Annastacia Palaszczuk slammed over decision to lock Sydney out of Qld
Tourism leaders have said the State Government’s decision to keep Queensland’s border closed to Sydney-siders will have a profound impact on the lucrative Christmas holiday season. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce slammed the move as ‘ridiculous’.
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One of Queensland’s top theme park bosses has slammed the state’s border blockade as “complete bullshit”.
A day after taking to social media to vent his frustration at the likelihood of continued travel bans for Sydney and Victoria, Village Roadshow chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa again hit out at the decision, saying the tourism industry was headed for ‘a shit show”.
“None of this makes sense,” he said.
“It’s nonsense.
“There’s no reason people shouldn’t be here right now.
“I’m not sure how long we can sustain this, I’m not sure how long this
city can sustain this. This whole entire arrangement is complete bullshit.”
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Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said waiting until the end of November to make a call on whether Sydneysiders can return to the state would all but kill off the vital Christmas holiday trading period.
“We will kill off the interstate Christmas season if we wait until November to make a decision,” he said.
“By then it will be far too late for people to make plans for the Christmas holidays with any confidence.
“That will be a blow for thousands of businesses and thousands of families who have already planned Queensland holidays.”
Qantas and Jetstar were preparing to schedule more than 1000 flights carrying 200,000 passengers from Sydney to Queensland destinations in November if the borders had opened.
It is understood those flights will not go ahead and hundreds of the airline’s employees will now remain stood down following Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to keep the border to Greater Sydney closed, which prompted Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to deliver his most stinging criticism.
“Frankly, this is ridiculous,” he said.
“Sydney is the biggest city in Australia and it probably has one of the best track records globally of managing a virus that is clearly going to be with us for a very long time.
“Keeping the doors bolted to places that you can’t reasonably call hot spots makes no sense from a health perspective and it’s doing a lot of social and economic damage as well.”
Mr Joyce said the “rational approach” of Tasmania, Northern Territory and South
Australia to open borders could hurt Queensland.
“Queensland may find that by the time it does open up to Sydney, people have made other plans,” he said.
A Virgin spokesman described the decision as ‘disappointing’.
“Virgin Australia will continue to monitor border restrictions and make any changes to our network as travel restrictions ease,” he said.
Virgin will double the number of Brisbane-Newcastle flights each week from three to six and the airline is already operating a small number of NSW-Queensland flights, but extra Sydney-based routes including Cairns, Hamilton Island, the Whitsundays and Sunshine Coast which were to have resumed operations this week have been shelved in a move affecting more than a dozen flights a week and thousands of passengers.
Virgin customers can change their flight dates without incurring fees up until the end of January.
Former world surfing champ turned Gold Coast Airport cafe owner Joel Parkinson has blasted the border decision as ‘a joke’.
“She’s (Premier Palaszczuk) kidding herself,” said Parkinson, who owns the still-shuttered Blackstone Cafe and Bar at the Coolangatta airport.
“I can understand her keeping the border closed to Victoria but shutting Sydney out, with the low number of COVID cases they’ve had down there, is a joke.
“When is enough enough?”
Parkinson said he felt most sorry for his nearly a dozen staff, who had been unable to work since the cafe closed in March.
“They’ve been on JobKeeper but I don’t think too many people are happy to sit on their backsides and do nothing,” he said.
“There are a lot of go-getters out there who want to get on with things.”
Despite some flights from destinations such as Canberra resuming at Gold Coast Airport, Parkinson said it was still not viable to reopen the cafe.
“We’re used to 50 flights a day, not five, and that’s if we’re lucky,” he said.
Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills described the border announcement as “a disappointing and confusing decision”.
“This is another setback for Queensland tourism businesses, and I feel for the small businesses and operators who rely on the passengers coming through our airports,” he said.
“The visitors booked to travel on these flights would have supported hotels, attractions, cafes and bars and other operators across the Gold Coast.
“Sydney remains closed, yet Sydney residents and Queenslanders can mingle in every other part of New South Wales, which is inconsistent.”
The comments following Friday’s border announcement come as two of Queensland’s biggest businesses on Thursday warned of the wrecking ball to jobs and businesses from continuing border blockades.
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The likelihood of continuing border restrictions sparked frustration from leaders at Village Roadshow Theme Parks and Queensland Airports, two of the state’s biggest employers, and there are fears almost fully booked flights from Sydney will need to be turned away.
Village Roadshow chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa launched an extraordinary salvo on Twitter after Health Minister Steven Miles suggested the hospitality sector was faring well.
Wow!! @StevenJMiles just said hospitality sector is running as close to normal and doing better🤦🽠which world is this man living in. We are all bleeding away @GCS_Pottsy @keenatGCB @GCBulletin talk to operators to get a reality check!! #opentheborders #qldpoll @9NewsGoldCoast
— Bikash Randhawa (@BikashRandhawa) October 29, 2020
Village chief executive officer Clark Kirby said the continued uncertainty had forced the company to pause plans to hire 500 workers for the traditionally busy summer period.
“Our recruitment depends on the border opening – if it does not reopen, then hundreds of summer jobs on the Gold Coast will be lost,” he said.
Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills warned the future of 3000 tourism businesses and 41,000 jobs on the Gold Coast would be affected by any decision to delay reopening the border to NSW.
Tourism data has revealed that travellers from Victoria and declared COVID hot spots in NSW typically inject about $20 million a day into the Queensland economy.
“We have seen good bookings for the flights from Sydney scheduled next week, and the first flight on Sunday is almost full – to turn them away at short notice would be a real blow to the Gold Coast’s recovery,” said Mr Mills.
“We don’t understand why we have to wait until two days before the potential opening to find out what is happening. Airlines need time to schedule flights, travellers need to book with confidence, and employers need to be able to roster staff accordingly.”
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has consistently said the trigger to opening the border to NSW was when the state had 28 days of no community transmission.
NSW yesterday recorded four new cases, three of which were a result of community transmission.
Asked yesterday what options she had been given ahead of making the decision, Ms Palaszczuk insisted she had not been given any yet.
“That will come from the Chief Health Officer. That’s the way the Chief Health Officer works,” she said.
“It’s a matter for her. She will advise us and we will tell the public.”
It leaves hundreds of Gold Coast hotels and resorts in limbo, including Peppers Soul Surfers Paradise.
Simon McGrath, CEO for Accor Pacific which runs the hotel, said he was hopeful the borders would be reopened.
“People need certainty the borders will reopen before they will plan their holidays,” he said. “Confirmation of this will provide a vital lifeline to the many thousands of Queenslanders employed by tourism.”
