Qld border Covid restrictions keep our kids waiting

It was ordered in March, but a combination of border closures and a lack of tradies will see kids across the Clarence left out in the cold with little end in sight.

A lone chair on top of a bare concrete slab off Gumnut Drive in Yamba is a subtle sign of a construction pipeline being crippled by Covid-19 border restrictions.

Rotary Club of Yamba president Gayle Doe said 20 years after her organisation built the original bus shelter just up the road, the seat was supposed to instead be a brand new facility for one of Yamba’s busiest school bus stops.

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However, it is waiting for contractors from Queensland who are unable to cross the border due to Covid restrictions.

It is one of many projects and builds across the Clarence Valley experiencing huge delays because of the Queensland border restrictions.

Ms Doe said the shelter was “built, ready and done”, but wasn’t able to be delivered from Queensland.

“For their company to come across the border, they would have to go into two weeks quarantine … or now they couldn’t get back at all,” she said.

And with the original shelter demolished in preparation for the new build, it means that schoolkids will wait for their bus and for the border to open to get some shelter.

Members of Yamba Rotary celebrate with Kevin Hogan after the announcement of grant funding to go towards a new bus stop.

“Many people have asked us why we didn’t go local … but a bus shelter that fits the specifications could only come from Queensland,” Ms Doe said.

“We had it all ordered and paid for in March, but because of how busy the construction industry is, the earliest we were told was perhaps July, and now the border closure means it will be even longer.”

It is a common situation throughout the North Coast according to Housing Industry Association Northern Rivers executive director Toni Bull, who said many construction firms were already stretched.

“A lot of that came off the back of the Homebuilder grants,” she said.

“There was a higher than expected uptake that boosted the construction industry.

“That and there are a lot of other factors, including people redirecting money usually spent travelling to renovating.”

Ms Bull said the border closures had also caused widespread delays for homebuilding, with many builders holding dual licences for both states but unable to move between them.

Even if there were builders available, she said many materials were unable to be brought across the border as the deliverers would not be able to return, causing further delays.

“There is the possibility that the delays may then put in jeopardy some of the timelines placed by government on Homebuilder grants,” Ms Bull said.

The border crossings have also delayed the completion of three major projects from Clarence Valley Council.

The Townsend Park upgrade has been delayed as contractors cannot make it across the border

General manager Ashley Lindsay said the Townsend Park upgrade would be delayed due to the restrictions.

“The delay is due to the contractors not being able to cross the border into NSW to complete the installation of the wet pour rubber soft fall and playground equipment,” he said.

He said an upgrade of the Prince Street administration building had also been delayed by about a month.

The project was due to be completed by September 6 but has blown out to October 8.

Completion of Clarence Valley Council’s new Grafton administration building has been pushed back by a month.

“This delay does not impact on council’s planned exit from the 42 Victoria Street building which will be by September 12.”

Mr Lindsay said an upgrade of the saleyards in South Grafton was also impacted but was unable to give a revised finishing date.