BORDER BONEHEADS
Sydney tourist, lobbyist and Logan trio put us all at risk
THEY are the rule flouters and – in Christian lobbyist Lyle Shelton’s (left) case – pranksters putting Queensland’s relatively COVIDfree status at risk. A Sydney woman visiting Byron Bay ignored isolation orders and swam in a holiday park pool. Shelton pretended to flout the rules tying up police resources. And the Logan border-hopping trio had their day in court.
COMMISSIONER Katarina Carroll has criticised Christian lobbyist Lyle Shelton for wasting police resources by tweeting about “sneaking” over the NSW border.
“Sneaky run across the border and back. Avoided the CCP virus police,” Shelton tweeted on Sunday, posting a selfie and photographs of the beach.
He did it despite having a valid pass.
The tweet sparked a social media storm of people questioning whether Shelton had illegally crossed the border, prompting a tweet from the Queensland Police Service saying: “We are aware of this tweet and making further enquiries.”
Commissioner Carroll confirmed Shelton had a pass allowing him to cross the state line.
“That was disappointing actually, to see that tweet this morning because straight away when you see something like that, you know you’re going to have to put resources to it … and certainly we have,” she said.
“He has been spoken to. He can cross the border. I understand he has a ‘G Pass’.
“So it was a funny tweet which in the end … it’s just taking away resources that need to be in other places.
“I ask that people please don’t do that because I think Queenslanders and everyone else would rather have the police in the right place at the right time than doing things that they shouldn’t be doing.”
The Gold Coast’s top cop, Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler, was particularly unimpressed.
“I can assure everyone that police and everyone working on our borders, airports and quarantine hotels do not consider this to be a joke,” he said.
“The next time people are sitting stuck in traffic jams at border checkpoints wishing there were more police there (to make things move more quickly), remember we are also dealing with people who are breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directions or doing things that are either irresponsible or selfish.”
Shelton penned a second tweet after being contacted by police.
“I was happy to speak with Queensland police today and explain my run along the coast from Coolangatta to the Tweed and back,” he wrote.
“There were no checkpoints for joggers, walkers and lizards. I have not visited a hotspot. There is a valid debate re borders but I respect the role of our police.”
Later, he tweeted again, saying he had apologised to police for tying up resources but believed some people on Twitter had “sought to blow this out of all proportion”.