Coronavirus QLD: Time to open the border to everyone but Victoria

Queenslanders have done their bit to help manage the spread of coronavirus, yet we continue to be punished. If the situation in Victoria is a concern to our authorities the solution is simple: Keep them out but let everyone else back across the border, writes Kylie Lang.

BAN Victorians and open Queensland’s borders.

Keep out the southerners who’ve been unable to stem the spread of COVID-19 and let our state get back to business.

The increase in cases in Victoria, hardly a massive spike, appears to be the latest excuse for an arrogant, tin-eared and irresponsible Palaszczuk government hell-bent on killing what is left of our economy.

We’re losing 1000 jobs a week, according to Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander, and opening up Queensland would provide a swift and significant economic injection of $653 million a month, as Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg revealed a few days ago.

If the economic argument isn’t strong enough, the medical one definitely is.

Health experts who outrank those in the Palaszczuk camp are crystal clear on two key points: firstly, it is safe to open Queensland’s borders, which many say should never have been closed in the first place; and secondly, we will never eradicate COVID-19.

The best anyone can hope for is that we manage the virus – and with a few exceptions, including sunset watchers on Burleigh Hill and Black Lives Matters protesters flouting social distancing rules – Queenslanders have done just that.

But we continue to be punished.

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If the state government was serious about getting Queensland moving again, it would be supporting our once lucrative tourism and hospitality industries, not suffocating them.

It would be looking at the number of cases in Victoria and weighing up the risk instead of relying on fear to justify its belligerence over border closures.

And if it genuinely was concerned about a small cluster down south sparking a second wave here, then it would keep Victorians out until their situation improves and let in the rest of the country.

Right now, all this Labor government is doing is killing Queensland.