COVID-19 border closure: What Qld Premier has got wrong

Through floods, fires and now a pandemic, we’ve seen the best of Queenslanders. Which is why a recent statement from the Premier jarred so much, writes Keith Woods.

A visit to Springbrook at the weekend brought a sobering sight. Almost exactly a year since bushfires devastated large parts of the Gold Coast hinterland, it was disquieting to see the forest smouldering once more.

Wisps of smoke tailed high among trees just three minutes down the road from Springbrook State School and the shops and cafes grouped on the way in to Purling Brook Falls.

But there was, as ever, a deeply reassuring sight. The bright yellow vehicles of the Mudgeeraba Fire Brigade, grouped together at Apple Tree Park, ready to respond in an instant should the embers of a fire that had broken out the previous Thursday spark into flames once more.

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So little time has passed since volunteer firefighters from around the country braved some of the worst bushfires the nation has ever seen. It was a terrible, but also inspiring. In December, when most would wish to spend time with their families, hundreds of Queenslanders shipped south to help their NSW counterparts fight the fires then raging around Sydney. Similarly, help has always been available to Queensland from New South Wales crews when needed.

There would never be a second thought about offering it. Can you ever imagine any of these Australians saying that NSW has firefighting assets for NSW, and in Queensland we have firefighting assets for “our people”?

There have been many more instances of such mateship. Who can forget the huge national response to the Queensland floods spearheaded by the ADF in 2010-2011? The nation shared our pain, shared the rescue assets and very literally shared the recovery burden via the Flood Levy, which hit the pay packet of each and every Australian making more than $50,000.

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Would they be so keen again, when compatriots south of the border, in a time of need, are told by our Premier: “People living in NSW, they have NSW hospitals. In Queensland we have Queensland hospitals for our people.”

Reports from the time suggest help also flowed across the border in 1974, when severe flooding struck Brisbane and the Gold Coast. And through two world wars. Australians helping each other out has been ingrained since federation.

No wonder people elsewhere in the nation, from the Prime Minister down, are incredulous at the parochial attitude recently displayed by many in Queensland. At the unreasonable restrictions that have caused so much heartache to ordinary people in COVID-free areas of northern NSW.

If they dare call it out, they are met with a torrent of abuse from William St.

“Queenslanders will continue to have our borders closed to keep Queenslanders safe,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

“I’m not going to be moved on this.

“The Federal Government can throw whoever they want at that.”

Ms Palaszczuk maintains that without strict border measures, we would be in the same boat as Victoria. Anything is possible, but it’s notable that there has been no big spike in NSW or the ACT.

Indeed, if those two jurisdictions adopted the same approach as this state, they would ban all Queenslanders because of the COVID hot spots in Brisbane.

Thankfully, it’s not the approach favoured by everyone. As we saw during last year’s bushfire season, most of us know that at a time of need, all Australians are “our people”.