NSW reopens to Victoria as Queensland flags border review
Families and friends are reuniting as NSW reopened to Victoria on Monday morning, and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is flagging it could be time to end border controls on the east coast following weeks without coronavirus cases.
Joy swept across the border of Victoria and NSW from midnight on Sunday as communities along the Murray River celebrated their reunification after 138 days apart.
Alan Kinkade being greeted by Tom for the first time in months at Sydney Airport on Monday.Credit:Steven Siewert
With police car lights flashing to mark the occasion, dozens of cars streamed through the southern border at Albury-Wodonga as residents partied and cars lined up to cross at the first possible opportunity.
The checkpoint was imposed on July 8, when Victoria was entering the depths of its lockdown. A permit system allowed travel across the checkpoint for border communities, but for many residents it meant sitting in long queues to reach work and other commitments.
Albury mayor Kevin Mack said there was elation and relief at the border as "the Hume Highway was packed with cars with Victorian number plates", although the healing process would take time and the effect of the separation to be felt possibly for years to come.
More than 28 days have passed since NSW had a coronavirus case without a known source, after previous mystery cases in the Southern Highlands were linked to a south-west Sydney cluster on Monday.
The milestone means the threshold set by the Queensland government to reopen with NSW has been reached, with the state's last mystery case, the initial case of the Hoxton Park cluster, detected on October 24.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian did not appear optimistic a change in Queensland's border policy would occur. On Monday she said "unfortunately some state premiers are kind of making up the advice as they go", in reference to Queensland's requirement that cases be traced within 48 hours of being identified.
With Victoria also approaching the 28-day milestone – the state recorded its 24th day without a case on Monday – Ms Palaszczuk said data was being "conveyed" to Queensland's Chief Health Officer from her interstate counterparts ahead of the monthly border review and she would provide an update on Tuesday.
Ms Palaszczuk had previously said the decision on borders would be made on November 30, but when asked if that could be brought forward given the streak of no cases in southern states, the Premier said "let's see".
"I will give you an update tomorrow," she said.
"I actually do think things are looking positive, the most positive I have seen this year, so, look, fingers crossed if it continues that way, our roadmap says December 1, I am very encouraged that it will be a positive outcome for NSW and Victoria."
Queensland opened its border to all of NSW on July 10 before closing again on August 8.
Residents of regional NSW have been allowed back into Queensland since November 3 but Greater Sydney remains a declared hotspot.
Across Australia, the only local coronavirus case was recorded in South Australia, bringing an Adelaide cluster linked to hotel quarantine to 27.
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