Queensland authorities will open a fourth checkpoint along the Queensland-NSW border on New Year's Eve, with many hoping it will relieve long traffic queues to get into the Sunshine State.
There are currently 17 checkpoints along the border, but only three have been operational since the Sydney Northern Beaches outbreak brought back a hard border lockdown between the two states just over a week ago.
From 7am Thursday, a fourth checkpoint will open at Miles Street in Coolangatta, and is expected to alleviate the heavy traffic.
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Queensland Police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler defended the ongoing delays, confirming 10 fines had been issued so far in the past week to Sydneysiders allegedly lying to get across the border.
He confirmed five of those fines were issued on Boxing Day alone to a group who allegedly lied on their border declaration pass and were travelling to Airlie Beach for a holiday.
The group will have to fork out close to $20,000 for the alleged offence.
"Predominantly they are telling us they haven't been in the Greater Sydney area within the last 14 days and they are the exact people we need to keep out of the state," Supt Wheeler told Today.
"People need to remember the Chief Health Officer's directions are in place to prevent COVID-19 from coming into Queensland and to keep our community safe."
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Supt Wheeler said authorities were in the final stages of setting up the Miles Street checkpoint and he expects it will help ease congestion considerably along the Tweed and Coolangatta backstreets.
He said the three checkpoints currently in operation have been manned 24/7, but lines have continued to grow with many wanting to get into Queensland.
"We have up to 100,000 vehicles a day crossing just on the Gold Coast and we are trying to prevent a cohort of about five million people from the Greater Sydney area from coming into our state, so yes there have been delays not only for essential workers but people who are travelling and doing their day to day business," he said.
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Close to 700 people have been turned away since the border operation began just over a week ago and police will continue issuing fines to people who do the wrong thing.
"It could only take one person for it to all end, for community transmission to occur in Queensland for our state to go into lockdown," Supt Wheeler said.
"We are now over 100 days without community transmission and of course that's what we are trying to keep going."
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