A 17-year-old male driver and his 24-year-old male passenger have been arrested after breaching a state border COVID-19 checkpoint in Eucla on Monday 8 November 2021.
The 17-year-old is a WA resident who was attempting to return to WA by road from New South Wales, via Victoria and South Australia. He had applied for a G2G Pass multiple times and been rejected due to failing to meet the threshold to be granted entry from an ‘Extreme Risk’ location.
A subsequent G2G Pass application was submitted on Sunday 7 November 2021 which was approved based on information provided which suggested the applicant had been in South Australia for the previous 14 days.
The 17-year-old arrived at the WA/SA border checkpoint in a vehicle (with a passenger) about 4:25pm on Monday night, 8 November 2021, at which point information was obtained that suggested he had in fact been in NSW and Victoria in the past 14 days – resulting in his G2G Pass being rejected and him being refused entry into the state.
About 6:25pm the same vehicle re-attended the checkpoint and it will be alleged the vehicle was driven through the checkpoint at high speed, failing to stop for police.
The vehicle was later located about 20km east of Norseman. The two occupants were arrested without incident and have been tested for COVID-19.
Each have been charged with three counts of Fail to Comply with a Direction under the Emergency Management Act. The 24-year-old male is due to appear in Kalgoorlie Magistrate’s Court on 10 November 2021. The 17-year-old male is next due to appear in Perth Children’s Court on 23 November 2021.
