North’s wait is unfair
I REFER to the article on page 11 ( TB, 9/5), “Toast to recovery plans”. The obvious question to be asked is what is so magical about this coming Saturday?
We here in the North of the state have been locked down for over a month now with no new cases, so why do we have to wait?
Our illustrious premier was asked to draw a line from Rockhampton north to protect the North from the south of the state where the virus was rampant but she categorically denied the request out of hand.
If that request had been granted, perhaps we here in the North could have been well on our way to getting back to some form of normality.
If we had have been locked down from the start we would have had minus six confirmed cases in Cairns that we know of.
Perhaps one of the reasons to deny such a request is because Health Minister Steven Miles would have had a problem differentiating the differing requirements that could have been instigated between the North and south.
But surely Saturday can’t go ahead as the state is not divided and according to the Queensland Health website (7/5) two new cases of the virus have been confirmed in the south of the state.
Here we have double standards being imposed, over a month in the North to be clear of cases but only over a week in the south (to date).
This just exposes how the pandemic is being managed in Queensland by our Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young.
Their efforts leave a lot to be desired.
I have the paper delivered every day but I can’t for the life of me recall in the last month reading any article or letter published by the paper from any of the three Palaszczuk representatives based in Townsville supporting our local businesses and the people – some of whom voted for them at the last election – in getting the city open for business sooner rather than later.
As the state election is starting to loom over the horizon, I would suggest it would be prudent to enclose a document with the voting form for people to endorse whether the area from Rockhampton north should become a separate state.
Only people in the North would be allowed to vote and people in the south of the state would have no say in the matter as we currently do not have any say in what happens in Brisbane.
With regards to the comments made by MP Scott Stewart regarding a clear map, how can it be clear when we need a month of no cases in the North and only a week in the south?
No wonder Minister Miles is confused.
DAVID THOUMINE,
Cranbrook.