Australian state border restrictions

[Pushka]

I need help please!

I am QLD resident flying to UK soon. I return 7Jan into Sydney with 1 night booked at Rydges at the airport. The next day Sat 8 Jan I have a domestic flight booked SYD - BNE. I know I need the neg PCR and Aus Travel Declaration to enter SYD but after that I'm at a loss.

Do I need to stay 3 days in Syd or am I able to class the arrival in Syd as a transit and then fly to QLD the next day? (no flights same day and also on a different ticket). I can't find transit info on NSW info sites.

What do I need to fill out to enter QLD, a QLD travel declaration? Or is there an international arrival via transit different form?

As an international arrival i know i will need to quarantine. Has it been made clear yet if home quarantine is allowed in a house with others not quarantining? I have own entrance and bathroom and could add a bar fridge, kettle, microwave etc to self contained area but its still part of the house, just with closed doors.
It's not an option for the rest of the people in the house to isolate with me.
Can I hire a caravan and park it at my house?
I know I could just stay 14 days in NSW but it would be expensive in school holidays and I'd like to get back for my teenagers.

I know things are changing so quickly but I leave in 2.5 weeks and would love to have some idea before I leave about what I need to apply for/organise.

Thanks if you made it this far!
I will be ringing QLD Health too for info but thought more likely to get good info here!

goodmess knows if this is relevant, but the arrival application into SA from anywhere (it's now the same portal for international arrivals and interstate ones) asks if you have been overseas in the last 14 days. And that kicks off a whole new thing. I've suggested to my Adelaide kids going to the UK and returning on 7th Jan too, into Melbourne, to stay in Melbourne for two weeks then come through. I don't trust SA Govt one jolt. I hate them.

 

[jakeseven7]

I need help please!

I am QLD resident flying to UK soon. I return 7Jan into Sydney with 1 night booked at Rydges at the airport. The next day Sat 8 Jan I have a domestic flight booked SYD - BNE. I know I need the neg PCR and Aus Travel Declaration to enter SYD but after that I'm at a loss.

Do I need to stay 3 days in Syd or am I able to class the arrival in Syd as a transit and then fly to QLD the next day? (no flights same day and also on a different ticket). I can't find transit info on NSW info sites.

What do I need to fill out to enter QLD, a QLD travel declaration? Or is there an international arrival via transit different form?

As an international arrival i know i will need to quarantine. Has it been made clear yet if home quarantine is allowed in a house with others not quarantining? I have own entrance and bathroom and could add a bar fridge, kettle, microwave etc to self contained area but its still part of the house, just with closed doors.
It's not an option for the rest of the people in the house to isolate with me.
Can I hire a caravan and park it at my house?
I know I could just stay 14 days in NSW but it would be expensive in school holidays and I'd like to get back for my teenagers.

I know things are changing so quickly but I leave in 2.5 weeks and would love to have some idea before I leave about what I need to apply for/organise.

Thanks if you made it this far!
I will be ringing QLD Health too for info but thought more likely to get good info here!

I guess the first question is how honest do you feel like being? Because the states have no way of checking where you have been….

 

[Pushka]

I guess the first question is how honest do you feel like being? Because the states have no way of checking where you have been….

Can't they check international arrivals interstate? My DIL will be scrupulously honest. Might get tested....

 

[justinbrett]

I guess the first question is how honest do you feel like being? Because the states have no way of checking where you have been….

They absolutely do. Terrible advice.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I need help please!

I am QLD resident flying to UK soon. I return 7Jan into Sydney with 1 night booked at Rydges at the airport. The next day Sat 8 Jan I have a domestic flight booked SYD - BNE. I know I need the neg PCR and Aus Travel Declaration to enter SYD but after that I'm at a loss.

Do I need to stay 3 days in Syd or am I able to class the arrival in Syd as a transit and then fly to QLD the next day? (no flights same day and also on a different ticket). I can't find transit info on NSW info sites.

What do I need to fill out to enter QLD, a QLD travel declaration? Or is there an international arrival via transit different form?

As an international arrival i know i will need to quarantine. Has it been made clear yet if home quarantine is allowed in a house with others not quarantining? I have own entrance and bathroom and could add a bar fridge, kettle, microwave etc to self contained area but its still part of the house, just with closed doors.
It's not an option for the rest of the people in the house to isolate with me.
Can I hire a caravan and park it at my house?
I know I could just stay 14 days in NSW but it would be expensive in school holidays and I'd like to get back for my teenagers.

I know things are changing so quickly but I leave in 2.5 weeks and would love to have some idea before I leave about what I need to apply for/organise.

Thanks if you made it this far!
I will be ringing QLD Health too for info but thought more likely to get good info here!

These are the NSW rules about international quarantine at home - currently for 3 days..

Fact sheets -

www.health.nsw.gov.au

Given this, I doubt either NSW or Qld would want you to transit straight to Brisbane/Qld. So you might need to extend your stay in Rydges.

Here is what I could find about Qld requirements re: international arrival - at the moment they do not allow home quarantine if you have been overseas in the previous 14 days.

Requirements for international arrivals

All people arriving in Queensland from overseas have to self-quarantine in nominated premises for 14 days.

www.qld.gov.au

But if I remember correctly, because of the Qld requirement to hotel quarantine if one had been overseas in the previous 14 days, recently/this month @PineappleSkip was going to choose holiday for 14 days in NSW (1 day Sydney, 13 days near Byron or somewhere like that) under the no home quarantine rules, but then with Omicron was forced into 3 or 14 day home quarantine (eg hotel of your choice) in NSW anyway.

The rules change quite a lot, but I think in your situation if Qld allow international arrival to home quarantine by 7/8 Jan, one may expect the following home quarantine requirements as to the accommodation

• have a suitable private residence that you are able to quarantine in for 14 days. A suitable residence:
  
  • has no shared common access areas. For example, a townhouse with its own front door, an apartment or unit access directly without having to use enclosed shared or common areas would be suitable. An apartment accessed via shared enclosed areas such as foyers, stairwells or lifts would not be suitable.
  • is not a hotel room, house boat or caravan, motorhome or caravan park cabin
  • is within a 2-hour drive from your final airport of arrival into Queensland

Home quarantine for domestic travellers

At 70% Queenslanders fully vaccinated, domestic arrivals into Queensland can quarantine at home.

www.qld.gov.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Can't they check international arrivals interstate? My DIL will be scrupulously honest. Might get tested....

Of course they could if they really wanted to, but as as been admitted many times by the state governments, there is not automatic screening of any passengers.

You could write on your form you were transiting from Timbuktu (joke) and no one would blink. So if you tick NO to international arrivals, unless you are wearing a lei around your neck, a Hawaiian shirt, sipping out of a coconut and with international bag tags dripping off you there is no way they can tell on the spot

They’d have to pull you aside, do a full screen and search and clearly this isn’t happening…

Of course I’m not advocating people do one thing or the other, that is their choice - just pointing out that the screening is just a scary show.

So someone could fly into Sydney then jump on a plane to Adelaide and tick NO and that would be that, unless there was some reason to pull the passenger off and do a full interrogation…

 

[Pushka]

Of course they could if they really wanted to, but as as been admitted many times by the state governments, there is not automatic screening of any passengers.

You could write on your form you were transiting from Timbuktu (joke) and no one would blink. So if you tick NO to international arrivals, unless you are wearing a lei around your neck, a Hawaiian shirt, sipping out of a coconut and with international bag tags dripping off you there is no way they can tell on the spot

They’d have to pull you aside, do a full screen and search and clearly this isn’t happening…

Of course I’m not advocating people do one thing or the other, that is their choice - just pointing out that the screening is just a scary show.

So someone could fly into Sydney then jump on a plane to Adelaide and tick NO and that would be that, unless there was some reason to pull the passenger off and do a full interrogation…

It is happening in SA now though.

The bloody transitions Committee is meeting again today. But the public sentiment has turned against them. Sadly everyone is cancelling everything, the city is slowly shrivelling in public activities although that would please Spurrier (CHO) and venues are reporting cancellations even from locals who don't want to go into quarantine by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. QR check ins - I'm being judicious in my use and using pen and paper if I feel the need to do something.

The one thing that the current Norwood cluster did, by involving people as high as our Governor having to go into isolation, and media people and leader of the Oppoisiton and even Parliament for a couple of hours, has publicised the issues. And the supposed positive that was a mystery and sent NT into a lockdown against SA turned out to be false!

Qld is now doing far better than SA and their Premier is being a strong leader. Weird times.

 

[Lynda2475]

ABC reports:

"Ms Palaszczuk was asked about this rule and how it'll affect people who are travelling to places where it's a long way to nip into town for a test.

"There are lots of places where you can go and get a test. It is not going to be a problem.
"We are asking people to factor that in when they are coming here."

Clearly Anna has no clue, in holiday spots liek Port Douglas there are no walk in test sites (appointment only, and need to have symptoms), and the nearest one 20km away doesnt open on Public Holidays or Sundays, Just how far should a tourist have to travel for a test?

Its a joke, I wish the media would call her out on these lies.

 

[tgh]

Its a joke

It is not.
It is an elected governments attempt to manage a situation.
If you want open slather.. then get yourself elected.
I assume you also expect 3 second test results in downtown bangi wangi because you also want to go there ?

 

[jakeseven7]

It is happening in SA now though.

Pre-screening? I highly highly doubt it.

 

[jakeseven7]

Qld is now doing far better than SA and their Premier is being a strong leader. Weird times.

Yes amazing what happens when you ‘manage out’ a useless CHO - somehow we have pivoted to being more reasonable, apart from our ridiculous day 5 test which I suspect most will just ignore / forget…..

 

[Pushka]

Pre-screening? I highly highly doubt it.

They get you at the airport and whisk you to a med hotel if there’s any doubt.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

They get you at the airport and whisk you to a med hotel if there’s any doubt.

Wasn't that for direct international arrivals rather than transit international arrivals?

 

[Lynda2475]

It is not.
It is an elected governments attempt to manage a situation.
If you want open slather.. then get yourself elected.
I assume you also expect 3 second test results in downtown bangi wangi because you also want to go there ?

A policy doesn't mitigate a situation, if the policy is unworkable. Being elected doesn't mean you have any common sense.

The Qld government needs to ensure major tourist destinations (where they want us to spend money to prop up your dying industry) should have readily available walkin in test facilities if the government is going to mandate testing on Public Holidays and weekends. Or allow visitors to do the self RAT tests.

It is a pathetic to implement policy which cant be complied with in some of your most popular tourist destinations (not some made up back water town called bangi wangi). The policy is also not consistent with the national plan.

The hotels in Port Douglas are fully booked out over the 2 week Christmas and New Years period, there will be thousands of interstate holiday maker needing testing there.

The timeframe for results are irrelevant given you don't have to iso whilst waiting for results, and given how little testing Qld does. The average Qld holiday duration is 7 days, most people will be back home before their day 5 test results are received.

I was just talking with pathology lab in Port Douglas (they don't do covid testing) but lovely lady has said they have been inundated with calls from holiday makers wanting certainty of being able to get tested, if they cant get this are going to be cancelling bookings.

 

[Rebus]

I think the answer is yes as it is an entry requirement to SA, I was at the front of the plane and off quickly all the desks filled up and there was a PAX line waiting to be processed as PAX were checked, cleared and released. ADL airport has reinstated the process of getting funnelled into an area that has around 22 -25 desks and all your details. The ability to just enter the terminal has been closed off this is a similar process to what has been in place in the past, however they have stopped handing out the "admit one" ticket

Hypothetical question. If a domestic passengers arrives, is checked, cleared and released into the terminal but doesn't bother getting a test...what are the consequences? Does the SA system flag up if someone doesn't have a test associated with their Medicare number within a given time period? Especially if said person is only in SA for one night.

 

[justinbrett]

Its a joke

It is not.
It is an elected governments attempt to manage a situation.
If you want open slather.. then get yourself elected.
I assume you also expect 3 second test results in downtown bangi wangi because you also want to go there ?

It is possible to not have open slather AND have a reasonable policy that is sustainable and enforceable.

Queensland used the fact it's the most decentralised state numerous times as an excuse for the slow vaccine uptake.... perhaps they could listen to their own advice and think of a way to achieve the desired effect and account for regional areas. Typical capital city thinking that everywhere is "downtown bangi wangi" as you put it. Port Douglas is a major tourist centre and its lack of a testing facility is an issue that will need to be resolved.

 

[N860CR]

It is possible to not have open slather AND have a reasonable policy that is sustainable and enforceable.

Sadly, nearly 2 years in we still have some people with the mentality that it’s either “all or nothing”. The general public hasn’t been quick to adapt to “living with covid” and that’s why you’ve got people who remark “you want to kill old people!!!!” and “you can’t just let it rip!!!” when you dare talk about a future of living side by side with the virus.

 

[PineappleSkip]

But if I remember correctly, because of the Qld requirement to hotel quarantine if one had been overseas in the previous 14 days, recently/this month @PineappleSkip was going to choose holiday for 14 days in NSW (1 day Sydney, 13 days near Byron or somewhere like that) under the no home quarantine rules, but then with Omicron was forced into 3 or 14 day home quarantine (eg hotel of your choice) in NSW anyway.

Greetings from day 9

Agree with your post mostly, but saw commentary and factsheets to the effect that the rules changed on 30 Nov to NSW permitting transits, IIRC including after overnight stays. Previously they were silent, then no transits.

BTW NSW Health kindly put me up in ‘special health accommodation’ as a close contact of a variant of concern with no fixed address in NSW facing double hotel bills (Mrs Pineapple is circulating NSW after plan B came unstuck). Covered by medicare. Pleased and thankful that NSW Hospitals are for AUSTRALIANS.

As for the ‘forget the rules‘ suggestion, if I had followed plan B (fly out after transit next day) I’m confident that NSW Health would have hunted me down after my flight got the 14 day order. They had the details from my yellow inbound passenger declaration and I would likely have come horribly unstuck if I crossed the border. Likelihood low, but consequences of zero sympathy from QPS and possibly pilloried in the media.

cheers skip

 

[kookaburra75]

Yes amazing what happens when you ‘manage out’ a useless CHO - somehow we have pivoted to being more reasonable, apart from our ridiculous day 5 test which I suspect most will just ignore / forget…..

I read the updated requirements this morning, as we will be travelling up to Hervey Bay from Canberra (a Hot Spot), and smiled a bit when I saw the wording "... and agree to have a test on Day 5". I would have thought use of the word 'must' would have been a better choice.

For us, that's a Sunday and there is a drive through test centre that will be open where we can get the Day 5 test. In other locations, I can see people will agree to have the test when they arrive, but then not physically able to get tested due to availability of testing centres etc. All you could do, is have it as close as possible after Day 5. But then, those rules might change, or the ACT's Hot Spot status in the next two weeks before we travel. We live and learn.

 

[eastwest101]

According to the website can only get a test on weekends, public holidays or after hours if you are symptomatic and only by appointment. I dont plan on being symptomatic, and I cant make day 5 a non public holiday.

It states "COVID 19 clinic - only for people who have symptoms including fever and acute respiratory illness (e.g. sore throat, cough, shortness of breath or loss of smell or loss of taste)"

What a joke not to have testing locations in tourist areas, restrict clinics to only symptomatic people and not to have any open on public holidays if you introduce a mandatory test rule. Lunacy.

Hypothetical question. If a domestic passengers arrives, is checked, cleared and released into the terminal but doesn't bother getting a test...what are the consequences? Does the SA system flag up if someone doesn't have a test associated with their Medicare number within a given time period? Especially if said person is only in SA for one night.

Seems SA are having a few "teething problems" today, from the local ABC Adelaide:

Julia Gillard among international flight passengers into Adelaide sent to hotel quarantine over Omicron concern

Former prime minister Julia Gillard is one of many overseas arrivals sent to hotel quarantine in Adelaide despite having prior approval to isolate at home.

www.abc.net.au

Gotta love that - new more transmissible variant but lower risk of serious illness - best put them all on a bus together then huh?





Good to see the lines of communication are open and working within the SA government.