Broke businesses plead with Premier to reopen Queensland borders

Southeast Queensland’s tourist hotspots are being robbed of $20 million a day and 50,000 people are being kept out of work because of the state’s border blockade.

BORDER blockades are robbing Queensland of $20 million a day in southern tourist spending and keeping 50,000 people out of work in holiday hot spots.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today gave the green light for Queenslanders to holiday within the state in time for the June school holidays.

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But desperate business owners are pleading with the Premier to open the borders for southern tourists to drive and fly north for the winter.

The tourism hubs of the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns have been hit harder than most of Australia by COVID-19 lockdowns.

One in 10 staff in those regions lost their job between March and April 18, compared to 7.1 per cent nationally.

More than 50,000 jobs have vanished in Queensland’s tourism hot spots.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the COVID-19 crisis had “brought the industry to a complete standstill’’.

He said domestic tourism boosted Queensland’s economy by $1.6 billion a month.

“This is income missing from tens of thousands of businesses in Queensland employing 200,000 staff,’’ he said. “The suppliers of produce, the newsagents, laundry services, service stations and bus operators are all suffering from this. When the tourism money stops, many communities grind to a halt.’’

Queensland relies more on domestic tourism than any other state, with federal data showing Australian visitors spend $7 billion a year on holidays in the Sunshine State, compared to $6 billion in NSW and Victoria.

Queensland’s COVID-19 lockdowns and border closures are costing the tourism industry $20 million a day in domestic tourist spending.

A third of Gold Coast firms have lost at least 80 per cent of revenue due to COVID-19, a Pulse Survey shows.

Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said businesses might not survive.

“On the Gold Coast, we were hit hardest and quickest,’’ he said. “We completely missed out on the Easter holidays. Everyone’s got to take a punch in this fight, but another three months in the abyss is too much.’’

Cafe DBar owner Steve Archdeacon. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Restaurateur Steve Archdeacon, who can see NSW from his border Café DBar in Coolangatta, has had to stand down 30 of his 40 mainly casual workers.

“We’ve got to get over the fear and open our borders because we’re all Australians together,’’ he said.

“We were one of the busiest cafes on the Gold Coast but now 30 staff don’t have a job til the border’s open.

“We are heavily reliant on tourists from NSW and Victoria spending their winter at Rainbow Bay but now they can’t come, my income’s been reduced by 70 per cent. We can’t rely on the locals because the spending is just not there.’’

Opposition tourism spokesman David Crisafulli said keeping borders closed until September “is the difference between survival or bankruptcy for many’’.

“Businesses are simply asking the Premier to stick to her original plan of July and let them emerge from economic hibernation,’’ he said.

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said businesses would “bleed in terms of viability and job losses for a long time” unless Australians are allowed to holiday interstate soon.

“I want to see state border restrictions lifted as soon as it is safe to do so, and hope this can be sooner than the September time frame the Queensland Premier has referenced in recent weeks,” he said.

“Regardless of their politics or geography I will applaud the first state to lead the safe reopening of borders.”