ACT Policing has fined a Sydney woman $1,000 after she entered the territory without a proper travel exemption and refused to leave.
It is the only infringement notice ACT police have issued for contravening health orders under restrictions due to the latest Sydney outbreak.
Officers said the woman had applied for an exemption last week, but it was denied and she travelled to the ACT anyway.
Health authorities then spoke to the woman on Monday and she agreed to leave but failed to do so.
Police said she had now left the ACT.
Acting Deputy Chief Police Officer Hall O'Meagher said in the past week, ACT Policing had conducted more than 1,500 traffic stops and 110 door knocks to ensure compliance with the current COVID-19 restrictions.
Yesterday, a Sydney man was charged with failing to comply with COVID-19 rules after he allegedly entered the ACT without an appropriate exemption and failed to wear a mask in Parliament House.
He faced the ACT Magistrates Court this morning, where he was referred for a mental health assessment.
In spite of recent examples of Sydneysiders flouting the ACT's COVID-19 restrictions, Police Minister Mick Gentleman said he was confident police were stopping unauthorised people from entering Canberra.
"So far, we've caught a number of people who have travelled from NSW and we're confident that we've got it in hand at this stage," he said.
His comments come as South Australian Premier Steven Marshall insisted the state would not be opening its border to ACT residents any time soon.
Mr Marshall said the fact that the ACT has not recorded any locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, despite its porous border with NSW, "confounds the epidemiologists".
"We would like to ease the border restrictions there, between ACT and South Australia but because of the Delta variant and because of our concerns there, we won't be doing that today," he said.
Canberra Airport threatens to ban flights
Earlier today, Canberra Airport chief executive Stephen Byron threatened to ban flights from Perth and Adelaide to Canberra into the future.
He told ABC Radio that the border closures were unfair as the ACT had not recorded a locally acquired COVID-19 case in about a year.
"This cluster in Sydney is very, very much confined to Sydney," he said.
"If we're asking for too much, to have a border open when there are zero cases in Canberra, and Sydney has been in lockdown for two weeks and the cluster is totally confined to Sydney, tell us what else so we can have some certainty in planning."
When asked about Mr Byron's comments, Mr Marshall said that the South Australian government was acting with the best interests of the population in mind.
"The ACT airport boss can make his decisions; we have to make our decisions based upon what's best for our population," he said.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said decisions by the South Australian and Western Australian governments to continue border closures to ACT residents was confounding.
"Seeing the world through their eyes is a somewhat different perspective, and a little bit of patient diplomacy is what is necessary," he told ABC Radio Canberra.
"It's not the first time we've been in this situation, and I suspect it won't be the last."
He added that he had been in contact with his South Australian and Western Australian counterparts asking them to reconsider keeping Canberrans out.
"We will continue to press the case with South Australia and hope their decision will be reconsidered next week," he said.
