Businesses want to know Annastacia Palaszczuk plan for Covid freedoms
Queensland firms are pressuring the Palaszczuk government to reveal what new freedoms will be offered once Australia reaches its target 80 per cent vaccination rate.
Businesses across Queensland are pressuring the Palaszczuk government to reveal what new freedoms will be offered once Australia reaches its target 80 per cent vaccination rate.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has yet to commit to abolishing border closures once 80 per cent of eligible Australians are inoculated, but she insisted restrictions would be “completely different” in her state compared with Victoria and NSW.
Ms Palaszczuk said the national cabinet was “working on a national plan” to reopen but needed to consider more health modelling when it met on October 1.
Life in the mining city of Mount Isa, which has never recorded a Covid case, has remained mostly unchanged this year but tourism operators fear the sugar hit provided from Brisbane visitors will not last.
Crowd numbers at the annual August rodeo were comparable with 2019 when almost 40,000 people attended the three-day event, chief executive Natalie Flecker said.
“We would like to see borders open, people will get fatigued travelling in their own state and it might be OK this year, but what happens in 2022 and 2023?
“We need clear guidelines and strong leadership to help us find a path to the other side of this.
“We have to learn to live with it, Covid-19 is not going anywhere.”
Townsville bar owner Emmanuel Bogiatzis supports keeping the border closed to NSW and Victoria if it means restrictions do not tighten in Queensland.
“Personally, I would rather they keep the border shut and encourage Queenslanders to travel within the state,” the Heritage Exchange owner said. “We would hate to go into Christmas with more restrictions.
“It is more or less business as usual in Townsville, it is hard to get a dinner booking on a Friday or Saturday night.”
Free lunch troubles expose Liberals’ experience problem
Peter Dutton’s frontbench has much more real-world experience than the Labor ministry, but there has been a swath cut through the ranks of Liberals with treasury and financial experience.
Minns ‘very concerned’ over minister’s fresh winery trip claim
NSW Premier Chris Minns is struggling to keep a lid on spiralling reports his transport minister, Jo Haylen, summoned a ministerial driver multiple times for ‘personal use’, saying he was unaware of a possible second winery trip.