Opinion: Queenslanders deserve certainty after stellar Covid-19 performance

Of course Queenslanders appreciate the job our officials have done in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, but they also deserve certainty going forward, writes Jessica Marszalek. VOTE IN OUR POLL

It’s not that Queenslanders don’t appreciate the freedoms we have.

We all look at what’s happening in NSW and Victoria and are so thankful that’s not us.

And we know that our pathway out of the Covid-19 pandemic will look different to those of states where people are currently dying from it.

But it is fair enough that after two years of living with the uncertainty of this virus that people want some concrete details now.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chief Health officer Dr Jeannette Young at the new Pinkenba vaccination centre at the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

Thousands of us are heeding the calls and coming forward every day to get vaccinated.

We’re seeing our doctors for AstraZeneca, we’re booked at the chemist for Moderna, we’re lining up at mass hubs for Pfizer.

And we’re all doing it to get back the things we’ve missed: Careers, family time, travel, certainty, hope.

So we deserve for governments to take us into their confidence and tell us how that’s going to happen.

Because people are confused.

When they hear the Chief Health Officer tell them that the sooner they get vaccinated, the sooner long-term restrictions can be lifted, but no one can tell them which ones, they are confused.

When they hear federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan say international borders will be open by Christmas but then Annastacia Palaszczuk rubbishes the idea, they are confused.

When Palaszczuk says on Sunday that Queenslanders may be able to reunite with interstate families by Christmas if enough of us are vaccinated, but is walking back from that by Thursday, they are confused.

And when Queenslanders are still locked out of their home state, but celebrities can quarantine at home, they are confused.

And they deserve answers.