Thursday, 9 September 2021
FOLLOWING today’s announcement removing northern NSW local government areas, including border LGAs, from lockdown, there’s now no excuse for Queensland to maintain its draconian and heartless hard border closure, according to Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall.
In a letter to the Queensland Premier today, Mr Marshall has called on the Queensland Government to “tear down the border wall” between the two states and reinstate the border zone bubble for the benefit of residents on both sides.
“The Queensland Premier now has no more excuses to hide behind for continuing the punitive hard border restrictions,” Mr Marshall said.
“With all border local government areas from Moree Plains in the west, through to Tweed in the east, being removed from the NSW lockdown, Queensland should immediately review its hotspots declaration too.
“These LGAs should not be marked as COVID hotspots by the Queensland Government and this would allow them to reinstate the border zone bubble and allow people in border communities to get on with their lives again.
“With one of the largest harvests in living memory a matter of months away, a resolution to the hard border is crucial for our agricultural sector on both sides of the border.
“We also need some resolution to the heartless decision to force boarding school students to choose between staying in Queensland for their upcoming school holidays, or spending 14 days in quarantine, at their own cost, when they return for school next term.
“I’ll keep working with Cross Border Commissioner James McTavish, Deputy Premier John Barilaro and other State and Federal MPs on both sides of the border to resolve these matters.
“I’m hoping this welcome decision to end lockdown in our border LGAs will be the catalyst for a political reset on the Queensland side of the border and an opportunity to break the current impasse.
“It’s in the interests of people on both side of the border that the border zone bubble return as a matter of priority.”