In a scene reminiscent of an East German making a break for freedom beyond the Berlin Wall, two women have been caught trying to smuggle a man into Queensland in the boot of a car.
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Police intercepted a vehicle just after dark on Sunday at Wallangarra, in the Southern Downs, and when they searched the boot they found a 41-year-old man in hiding.
He was fined $4,003 for attempting to enter Queensland without a Border Declaration Pass and denied entry while the women, aged 28 and 29, were also refused entry to Queensland.
Since midday on July 3, anyone entering Queensland is required to complete a border declaration pass which is valid for seven days.
Victoria and areas of NSW are deemed as COVID hotspots and anyone who has visited those areas in the past two weeks will be refused entry.
However, Queensland is considering blacklisting more areas across NSW as the southern state desperately tries to control a number of coronavirus outbreaks.
Queensland has just two active COVID-19 cases while 90 people are being treated for the virus across NSW.
In Victoria, Melburnians are in lockdown again as the state government takes the unprecedented step of mandating face coverings to curb the spread of the virus.
Queensland has declared the whole state of Victoria a hotspot, as well as the Liverpool and Campbelltown areas near a popular pub in southwestern Sydney which is linked to about 50 cases.
But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her government was looking at blacklisting even more areas.
"I had a preliminary discussion yesterday with the deputy premier and also the chief health officer," she told reporters on Tuesday.
"We're going to look at what happens in NSW today, but we are considering adding further hotspots at this stage," she said.
It comes as the placement of checkpoints along the Queensland-NSW border remains a sore point for both premiers, with neither prepared to concede ground for the sake of making life easier for border town folk.
Ms Palaszczuk wants the "border" moved south to the Tweed River to resolve traffic congestion in Tweed Heads and Coolangatta where locals have been blocked in their driveways.
She says using the three bridges across the Tweed as checkpoints would relieve a lot of the logistical difficulties.
But NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says, if anything, checkpoints should moved further into Queensland.
Australian Associated Press
