Opinion: Let’s move Qld border south to avoid COVID-19 chaos

Queensland was originally supposed to begin somewhere around Grafton. It’s a plan we need to revisit, and for more reasons than just avoiding the COVID-19 chaos going on for motorists and local residents living near the current border, writes Peter Gleeson.

When our forebears first started drawing up state boundaries many moons ago, Queensland was to begin around Grafton, not the Tweed Heads border.

Somewhere along the way, that notion was kyboshed and instead they went with the current

border, which is a shame really, especially considering the mayhem and chaos that is going on at Tweed Heads because of COVID-19.

It makes a lot of sense to move the border south, even if it’s just seven kilometres, as proposed by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

For starters, you wouldn’t have this Checkpoint Charlie fiasco where people in Tweed Heads aregoing nuts trying to go about their daily lives. Caught up in traffic jams, constantly having to demonstrate to police that they are just doing their job, travelling from northern NSW to Queensland.

It’s outrageous and a bit silly. But rules are rules and when nightclub owners are being fined $7000 for inadvertently allowing patrons to dance, you know the cops are fair dinkum.

Then you’ve got daylight saving. Don’t get me started. Oh ok. Having lived on the Gold Coast for many years, the amount of times I missed flights or turned up an hour early or late for a meeting in Coolangatta was absurd.

Not to mention the hassles with TV guests on my Sky News show.

“Senator, you’re due on air in six minutes,’’ the hapless host says.

“Oh shut, I thought it was 7.20pm QUEENSLAND time.’’

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian needs to grow up and cede northern NSW to Queensland. Forget the 7km extension of the border. Let’s go the whole hog and adopt the original border, which was the Clarence River, near Grafton. Queensland might finally win an Origin series. northern NSW is a nursery for great rugby league players.

And at least Queensland will finally get better roads. The Pacific Highway roadworks in northern NSW between Tweed and Coffs Harbour is fast becoming the Rolls Royce of major highways, at a cost of close to $6 billion.

There’s a million people living in that northern NSW region. That’s a lot of tax revenue. With

Queensland going broke, extending the border is our best shot at more revenue and better roads.

Come on Gladys. It’s the least you could do to help us out in our time of need. After all, we’re all in this together, aren’t we?