Coronavirus QLD: Glitter Strip mayor backs Premier in border war

Gold Coast LNP Mayor Tom Tate has thrown his support behind the Labor state government’s stance on the Queensland-NSW border, saying “health trumps everything” and that NSW is “jumping at shadows” when it comes to contact tracing.

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate has backed Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk over stunning admissions the state borders might remain barred until September.

The Glitter Strip has already seen the loss of billions of dollars in tourism and events and in recent days the Gold Coast 600 GP, Gold Coast Show and the Gold Coast Marathon have all been postponed until next year.

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The Gold Coast is a tourism Mecca dubbed Australia’s holiday playground and arguably has the most to lose from an extended border shutdown, but Mayor Tate said people’s health had to be the top priority and NSW had a long way to go to achieve Queensland’s results against the coronavirus.

“I back the Queensland Premier,” he said.

“The health trumps everything else we do.

“The difference between Queensland and NSW is that in (almost) every case we are able to trace where the transmission was.

“In NSW, they don’t know.

“They are jumping at shadows.

“Until they can bring it (COVID-19) to its knees, I think it is premature to reopen the borders.”

Originally published as Coronavirus QLD: Glitter Strip mayor backs Premier in border war