Coronavirus Australia: Locals want easing in virus-free outback towns

At outposts untouched by the virus, residents and business owners are asking if they need to persist with lockdowns.

Stacey Reynolds at Shark Bay Caravan Park.

At outposts untouched by coronavirus, residents and struggling business owners are starting to ask if they need to persist with lockdowns and restrictions that have slowed the spread in hotspots.

In Shark Bay, population 946, an occasional emu walks near the cafes and restaurants at which ­locals are not allowed to eat. The World Heritage-listed shire 800km north of Perth is part of the Gascoyne region, protected by Western Australia’s strict travel bans. Only freight and essential workers are allowed to cross travel boundaries in WA under state-of-emergency laws introduced as a response to the pandemic.

Police and army officers man the roadblocks of each of the state’s nine regions. Locals cannot leave and tourists cannot come in.

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It is one reason why local MP Vince Catania is pushing for special­ exemptions inside his vast electorate that takes in Shark Bay and the Gascoyne food bowl.

No cases of coronavirus have been recorded in any of the towns in Mr Catania’s seat of almost 82 million hectares, which stretches from the Indian Ocean to the WA border with South Australia and the Northern Territory.

He said the government should consider reopening pubs, restaur­ants and cafes to locals as a way of helping businesses that would ­ordinarily be run off their feet catering to tourists at this time of year. In winter, up to 5500 people visit Shark Bay every weekend.

On the other side of the nation, the beer taps in Serge Pelizzari’s Union Hotel have not run for more than a month.

Like all pubs, restaurants and cafes across Aust­ralia, the Union Hotel in Barcaldine, in western Queensland, has been closed to all except takeaway customers since March 23.

The nearest confirmed case of COVID-19 is in Rockhampton, more than 500km east, and much of the state west of the Great Div­id­ing Range has stayed virus-free.

Mr Pelizzari said he hoped that there could soon come a time when venues in virus-free regions could reopen to locals to help ­relieve some of the sense of ­isolation in bush communities.

“I think it could work,” he said. “It depends on how people follow the restrictions on travel.

“The ­people here have done everything pretty much right.” Mr Pelizzari said the idea of limiting access to only those who lived locally was “more feasible than not”, and could be done with social distancin­g protocols in place.

Police checks would be an important­ part of the solution, to ensure travellers stayed away until it was safe for them to return.

Emu on a driveway outside Shark Bay Caravan Park.

Queensland Premier Anna­stacia Palaszczuk was open to the idea on Monday, but said the issue of travellers violating rules could be a complication and any ­relaxation would need to be done responsibly.

“Queensland, we’re very lucky, we’ve got a diversified state, and decentralised, so we’ll of course be looking at all of those regional areas as we plan for our recovery into the future,” she said.

While licensed venues in the Northern Territory will reopen from May 15, there are no dates set for an easing of restrictions in the hospitality industry elsewhere.

However, the McGowan Labor government is planning for the eventuality with compulsory COVID-19 hygiene training for all hospitality workers in WA.

When eateries and bars do reopen, the state government will requir­e each to be accredited.

Kathy Barnes, the publican from Shindy’s Inn in the tiny Darling­ River community of Louth in northwestern NSW, said that she thought it was too early to lift the restrictions. “I’m terrified of what hap­pened­ overseas,” Ms Barnes­ said.

“I’ve got no intention of opening my doors until all of this is over and done with.

“We are hurting — we’re the only business in town — but I don’t want to see the virus here.”

Chris Roberts, who runs the Blue Heeler Hotel in Kynuna in northwestern Queensland, said he was “touch and go” about relaxing restrictions in regional areas.

He was in favour of allowing only locals and regular customers in, provided they hadn’t left the district.

Michael and Stacey Reynolds, owners of Shark Bay Caravan Park.

In the town of Denham on the tip of the Shark Bay peninsula, caravan park owners Stacey and Michael Reynolds are watching over empty bays. The couple were both mine workers from the state’s southwest when they bought the business three years ago and poured their savings into it.

There are often 300 guests at a time at the park between April and August, but they know there will be no high season this year.

“We understand what the state government is doing and they are doing it on expert advice,” Ms Reynolds said.

“I hope that soon they can ease the restrictions.

“We’d like to think they will talk to us about their plans and maybe we can find a way to operate­, even if it is at 50 per cent capacit­y.”