Burleigh MP Michael Hart joins push for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to reopen border or provide certainty on date
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is under growing pressure to reopen the border, but she says a misstep “could cripple our industry for years to come”.
Gold Coast
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BURLEIGH MP Michael Hart is “fully expecting some sort of backflip” as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk comes under growing pressure to reopen the border.
Mr Hart’s office has been receiving calls from fuming constituents raring to see the Qld-NSW border restrictions lifted, or at least a time frame provided.
The LNP MP said he has been fielding calls from businesses struggling to stay afloat.
“There’s a lot of people around very annoyed the borders are closed,” he said.
“Caravan parks are empty, accommodation facilities are not up to the usual level of business that’s usually happening this time of year and the biggest concern is people don’t have a date when things might change.”
Ms Palaszczuk fiercely defended her stance while on the Coast on Tuesday and said she has faced “really hard decisions” and “sleepless nights”.
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“I understand people are hurting, I understand people have lost their jobs. I want to get people back into work as quickly as possible, but if I don’t do it safely, it could cripple our industry for years to come and take us backwards and no one wants to go back into lockdown,” she said.
“ … I can see what’s happening around the world and I don’t want a second wave here in Queensland.”
Still, Mr Hart said the lack of a firm date was frustrating for the community.
“The medical professionals on a federal level and every other state seem to have a different opinion on whether the borders should be closed than the Premier up here,” he said.
“I’m fully expecting some sort of backflip in the next little while and it will be very interesting to see how she justifies that.”
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Mr Hart was “disappointed” Mayor Tom Tate threw his support behind the decision to leave the restrictions in place, “but it’s up to the Premier to make these decisions”.
He was scathing Ms Palaszczuk “hasn’t bothered to pick up the phone to southern MPs because we aren’t Labor”.
“The Premier should have been on the southern end of the Gold Coast today (Tuesday) talking to real small businesses, not the Star and tourism bosses,” he said.
Mr Hart said he “would have opened the borders ages ago”.
“I’m not sure I ever would have closed them, to tell you the truth,” he said.
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