ACT, NSW and Victoria residents can still apply for an exemption to enter Queensland if they have a compelling reason, police say.
The state has halted hotel quarantine for people from hotspots for two weeks amid a surge in arrivals, which has pushed the system past capacity.
The pause came into effect just two hours after it was announced on Wednesday, leaving many people stranded at airports or interstate including federal Gold Coast MP Stuart Robert.
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski says the state is still allowing people in on medical or compassionate grounds.
“If people have still got a really compelling reason to come back they can still apply for an exemption,” he told Nine’s Today program on Thursday.
“We’re not locking everyone out.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Wednesday there were more than 5114 people in hotel quarantine, including 3257 domestic arrivals, which was putting too much strain on the system’s 22 hotels.
“So we simply just do not have any room at the moment, we are reassessing, we are looking at other options, but Queensland is being loved to death,” Ms Palaszczuk said on Wednesday.
A new system is being set up to allocate specific hotel quarantine rooms for travellers from September 8.
Mr Gollschewski said police are confident the pause of domestic hotel quarantine won’t last longer than two weeks.
“We’re very confident that it will allow us to get the pressure off the system that’s currently in there, and bringing in this new system where people can apply to get back in a prioritised way, so we’re making sure that the right people get back first,” he said on Thursday.
“We know how difficult this is, in fact this is affecting all of us, including police and their families, including my family, so we all know what it’s like, it’s not very good.”
Mr Gollschewski added that he was still yet to meet his new granddaughter in London.
“So we’re all impacted by COVID, you know,” he said.
“Let’s just remember that this is a pandemic that none of us wanted, and we’re doing our best to try and get through it with as many people still alive and healthy as possible.”
Meanwhile, Liberal National Party MP Jarrod Bleijie has lashed out at Health Minister Yvette D’Ath for asking Twitter to ban him.
Ms D’Ath asked the social media giant to ban Mr Bleijie after he accused the premier of being an “anti-vaxxer” for waiting for the Pfizer jab instead of having AstraZeneca when she was first eligible.
“Disgraceful that Minister @YvetteDAth has written to Twitter to have me banned from this platform. Trying to silence her opposition,” he wrote on the platform.
“All because the over-sensitive @AnnastaciaMP hates the truth. Lefties hate it when conservatives play in their twitter space.”
Meanwhile, about 120 Australian Defence Force troops are now backing up police at NSW border checkpoints.
At present only certain essential workers who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine are allowed to drive into Queensland.
Queensland recorded no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
AAP
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