Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate wants exemption from extended lockdown

The state government has rejected a plea by Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate to free the Gold Coast from southeast Queensland’s extended lockdown.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has dramatically called for the lockdown to be lifted on the Glitter Strip, saying all the Covid cases are happening in Brisbane.

Cr Tate says the Coast should be brought out of the original lockdown as scheduled at 4pm on Tuesday unless a new case arises there overnight.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate says there have been no recent cases in his city. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I understand the State Government has extended the lockdown until Sunday based on data,” he said.

“Well, the data does not show any cases here on the Gold Coast. So, I would say, I want to them to leave the Gold Coast out of the 11 LGAs (southeast Queensland local government areas included in the lockdown).

“As Mayor of the City of Gold Coast, I don’t see the point of hurting people’s livelihoods any further. The lockdown absolutely should be lifted here unless we have a new case overnight.”

Exposure sites on the Gold Coast have not been identified for more than a week and there have been none linked to the latest Delta outbreak involving the 17-year-old Brisbane girl and a medical student.

Cr Tate said he had been ‘polite’ throughout the pandemic and supported the State Government’s Covid decisions but he was now speaking out.

“We’ve got to give people hope and the decisions have to be based on data,” he said.

But the State Government has flatly rejected Cr Tate’s call to lift the lockdown, saying all Queenslanders needed to “do their bit” to contain the outbreak.

“We are worried about this Delta outbreak affecting the entire state, not just south-east Queensland,” a Queensland Health spokesperson said.

A deserted Surfers Paradise after a lockdown was announced on Saturday. Picture: Richard Gosling

“We cannot exclude any south-east local government areas from the current lockdown until we know for certain there are no cases in their communities.

“This is a highly contagious variant – one case has become 31 very quickly and we could be facing hundreds of cases a day if we do not get on top of it.

“For now, there is no plan to lift lockdown in LGAs before Sunday.

“This is regularly reviewed however and if Queenslanders who have been in contact tracing locations continue to get tested immediately, we should have a clearer understanding of where more cases are over the next few days.

“To contain this cluster and prevent a prolonged lockdown, we need all Queenslanders to do their bit and abide by the lockdown rules, wear masks if they do have to leave home and get tested if they have even the mildest of symptoms.”