States and territories will be stepping up their presence on their borders after a number of travellers have been caught breaching Covid regulations.
The dangers of doing the wrong thing have been brutally exposed as a Melbourne couple both tested positive to Covid-19 on the Sunshine Coast. The pair had left quarantine to drive from Victoria, through New South Wales and to Queensland.
NT Police have reacted by establishing a Covid control point on the Barkly Highway at the border with Queensland. They will also continue to monitor the South Australian border, although there are currently no cases in that state.
The increased border vigilance also comes after Northern Territory police revealed they had fined four travellers in their 60s a total of more than $20,000 for allegedly driving into the NT without filling out the necessary paperwork.
Authorities say the four were picked up by automatic number plate recognition systems – which are currently being used to monitor border crossings – as they crossed from WA to the NT yesterday.
They were fined $5,056 each for allegedly failing to lodge border arrival forms.
Police say their two vehicles were registered in Victoria, but they had left before the state was declared a coronavirus hotspot.
Commander Sachin Sharma stresses to the NT News that the travellers had not been in a hotspot at that time and were not subject to any quarantine rules.
“It must be made clear that these infringements have been issued for not lodging the required travel forms … each traveller has been fined $5056,” he said. “It beggars belief that individuals have taken such a casual approach towards legal requirements imposed by the NT chief health officer.”
getting a bit over the top. Communist state now?
Fair enough. It’s not hard to do the right thing AND keep covid at bay
Currently in the NT and there is clear signage as you come towards the NT border that border passes must be completed before you enter. Completing the application process is a very simple process so no great excuse for not having it done.
Australians, let us all rejoice , for we are ONE and FREE. Words altered earlier this year. Changed from “Young” to “ONE”. Somehow I don’t think so. Every state has their own Chief Medical Officer who are greeting worse. We let actors in because they bring money says Qld’s CMO. If you see a ball coming towards you, DUCK, says SA CMO. Disproportionality to the extreme.
If we had rampant cases and serious problems, I wouldn’t hesitate to follow reasonable rules and restrictions but in Australias COVID FREE environment, please.
with National Parks etc being run down who wants to go to the Territory anyway
Good on NT about time people are held accountable and authorities started getting serious
There is no excuse for ignoring border regulations and it is not that hard to comply
We’ve just cross the border and the ammount of people not scanning in, even here in Kununurra, come on its there for a reason, use it, scan in, its not hard.
Well said Dave. Fortunately all the sensible folks do but, sadly there are many stupid morons out there.
We’ve just sold our house in Melbourne & want to drive up to Brisbane with our vehicle n caravan.
we’ll be staying on our sons property..
might have to stay put for a while until things settle
down by the looks of it. but we’ll definitely have all our paperwork in order when the times right to travel.. it’s good being able to read all the input here.