Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to meet with Gold Coast leaders about COVID-19 border restrictions

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised to meet tourism industry figureheads and is considering upping patron limits.

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk is giving bleeding Gold Coast hospitality operators hope she will consider upping patron limits to 50 ahead of meeting industry heads this week.

The Queensland Premier, on the Gold Coast today, promised to meet with Gold Coast industry representatives, operators and the Mayor Tom Tate later this week after pressure to reopen Queensland’s borders.

She added the closure of the state’s borders would be reviewed at the end of the month.

She and Tourism Minister Kate Jones will meet with Gold Coast industry figureheads later this week.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed she will be meeting with Gold Coast representatives this week. Picture: Jerad Williams

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The Queensland Government has also been given a Covid-Safe plan from Restaurant and Catering Australia – and Ms Palaszczuk said if it was deemed the plan can be put in place, pubs and restaurants would be allowed to host up to 50 people by Stage Two next month, instead of the original 20.

“I’ll be meeting with different members of the tourist industry, the chamber of commerce and the mayor later on this week, with Minister Jones,” she said.

“We’ve accepted their invitation to come down and have a chat and we intend to do that.”

Business leaders and traders are furious with Ms Palaszczuk this week indicating that the border may not open until September, two months later than earmarked in the state’s initial three-stage rollout.

They are also angry with her comments that she is confident the tourism industry would be able to bounce back from the shutdowns. Thousands have already lost their jobs.

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They believe many businesses will go to the wall in that time and cannot understand why the economic hardship of Australia’s small business capital was being overlooked given Queensland’s low COVID-19 cases.

In good news for local businesses Ms Palaszczuk said the government is looking into the possibility of easing restrictions for the hospitality sector from next month.

Businesses in Coolangatta and across the Coast are suffering due to the border restrictions, which has been in place since March. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

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“We’re talking to the caterers, we’re talking to the Australian hotels association about how businesses can open up to more people,” she said.

“This has to be a very gradual and measured opening.

“We are looking very closely at what’s happened in other countries around the world when people have opened up too quickly.

“We have to do this in a measured and responsible manner and I’ll be guided by the chief health officer.”