Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson in talks on possible Mackay Whitsunday quarantine hub
Greg Williamson said a quarantine facility would be key to filling 4000 fruit picker jobs currently up for grabs in the region.
Mackay
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Mayor Greg Williamson is in talks about a potential quarantine hub in the Mackay Whitsunday region to deliver desperately needed fruit pickers from overseas to work on farms.
Cr Williamson held a meeting with Whitsunday, Townsville and Cairns mayors on Monday to discuss the issue, with talks ongoing.
“All of the mayors – Whitsunday, Townsville and Cairns – we’re all concerned about making sure that we have enough facilities available, particularly in North Queensland, to get us through this hump,” he said.
“Because tomatoes, capsicum – all those things will be very expensive if we can’t get them off the fields.”
Cr Williamson said another 4000 workers for seasonal crop picking were needed in the Mackay Isaac Whitsunday region over the next three to four months.
He said a hub in Mackay Whitsunday was needed in the event of further border closures.
“Even if (the quarantine) happens in (a Sydney quarantine facility) or somewhere in NSW, what happens with the border closures – we’re still in the same position in terms of getting the fruit pickers in,” Cr Williamson said.
But the proposal appears to be on ice at this stage because the federal government will not authorise quarantine hubs unless they are on federal land, he said.
“We don’t have enough in terms of federal land or federal institutions in our area,” Cr Williamson said.
“The closest to us would be Townsville, there’s a lot of military land of course at Townsville.”
The mayor’s quarantine hub revelation came as several Mackay regional councillors rolled up their sleeves to encourage others in the community to get the Covid-19 jab.
Cr Williamson received the AstraZeneca vaccine at the CQUniversity City Campus in Sydney St on Monday and urged others to “please go out and get the jab”.
“Vaccination is going to be the answer for us as a community and for us as a nation to make sure we can keep what’s happening in the rest of the world at bay,” he said.
“I thought it was a very seamless process and expertly handled.
“It is much better to get this jab than to get Covid.
“We have an enormous exposure here. For us as a community, it’s vital that everybody gets vaccinated.”
Mackay Hospital and Health Service nurse unit manager Sonia Davids said about 100 people per day had been vaccinated through MHHS clinics at the weekend – but more people needed to come forward.
“We had a really good uptake of the vaccine,” Ms Davids
“We had people driving by and asking us (about it).”
For more information about the Covid-19 vaccine, visit here.
To find a vaccination provider in your area you can search the National Health Services Directory.
Residents can also use the Covid-19 Eligibility Checker to find out if they are eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
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Originally published as Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson in talks on possible Mackay Whitsunday quarantine hub
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