Sydney, Victorian travellers return to Qld

Ms Somers lives in Melbourne, but grew up on the Sunshine Coast and her parents still live there.

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“Ted was a high-risk pregnancy and he came early, so it was a bit nerve-racking and tough not having my family around for that,” she said.

“It [the reunion] was very emotional, it just felt really special.

“Col is a man of few words, but the fact that there were a few cheeky tears from Col [when he met Ted] was huge in itself.

“He’s been champing at the bit all week, he got a [baby] capsule and fitted it in the car, and he drove down from the Sunshine Coast to meet us.”

Ms Somers hasn’t booked a return ticket to Melbourne yet, but will spend at least a week or two in Queensland before enjoying a “leisurely trip home”.

The background music as travellers from Victoria and Greater Sydney arrived at Brisbane Airport on Tuesday included a live performance by Claire Walters of hits from the 2003 film Love Actually including God Only Knows by the Beach Boys and All You Need is Love by the Beatles.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told State Parliament on Tuesday morning that “the final scene of Love Actually is being recreated in our airports, complete with the soundtrack”.

“Today is very special, families are back in each other’s arms and we pray another of COVID’s cruelties is behind us. Happy tears are flowing, and most importantly, everyone is safe,” she said.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said more than 6000 people were expected to travel through Brisbane Airport on Tuesday. In comparison, on Easter Sunday this year, there were just 31 arrivals.

“Virgin has said they will have over 38,000 seats from Victoria and 65,000 seats from New South Wales by Christmas. Qantas and Jetstar will add more than 1200 extra return flights into Queensland from NSW and Victoria in the lead-up to Christmas,” he told State Parliament.

“Some travel agents are reporting bookings for Queensland holidays are up by 300 per cent. Accommodation providers in some parts of Queensland have seen inquiries go through the roof.”

Tourism Industry Development Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said 213,000 seats were booked on flights heading to Queensland this week, an increase of 48,500 seats compared to last week.

“There are 26,000 seats into Cairns, up by 24 per cent, Proserpine a 39 per cent increase, Gold Coast seats are up 203 per cent, seats into the Sunshine Coast are up by 208 per cent, and this week a 29 per cent boost in the number of seats landing on Hamilton Island alone,” he told State Parliament.

It has been about 250 days since the Queensland road border checkpoints were put in place and they also came down at 1am on Tuesday.

“Since the start of the pandemic, more than one million vehicles have been stopped, nearly 21,000 people have been turned away, 631,000 passengers have been processed at airports and 46,200 processed through hotel quarantine,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said anyone from the 20 local government areas in South Australia which remain COVID-19 hotspots needs to fly to Queensland and have a border pass.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young will reassess whether the state can reopen to South Australia in the coming week.

Chief Superintendent Wheeler said some Victorian and Greater Sydney travellers were thwarted by daylight saving time on Tuesday.

“At midnight our time, we saw a number of NSW and Victorian people coming directly from hotspots thinking it was 1am, but the time difference got them. Queensland had one last win and we held them out for another hour and then at 1am we allowed about 40-odd cars through,” he said.

Queensland enjoyed another day of zero new coronavirus cases on Tuesday. There are 10 active cases remaining – all of which are being treated in hospital.