HEALTH CRISIS Operation COVID-19
Pandemic forces new Qld border closure Point Danger Commander navigates checkpoint to reach Maroon home.
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n a move not seen since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919, Queensland closed its borders on March 25 to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. On the normally-laidback Twin Towns tourist strip, barriers and police checkpoints were set up on roads heading north from NSW across the border, with motorists required to possess a Queensland Entry Pass. MR Point Danger’s base in the Captain Cook lighthouse straddles the State border and its members live on either side of the dividing line, which normally goes largely unnoticed by the locals, other than to mark the demarcation between two separate time zones during daylight saving each year. Like other MRNSW volunteers,
Point Danger Unit Commander Glenda Ashby, who lives in Maroon territory, was staying home and staying safe. When she needed to report to the base, her route was on Queensland roads but the trip home down the aptly-named Boundary Street took her into NSW, past the roadblocks and frequently-assembled media to a police checkpoint. In recognition of the vital mission of MRNSW to save lives on the water, UC Ashby was granted an entry pass, so after a friendly word with a member of the Queensland constabulary, she was on her way back north. She said the unit had maintained its services with one radio operator rostered on duty per shift and rescue vessel crews operating
MR Point Danger Unit Commander Glenda Ashby stops at the police checkpoint on the closed NSW-Qld border.
on a call-out basis in response to emergencies but she was ensuring that members were able to stay connected. “Everyone else is staying home. We’re sending out memos and newsletters to keep people up to
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date but I’m ringing our volunteers to let them know I’m thinking about them and am concerned for them and their families,” she said. “I think it’s helped lift people’s spirits and I want them to know their health is the most important thing.”
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