Votes prove a Premier attraction
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stuck fast to keeping state borders shut even as she swings around regional Queensland.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stuck fast to keeping the state’s borders shut even as she and her ministers launch a swing around regional Queensland to promise cash to the state’s key tourist attractions, which are struggling to make ends meet without visitors due to ongoing travel restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The Premier and senior ministers have spent this week travelling from zoo to aquarium to football stadium to announce support packages for the industry but are refusing calls to lift bans on tourists and other non-essential travellers entering the state.
Opinion polls at the weekend suggested the Labor government’s support among Queensland voters has shrunk markedly, pointing to a possible loss at the October 31 state election.
While Ms Palaszczuk insisted the announcements were part of a detailed program to kickstart the state’s economy, many of them will help businesses in marginal seats. Already, some tourism regions have complained they are missing out on assistance.
“We have done well with the health response, now we are onto the economic response,” the Premier said in Mackay on Tuesday.
Pledges so far include $11m for Gold Coast theme parks, $3m for Australia Zoo, $3.5m for the Cairns Aquarium and $6.5m for tourism infrastructure associated with the Townsville Stadium, and it’s not even halfway through the week.
However, tourism bodies on the Sunshine Coast are unhappy they have been denied funding to help market their attractions when their competitors on the Gold Coast and Cairns have had no problem getting assistance.
The operator of Maleny Botanical Gardens and Bird World, Gareth Shipp, said the popular Sunshine Coast hinterland attraction had missed on out any assistance despite the hit to its business during the shutdown and the need to feed and care for about 700 birds.
“It’s just bizarre that we have missed out on everything,” Mr Shipp said.
“We have one of the biggest bird aviaries in Queensland.”
Sunshine Coast Council mayor Mark Jamieson said regional tourism organisations on the Gold Coast and tropical north Queensland were using $2.4m the government gave them in February for international promotions to market to prospective domestic visitors instead. His region had received nothing and was now competing for visitors with one hand tied behind its back, he said.
“We understand that this is a competitive business, but as the Sunshine Coast tourism industry is attempting to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, what our region should not have to contend with is competitors whose marketing efforts have been significantly financed by the Queensland government,” Mr Jamieson said.
He said it was essential that Sunshine Coast tourism businesses were able to compete on a level playing field with their competitors in other parts of the state.
The chairman of tourism lobby Visit Sunshine Coast, David Ryan, said a prolonged closure of Queensland’s borders meant the region faced losing its traditionally strong winter trade from the southern states and New Zealand.
“The indications are the majority of Sunshine Coast tourism businesses will lose between 90 per cent and 100 per cent of their revenues for the March quarter and, even with intrastate restrictions relaxed from June 1, revenues for the June-September quarter are estimated to be less than 30 per cent of normal,” Mr Ryan said.
Despite another day of no new COVID cases in Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk was adamant the borders would remain closed at least until the end of the month.
In the absence of good news to tell on travel restrictions, the government has blitzed the regions to announce various assistance package for regional tourism operators.
Treasurer Cameron Dick confirmed Cairns Aquarium would receive $3.5m to help pay for “care and maintenance” of fish and other marine life at the facility which has been closed to visitors for months.
It follows announcements of funding assistance for bigger businesses such as the Gold Coast theme parks, Australia Zoo and the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in recent days.
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