Southern Gold Coast businesses fear border shutdown as Tweed Councillor James Owen, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate meet over border bubble
A border shutdown is “unlikely until after Origin” according to city leaders on both sides of the Queensland-NSW divide. FIND OUT MORE
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A BORDER shutdown is “unlikely until after Origin” according to city leaders on both sides of the Queensland-NSW divide.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and Tweed councillor James Owen joined forces in calling for a border bubble as the southern state’s Covid-19 outbreak worsens.
The two met on Tuesday to discuss possible increased border restrictions.
NSW recorded the death of a man in his 70s and 89 new cases on Tuesday.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced two new local cases of Covid-19 the same day.
She warned she would “not hesitate to shut the border” if the virus continued to spread to other parts of NSW.
Cr Owen said: “We both share concerns about the impacts on our border communities if the Premier slams the border shut again.
“However, we also both agree that that is unlikely to occur until after Origin.
“I am imploring the NSW and Qld governments to work together to establish a border region with passes that last at least 14 days prior to any decision on the border.
“In the past the border has been slammed shut with little-to-no notice and we have been left scrambling for a way forward.
“Life in our border community has never been harder or more uncertain.”
Cr Tate said the main focus of the meeting was “rekindling shared opportunities” and “sharing transport opportunities” with Tweed.
“We enjoyed an open discussion on the challenges of border restrictions,” he said.
“I made my view clear that we need a Tweed-GC bubble should a hard border closure occur.
“Further, I believe JobKeeper should be returned in a limited way for those in the bubble who can demonstrate that a political decision such as this has decimated their employment.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.’’
SOUTHERN BUSINESSES FEAR BORDER SHUTDOWN
A SOUTHERN Gold Coast restaurant owner has renewed calls for a small business support package, fearing the “absolute nightmare” of a potential hard border closure with NSW.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk held off slamming the gates during a press conference on Monday, but said her state government would continue to monitor the situation.
Coolangatta’s Choofas Smokehouse owner Scott Littler said he feared the borders would slam shut again in the coming days.
“I have said all along that it shouldn’t be a hard border closure - it should be test, track and trace,” Mr Littler said.
“A hard border for businesses in Coolangatta will be an absolute nightmare.
“We coped with it last year with the borders, but thankfully, we had help from the federal government in the form of JobKeeper.
“I can’t see the state premier ponying up and compensating us for the losses from another border shutdown.”
Get Hooked Seafood owner Sam Beau Patrick said she hoped for no hard border closures for the sake of her Tweed Heads restaurant.
“We’ll just have to hold on for the tight ride ahead again,” Ms Beau Patrick said.
“Customers have been super supportive but crossing a hard border, especially when the waits can be in excess of an hour, is a major deterrant for border residents.”
There were fears on Monday that NSW could record more than 100 cases of the highly contagious Covid Delta variant.
It came after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian delivered grim news that her state recorded 77 new cases on Sunday, as well as one death. NSW recorded 112 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Sunday, although they were all within the lockdown zone of Greater Sydney.
Northern NSW Local Health District has not had a locally-acquired case for months.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest recently returned from Sydney after two weeks in quarantine.
If things changed for regional NSW, he hoped there would still be provisions in place for border communities, he said.
“The cross-border commissioner has been very active in that area and is in constant consultation with the Queensland authorities to keep the border bubble.
“I’m very hopeful of that although I am concerned.
“If you look at the Victorian model, they warned about three days in advance for all Victorians to get back home and then they had a hard shutdown.
“I think the real concern is if there’s any outbreaks or any virus detected.”
Meanwhile, the federal government launched a new national advertising campaign encouraging people to get vaccinated.
It encouraged people to “arm themselves” against the virus, while showing images of Australians rolling up their sleeves and displaying the bandaid from where they were vaccinated.
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The state government’s decision to refuse extra financial relief for small business in the wake of last week’s Covid lockdown was “absolutely cruel”, Southport Bowls Club’s house director says.
However, the owner of another small business said it “wasn’t necessary”.
The bowls club’s Dick Martin said Coast businesses desperately needed a support package, even though last week’s lockdown didn’t reach the seven-day threshold.
“I think it’s cruel to small businesses – I believe the state government has no feelings towards it at all,” Mr Martin said.
“There’s people who have got a family and are in debt paying a business off.
“I think it is absolutely cruel to shut them down.”
Southport’s Simple Coffee House owner Simon Shanahan said he did not see the need for more financial help given the Coast had not faced frequent and lengthy lockdowns.
“We have had 18 months to prepare ourselves for this happening,” Mr Shanahan said.
“We have always known it was a possibility to happen again.
“It sucks that we all lose money from it and it’s a hard thing for businesses to deal with it.”
The government said it would roll out support measures to businesses if a lockdown reached seven days – similar to the federal government’s previously declared support framework.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the government had already done “a lot” for small businesses during the pandemic.Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said more small business support was needed to ensure certainty, noting the likelihood of further lockdowns in the future.
12 JANUARY: Coast businesses call for COVID consistency
Business and political leaders breathed a sigh of relief on Monday morning as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk lifted Greater Brisbane’s lockdown after three days of no community transmission of the highly contagious mutant UK strain of coronavirus.
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While the southeast has dodged a bullet in time for the final weeks of the summer season, the frustrated Gold Coast business community wants National Cabinet to develop a uniform set of protocols governing future outbreaks.
Business leaders argue it is critical in preventing confusion and economic devastation wrought by sudden lockdowns and border closures.
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Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said the most recent lockdown had hit at “the last hurrah of summer” and warned hotel occupancies were expected to be down two per cent until the end of January.
“What we really need is for there to be a cookie-cutter approach to this because I am sure we are going to see further instances of it,” he said.
“There needs to be standard dance moves that can be agreed on by all states so that we can still exist when this occurs again.
“The real issue here comes down to business confidence and this is something which urgently needs to be addressed.”
State Opposition leader David Crisafulli said a universal plan would provide certainty to travellers and traders.
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“Every hour you give business to get ready is another opportunity for them into trade in some capacity and allow their staff to continue as normal a life as possible,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Businesses need certainty and we will advocate on their behalf.”
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told Sky News that there were too many precedents being set by the states on borders and lockdowns.
“We would very much like the states to get together with the commonwealth and come up with real proper protocols,” Mr Willox said.
“The quicker business can get some certainty, and some consistency, the better.”
He said Queensland’s targeted lockdown, in comparison with Victoria’s lengthy restrictions and SA’s statewide shutdown, was probably the right approach.
But businesses were “very unhappy” that premiers and chief medical officers decided to close borders at the drop of a hat.
“It impacts on business confidence in a significant way, it sends business the very clear signal that they are the poor cousins in all of this and they’ll just have to have to tolerate whatever governments decide to do with very, very little warning.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian agreed that greater protocols were needed.
“When you’re closing a border, it affects all of government, it affects every single citizen,” she said.
“I think all of us (leaders) can and should be doing better.
“We should allow each other to have input in those processes rather than being told of the decision.”
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the federal government would not “override” state decisions on lockdowns because it was not their responsibility.
Ms Palaszczuk declined to confirm whether the state would go back into lockdown if another new COVID-19 case was found in the community.
“It depends if it‘s from this UK variant, this is a whole new ball game,” she said.
“I don‘t have a crystal ball.
“Let‘s hope that we don’t but what we are concerned about is making sure we don’t see the spread of this highly contagious UK variant.”
Greater Brisbane, including Logan and Ipswich, was put into 72-hour lockdown at 6pm Friday after a hotel quarantine cleaner tested positive to a UK strain of COVID-19.
The lockdown ended 6pm Monday but those living and working in the region will be required to wear a mask until 1am on January 22.
The Northern Territory and ACT reacted to the news that Brisbane’s lockdown region had been lifted by immediately restoring travel arrangements, but state governments in Victoria, SA and WA have not budged.
Tasmania has also retained some restrictions on travellers who have been in Brisbane since last Friday.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it was still too early to know if the mutant variant had been contained, with health authorities hopeful of finding out within the next 10 days.
Officials have tracked down 304 “close contacts” of the cleaner, with 154 of those tested returning a negative result.
Under the new rules, carrying a mask will be mandatory at all times when outside the home and they will need to be worn in a range of indoor settings, including public transport, shopping centres, supermarkets and gyms.
Traders largely reported a quieter than normal weekend as travellers stayed away and locals kept to their suburbs.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said the end of the lockdown was welcome news, but operators needed certainty to help restore shattered confidence.
“The inconsistencies in border closures are clearly rattling the travelling public, so we certainly want to avoid hard border closures in favour of effective hot spot management such as what we have just witnessed here in Queensland,” he said.
Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan praised the State Government’s handling of the situation but warned confidence had taken a significant hit.
“We all breathed a sign of relief because Greater Brisbane is worth a lot of money to us being our biggest drive market,” he said.
“Confidence is the big issue here and we need to get it back so people can make a booking and know it is going to happen,” he said. “We need advance warning with these things.
“The Federal Government’s decision to bring forward the vaccine will make a hell of a difference and be a clincher for things heading into the future.”
The vaccine will start to be rolled out in February.
MONDAY: TRADERS FACING ‘ECONOMIC CLIFF’
GOLD Coast traders suffering a mini downturn fear they are facing an “economic cliff” when pandemic aid ends after Brisbane’s three-day lockdown delivered another blow to trade.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the lockdown would end at 6pm on Monday after no new COVID-19 cases were recorded.
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Gold Coasters have been praised for taking the crisis seriously despite the devastating economic impact on traders.
Restaurant Industry Support Gold Coast Association president Glen Day said the temporary loss of both Brisbane and greater Sydney visitors to latest outbreaks had created a perfect storm for the economy ahead of the summer holiday period end and a feared “economic cliff” once the Federal Government pandemic financial aid ends.
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“This would normally be the busiest week of the year but we are down and not having Brisbane and the drive market here means things are quiet when normally we would be packed,” he said.
“We had really been looking forward to that new holiday peak but now we cannot predict what is going to happen next.
“I was thinking about putting more staff on but if things are going to get quiet again in February then my existing staff wouldn’t get enough hours so I’ll have to struggle through.”
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Mayor Tom Tate thanked locals for social distancing but urged them to remain vigilant against the threat of the virus spreading.
“I know from reports across our city it was a quiet weekend at many city venues and I understand Gold Coasters have really stood up, observed social distancing, and done the right thing,” he said.
“ … Let’s all keep working together so we can keep the virus at bay.”
Some Gold Coast hotels saw a jump in cancellations after Friday’s lockdown announcement while at least one major hotelier saw some guests extend stays rather than return to Brisbane and endure the lockdown.
Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan said the end of the lockdown would boost the city ahead of this week’s Magic Millions Carnival.
“We are hoping for a miracle when the vaccine finally arrives,” he said.
COVID clinics were inundated across the weekend as travellers and locals were tested.
Fears of a mass exodus from Brisbane to the Gold Coast on Friday sparking a raft of new cases appear to have failed to eventuate.
Hope Island respiratory clinic Practice Principal Dr Andrew Weissenberger said the results of the Brisbane lockdown were encouraging.
“To have zero cases on Sunday is ideal. The strategy was to clamp down hard very early to give the contact tracers the opportunity to test as many of the close contacts as they could.
“No new cases is a great sign. I am hopeful we won’t see it spread to the Gold Coast once we hit the 6pm deadline on Monday.”
One of many working on the frontline of the Gold Coast’s testing centres, Dr Weissenberger said there had been a significant surge in the past week.
“Numbers have certainly grown, so it is great to see people coming forward and doing the right thing, even if they only have minor symptoms.
“We have been living in this situation for so long now that we have people coming in for their second and even third round of COVID-19 testing. This is what should be happening.
“If the Brisbane lockdown shows anything it is that we cannot afford complacency.”
Gold Coast Health has reminded those with an outpatient appointment who have been to one of the restricted local government areas since 2 January 2021 to make themselves known to the staff on the screening desk on arrival to hospital.
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