Queensland businesses signal Covid-19 mandate closures

Queensland cafes and restaurants opposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates are threatening to close their doors on Friday when the jab becomes compulsory for workers and customers.

Protesters at an anti-vaccine mandate rally outside Toowoomba City Hall on Tuesday. Picture: Tom Gillespie

Cafes and restaurants across Queensland opposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates are threatening to close their doors on Friday when the jab becomes compulsory for workers and customers.

Millions of Queenslanders will be forced to prove they have had at least two doses of a Covid-19 vaccination by Friday or be refused entry to restaurants, bars, pubs, cinemas and entertainment venues.

Queensland’s successful pandemic response - with zero deaths linked to locally transmitted outbreaks - has been attributed to a relatively compliant population adhering to public health orders, but there is growing anger over state government-enforced vaccine mandates.

Some businesses are threatening to shut up shop rather than refuse entry to unvaccinated ­customers.

Business owners have joined anti-mandate rallies across the state in past weeks, including 300 in Ipswich at the weekend.

About 200 protesters gathered outside the Toowoomba town hall on Tuesday to oppose compulsory jabs.

Amber Scott said she would close her Sunshine Coast hinterland cafe on Friday because she did not want to ask people what their vaccination status was.

She used the term “pro-choice” rather than “anti-vax” to describe those who have avoided the Covid-19 jab despite health authorities warning of an influx of cases now borders were open.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have a government that bullies people into making decisions they don’t feel comfortable with,” said Ms Scott, who owns Kandanga Farm Store.

“Overall, people have been very supportive and understanding of our decision.”

On the opposite side of the state, in the remote northwest mining town of Mount Isa, Katrina Gall is unsure whether she will have enough staff to keep her coffee shop, the Xtra Mile, open in the new year. “Out here, in the middle of nowhere, the staff shortage is even worse than the cities – there is nobody and I am going to lose kitchen crew and front-of-house staff (because of the mandate),” she said.

“Quite frankly, I do not want to have to tell customers that have become good friends ‘Sorry you can’t come in’ –it is a really difficult position to be in.

“I am expecting we will see a 40 per cent drop in trade, and where do you go to from there?”

Richard Kiss, who owns restaurant Gather and Feast in Caboolture on Brisbane’s northern outskirts, is vehemently opposed to the mandate, which he described as “ridiculous”.

“The government has been taking away our freedoms little by little for the past two years,” he said. “We are going to put umbrellas and picnic rugs out in the park across the road so (the unvaccinated) can get takeaway and eat in the park.”

Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard said vaccine hesitancy was “melting away” with a mandate for health workers in private hospitals and clinics coming into effect on Wednesday. “The immediate priority for the unvaccinated is to protect them from infection and that means keeping unvaccinated people away from crowded ­environments.”