Major push for the NSW-Queensland border to be shifted south as mayor reveals footage of families separated on Father's Day is 'just the tip of the iceberg' Separated families forced to celebrate Father's Day at QLD and NSW checkpoint Footage showed teary-eyed children hugging parents over plastic barricades Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said it was 'heartbreaking' to watch the footage She has called for the border to temporarily be moved south to reunite families By Aidan Wondracz For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press Published: 01:42 BST, 6 September 2021 | Updated: 01:42 BST, 6 September 2021 Viewcomments A border town mayor is calling on the Queensland and NSW governments to shift border checkpoints south and to lift the latter state's regional lockdown to reunite his community after families were forced to celebrate Father's Day over barricades. Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said she was left heartbroken after seeing images of residents celebrating the special occasion at the closed border on Sunday. Footage showed teary-eyed children hugging their parents while families improvised and used the plastic barricade as a table to share a meal with their loved ones. 'It was heartbreaking. What we saw was the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of people and families that this is affecting,' she told Nine's Today Show on Monday. A mayor has joined calls to move the Queensland and NSW border south after families were separated and forced to celebrate Father's Day over plastic barricades Footage showed teary-eyed children hugging their parents while families improvised and used the plastic barricade as a table to share a meal with their loved ones The mayor is calling for NSW to lift regional lockdown in the area and for border checkpoints to be moved south to include Tweed Heads in a border bubble zone administered by Queensland police. Cr Cherry says the ongoing toll on local people's mental health and the economy from the border closure, which Queensland implemented in late July, has been devastating. 'Nobody with a heart could look at what happened yesterday and not think that something has to be done and urgently,' she said. 'These are our families' lives that are being affected like this. I know people are suffering all over the state and I don't want to take anything away from that, people are hurting everywhere, but this is an area that hasn't had COVID for more than 12 months.' NSW has already ruled out temporarily moving the border, saying it would create even more administrative difficulties for Tweed Shire residents who live outside Tweed Heads. 'So the MPs all along the northern rivers region here and joined by the Gold Coast MPs are still calling for those border checkpoints, so the COVID checkpoints to be moved further south,' Cr Cherry said. 'Whether that's Tweed Shire or the whole northern rivers - that's our main aim. 'Obviously I joined with the other northern rivers mayors on Friday to have a joint call out for NSW government to release us from the regional lockdowns because of the lack of COVID cases that we have,' he said. Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said she was left heartbroken after seeing images of residents celebrating the special occasion at the closed border on Sunday 'It was heartbreaking. What we saw was the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of people and families that this is affecting,' Cr Cherry said The mayor is calling for NSW to lift regional lockdown in the area and for border checkpoints to be moved south to include Tweed Heads in a border bubble zone administered by Queensland police 'So there's a lot of things. We're also asking if they could tighten up those exemptions that come up from Sydney because that's the last thing that we need at the moment.' Meanwhile Queensland Health are still trying to track down five to eight people who were in a nail salon at Beenleigh with a known COVID-19 case, a 46 year old truck driver, last Monday. Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the people didn't use the government's check-in app and may still be in the community while infectious. 'So I'm very worried that there are a lot more people who went and attended last Monday morning and we need to get hold of you,' she told reporters on Sunday. 'So we're using the check-in data that we've got, but it's not enough.' 'Nobody with a heart could look at what happened yesterday and not think that something has to be done and urgently,' Cr Cherry said NSW has already ruled out temporarily moving the border, saying it would create even more administrative difficulties for Tweed Shire residents who live outside Tweed Heads Another close contact of the truck driver was recorded as a locally-acquired case on Sunday. She is the mother of a four-year-old girl, who also caught the virus from the truckie, and was in home quarantine when she tested positive. Queensland has placed more than 1,000 families in home quarantine after they may have been exposed to the girl at a primary school and a daycare centre in the Beenleigh area. Meanwhile a NSW truckie and a Qantas pilot who lives at Kingaroy but flew from Brisbane to Hong Kong to Melbourne, have both tested positive after arriving in other states. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility