The state where I live, Queensland, closed its state border and prohibited entry from other states, except for travel necessary for work, freight transport, and so on, as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. My state Queensland experienced a reduction in the number of people infected, regulations were relaxed, and entry from other states was reopened on July 10, with conditions. But unfortunately, Victoria, where Melbourne is, is experiencing a second COVID-19 wave and the number of people infected continues to increase, so Queensland has banned anyone who has stayed in Victoria within the previous 14 days from entering the state (Queensland residents, however, may return from Victoria, but must self-isolate for 14-days). People who need to move between states must get a border pass, and police are at the state border checking every car to see if they have one. You can get a border pass from the Queensland government website, and straight after you get it, they send you a printable copy by email. Some people stick the border pass to the windshield at the bottom on the passenger side, but that’s not mandatory, and some people keep it in their emails and show it when the police check. The Gold Coast, where I live, is located on the border of Queensland and New South Wales, so a 30-minute drive from my house will get you to the border and the suburb of Coolangatta. Before, when there were still restrictions on entering Queensland, I wanted to go to a café in Coolangatta by car, but I couldn't decide on one, so I drove around and around wondering which one to go to, and before I knew it I found myself driving along a road in New South Wales. Then, when I tried going back, I found that all the roads were blocked except the one with the police checkpoint, so I couldn’t get through without passing the checkpoint. I hadn’t gotten a border pass for that trip, so I got in quite a panic, thinking surely I would have to pay a fine, but the policeman said, "Don't have a border pass? OK, come this way” and I was directed to stop my car at a designated place just off the road. Aah! I nervously wondered how much the fine would be, but they said it was easy to get a border pass and gave me all sorts of instructions to get onto the Queensland government website right there and get one, and I managed to get a pass on the spot and get through without any problem. It seemed to me there had been heavy traffic the whole time at the state border checkpoint because there must have been a lot of people who wound up accidentally crossing into the neighboring state in this area, and people like me who forgot to get a border pass. But on this occasion, I managed to get through in about 20 minutes. Before July 10, the border pass was an “A” pass, but after the border was reopened, it changed to a “G” pass. I thought the Queensland border reopening would mean that you could go back and forth freely without getting one of those border passes, but the situation had changed in various ways, for example, there was the problem of the increase in the number of people infected in Victoria, and again you had to get a new “G” border pass. Apparently about 310,000 people had applied for a “G” border pass as of July 3, and if you include the people who hadn’t gotten a pass yet, a significant number of cars were expected to cross the state border, so there were concerns about heavy traffic even before the reopening. As expected, there was a heavy traffic jam when the border opened. Every morning they reported the state border traffic jam situation on the news. There are checkpoints in several places and congestion seems to vary depending on the location and time of day, but apparently the traffic jams last from 30 minutes up to 2 hours. This delay is also affecting restaurant delivery services and couriers. And of course, the residents who live on the state border wind up getting stuck in the heavy traffic too, even though they’re just crossing the border for work. Despite the reopening of the state border, I'm going to put off going to New South Wales for leisure for a while, or I will go on another day, because of the heavy traffic jams, unless I absolutely have to go there.



This is the old “A” border pass. It shows your name, address, email address, when it was issued, your reason for entering Queensland, and that you're definitely a resident of Queensland. It’s an A4 document sent as a PDF by email.