Covid-19: Queensland announces mandatory vaccinations for truckies, while Tweed-Byron lockdown to end at midnight
A fresh border protest is planned after Queensland announced it will force truckies to start vaccinating by October 15.
Gold Coast
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A PROTEST is planned to take place at the border on Friday after Queensland announced it will force truckies to start vaccinating by October 15.
A group calling itself National Education United, which claims to represent workers from multiple industries, said the protest will take place in Coolangatta as a “show of support” for anyone whose job was at risk if they refused vaccination.
Queensland’s decision to make vaccines mandatory for truckies came after a driver was revealed to be one of four new local cases recorded overnight.
The driver was infectious in the community for a week.
Truck drivers must get their first dose by October 15 and their second dose by November 15.
A specialist vaccine station will be set up at Tugun on the Gold Coast after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said seven truck drivers had now entered Queensland with the virus.
She revealed Brisbane’s new local cases at press conference at Caloundra on Tuesday morning, including two cases of particular note.
She said one of the four people with coronavirus, the truckie, had spent the week in shared accommodation, and an aviation worker had spent three days in the community while infected.
The wife of the aviation worker also tested positive, as did a fourth person who had completed 14 days in hotel quarantine beforehand.
Ms Palaszczuk said masks were the “best line of defence” against the coronavirus.
“There’s no need to panic because Queenslanders have been doing the right thing,” she said.
Masks have to be worn indoors again across Brisbane and Moreton Bay.
“We want to go back to people wearing masks indoors if you live in the Brisbane area and the Moreton Bay region,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
She said two more overseas acquired cases were detected in hotel quarantine.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the state government has been “working with” the freight industry to address lower vaccination rates than the general public.
Truckies will need to have tested negatively for the virus at least seven days before entering Queensland.
Mr Bailey said Queensland Health would prioritise freight workers, including truckies, for vaccinations.
He predicted about 200 jabs would be provided at the Tugun facility daily.
Ms Palaszczuk said truckies were “absolutely essential” to keep “food on the table” and rebuild the economy.
“Regular testing has meant cases have been picked up quickly. But due to the nature of their work, we know that many freight workers and truck drivers are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19,” she said.
“That’s why we’re ramping up our vaccination rollout and making it quicker and easier for truck drivers crossing through the Gold Coast border to get vaccinated.
“Many drivers are already vaccinated – but for those that aren’t, we want to make it as easy as possible for them to get the jab.”
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young provided details at a press conference about 10.30am.
Ms D’Ath urged eligible Queensland residents to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible.
“There is no reason not to be getting vaccinated now,” she said.
Dr Young said she “does not believe a lockdown is warranted”.
Queensland Health has listed new exposure sites in the city, including a McDonald’s, a child care centre and a guesthouse.
The Gold Coast business community and Mayor Tom Tate were on tenterhooks on Tuesday morning, with fears about potential impacts on the near-sellout weekend Rugby Championship double-header at Cbus Super Stadium, featuring the All Blacks, Wallabies, South Africa and Argentina.
Meanwhile New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard announced at a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday morning that Tweed and Byron would exit lockdown at 12am on Wednesday.
He said NSW had recorded 863 new locally acquired cases and seven deaths.
Queensland Health later announced that Tweed and Byron shires would be reinstated to the Queensland border bubble.
A Queensland Health spokesman said residents would be allowed to cross from 1am on Wednesday for work, food and medical purposes as previously permitted.
Premier refuses to commit to Christmas reopening
Earlier: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk refuses to commit to reopening borders by Christmas, saying she’s awaiting more modelling as federal heavyweights pile on the pressure.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he saw no reason why people should be separated by state borders when an 80 per cent national vaccination target is reached.
Ms Palaszczuk, visiting the Gold Coast mass vaccination hub at Broadbeach on Monday, said she was looking forward to revised modelling of predicted Covid deaths by the Doherty Institute, whose predictions are guiding the national reopening plan.
She hoped to receive new Doherty modelling on Friday at national cabinet and said she hoped the Prime Minister “will release all of that publicly so everyone can see it”.
Asked if Queenslanders could expect to reunite with loved ones interstate come December, she said it depended on “the modelling and our discussions at national cabinet”.
“Look at what our life is like now in Queensland, I’m pretty proud of the life we have at the moment,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I’m sure the tourism operators would not want Delta here, that’d be catastrophic to the Queensland community.”
Federal Ministers are piling on the pressure for Queensland and WA to reopen in line with the rest of country, with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce saying he didn’t realise Ms Palaszczuk was an epidemiologist.
Ms Palaszczuk responded: “I think Barnaby should be sitting down with Darren Chester who just left the Nationals. He’s got to focus on his own job and let me do my job.”
Her comments came after visiting embattled Coolangatta on Monday amid months of public outcry, speaking with business owners suffering due to the border bubble’s removal for the second time in weeks.
“I know it’s tough down there, that’s why the government has put in money for the hardship. I can see some businesses are closed and I do look forward to the day that hopefully, the Northern New South Wales area can be lifted from that lockdown,” she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Joyce told Sunrise: “I didn’t know (Ms Palaszczuk) was an immunologist. I didn’t know her epidemiology was so up to speed. She’s prepared to put her views ahead of the Doherty Institute and sending business broke.”
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has indicated the state border could stay closed for Christmas.
Queenslanders are enjoying some of the most relaxed Covid restrictions in the country, and the state government did not want to “let Covid in for Christmas”, he said.
Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young, asked if in favour of reopening at 80 per cent, said: “It’s not a simple straightforward process. You can’t pick something and then say it leads to something else.
“We should all prepare and hope and get everyone vaccinated, that’s the most important thing business can do.”
New vax hubs on Coast, no new Covid cases
September 28: Queensland has recorded no new locally or overseas acquired Covid-19 cases in another “double doughnut day” for the state, according to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Ms Palaszczuk announced the lack of new coronavirus cases – and new vaccination centres at Coomera and Tugun – during a press conference at Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday morning.
The new hubs were revealed minutes before New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there had been 787 new cases and a dozen deaths in her state in the previous 24 hours.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Coomera centre is due to administer 2500 vaccinations per day before ramping up to 3000 within a fortnight, while the Tugun centre will give 800 jabs each day.
It comes after Ms Palaszczuk reportedly visited the Queensland-NSW border at Coolangatta earlier in the morning.
The visit follows the revelation by Destination Gold Coast that tourism losses have reached almost $1 billion for the September quarter, compared to pre-pandemic times in 2019.
The city’s leading tourism body aired the shocking find after Deputy Premier Steven Miles gave the strongest indication yet Queensland’s borders will be shut over Christmas – even if 80 per cent of the eligible residents are vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Almost 45 per cent of the state is now fully vaccinated, while a touch over 60 per cent of Queensland residents have had their first of two jabs.
More to come.
Originally published as Covid-19: Queensland announces mandatory vaccinations for truckies, while Tweed-Byron lockdown to end at midnight
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