Seal NQ off: MP

NORTH Queensland d should be quarantined d from the rest of Australia, maverick Kennedy MP Bob Katter has s said, in a controversial al measure that includes s the Federal Govern- ment providing an ur- gent $1 billion loan pot for the region immediately.

It comes after the Tasmanian Government made the unprecedented call to deploy the island’s ‘moat’, forcing all travellers into the state into 14 days of mandatory self-isolation.

Mr Katter ( pictured), citing the high death toll in Italy from coronavirus, said it was time to shut North Queensland’s doors to the rest of the world in order to keep the region safe from the disease.

The border in this instance would be somewhere north of Marlborough, with a line drawn out west to Boulia and th the QueenslandN NT border.

Freight would be allowed th through, but there w would be checkpo points, and prime movers would have to either fum migate their cabs and an change drivers, or transfer containers between vehicles.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Queensland jumped by 40 yesterday to a total of 184, with a majority of those still in the southeast corner.

The number of cases in Mr Katter’s version of North Queensland to date have been relatively low when compared with southeast Queensland, with two confirmed cases in Mackay, two in Townsville, and one in Cairns.

So it’s not too late to shut the gate he said, because “we are totally pure, pristine”.