Don’t burst the bubble – pollies beg Palaszczuk to keep travel open
NSW politicians are urging the Queensland government to commit to keeping the travel bubble open for border communities after NSW reopens.
Queensland has set up a border bubble for 17 local government areas in NSW allowing residents who have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to cross the border for work, education, caregiving, or shopping for essential items.
However, if an LGA is ordered into lockdown Queensland restricts travel to only certain essential workers who have had one jab.
Currently travel to the state is restricted for residents of Bourke, Broken Hill, Walgett and the Unincorporated Far West, with travel from Kyogle also set to be tightened after the NSW town was ordered into lockdown on Thursday night.
Six border zone politicians, as well as Gurmesh Singh, whose electorate of Coffs Harbour is not in the bubble, have written to Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles asking him to guarantee interstate travel for border zone residents once NSW reopens.
Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis, Tweed MP Geoff Provest, Northern Rivers MP Ben Franklin, Lismore MP Janelle Saffin, Northern Rivers MLC Catherine Cusack, Ballina MP Tamara Smith and Mr Singh also want the Queensland government to think about unrestricted interstate travel in line with the national plan.
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“It would be a travesty if Australians can travel overseas but cannot travel interstate,” they wrote on Friday.
“We ask the Queensland Government to give us this certainty and commit to keeping our border open.”
The MPs said their constituents have been suffering almost 18 months of uncertainty, with the past few months of open and shut borders especially difficult for residents who live and work across the two states.
“We write to you in the hope that we can quickly resolve this crisis and restore our community which has been divided for the first time since Federation,” they wrote.
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Meanwhile, Defence Minister Peter Dutton has given tacit support to a legal challenge to state border restrictions being prepared by Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner.
Dutton said Mr Turner’s position was “fair enough” and premiers had signed up to a plan for easing restrictions at 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination coverage.
“It is a fair enough position he is taking,” Dutton told Nine’s Today program.
“The premiers signed up to the 70 to 80 per cent changes, and they should honour their word, and if people are saying that the premiers should be kept to their deal, I absolutely support that.”
The national plan does not specifically mention state border closures and premiers have argued that the plan is more detailed than just vaccination, with adequate testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine measures needed to ensure hospitals are not overwhelmed.
Dutton said people had to make sure the premiers’ claims about hospital capacity were “right and valid” so people could still get proper medical treatment.
“But we can’t be locked down forever,” he said.
“The mental health issues with teenagers, the separation of grandparents from their grandchildren, the list goes on and on and on, and there is a sensible arrangement of coming out of this at 70 and 80 per cent.
“We are seeing it play out in NSW and now in Victoria as well.
“Queensland, South Australia, WA, and the rest of the country, has to adopt the model and keep the deal they have made.”
