities as far south as Byron Bay allowed to travel in and out of Queensland.

Queensland recorded one new case in the 24 hours to Friday morning after a man in his 50s tested positive in hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast after returning to Australia from Sweden.

Health workers completed 4191 coronavirus tests.

Travellers coming in and out of Queensland continue to be required to complete border declaration passes, with people who have been in hotspot areas in the 14 days prior to entry to the state required to quarantine.

Greater Sydney and Victoria remain hotspots.

The current border restrictions will be reviewed at the end of November.