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Hundreds of people are taking part in an anti-lockdown protest on the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Key points:
- Border residents in northern NSW say travel restrictions are destroying their social lives and livelihoods
- Some argue that there are no active COVID cases in the region, but viral fragments have been detected in Byron's sewage system
- It's the latest in a spate of demonstrations that authorities fear will seriously worsen the Delta outbreak that sent NSW into lockdown in the first place
The ABC estimates about 1,000 people have gathered at Jack Evans Harbour, Tweed Heads.
Up to 50 police were monitoring the mostly peaceful protest, few in the crowd were wearing masks and many were seen hugging and kissing.
Mark Westley from the Tweed area was among the crowd and said the public health directives were a "disgrace".
"It's a direct attack on my freedom of liberty, freedom to move," he said.
Mr Westley said it was a "direct challenge" to the fabric of Australia.
"This will be the break-up of the Commonwealth of Australia, it will be the fragmentation of Australia into disparate, fighting, disputing groups and the end of democracy as we know it," he said.
ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross
)John from West Tweed said crossing the border was part of daily life in his community.
"To stop people being able to do that – particularly in the situation where there's no cases in our area – is hypocrisy," he said.
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There are no active cases listed for northern NSW but a man and his two teenage children tested positive in Byron Bay after travelling there from Sydney last month.
COVID was detected in the Byron Bay sewage system on Tuesday but no new cases have been found.
ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross
)'Really, really distressing'
Kelsey from Pottsville said the border restrictions meant she could no longer provide for her family.
"I was working [across the border] and now my source of income has been cut off, so I'm forced to be dependent on the government," she said.
"It's really, really distressing and we're angry — we're angry about our government."
She said a border bubble was the ideal solution.
"They did it initially, we should be doing it now," she said.
ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross
)'Riskiest place right now'
This protest follows demonstrations in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the past few days and comes against the backdrop of NSW's worst day so far with 830 locally acquired cases — the highest number recorded by any Australian jurisdiction in a 24-hour period.
Queensland's Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the protests are "shameful and reckless".
“We’ve gotten through this because Queenslanders have done the right thing, we’ve kept each other safe,” he said.
The Deputy Premier said the border was at the most risk of infection due to the worsening situation in NSW.
“The border is our riskiest place right now," he said.
"By having a protest there, we make the jobs of our police harder, they put their own safety at risk as well as the safety of the community and I'm frankly pretty disgusted.”