Queensland’s domestic border restrictions, imposed during most of the COVID-19 pandemic, have been lifted.
Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the changes were possible with the State expected to reach the 90 per cent double-dose vaccination target around the end of this week.
“Now is the time for the barricades to come down and for the police to come home and to continue their normal operational duties on the frontline as they are needed as we face this Omicron wave,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I’ve taken the advice from the Chief Health Officer about the spread of Omicron across the East Coast, and the Police Commissioner has also spoken to me about operational requirements needed for the police and that is why we’ve made this announcement,” she said.
Chief Health Officer, Dr John Gerrard said the border restrictions had done their job.
“Every Queenslander has had access to the vaccine and now the virus, as was always expected, is spreading through Queensland but with a vaccinated population,” Dr Gerrard said.
“The job has been done and the borders are no longer required,” he said.
Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service (QPS), Katarina Carroll also welcomed the announcement.
“Since the establishment of the first border checkpoint in March 2020, this has been a significant operation for the Queensland Police Service,” Commissioner Carroll said.
“I want to sincerely thank the community for their compliance and patience in working with us over this time to ensure we had the proper safeguards in place to keep our community safe,” she said.
The Commissioner thanked the QPS “and also our partner Agencies who have been working so hard on the border operations over the past nearly two years”.
