Workers in North keen to get busy
MORE than $90 million is bleeding from North Queensland every week that domestic travel is restricted.
It’s a sobering number from our tourism and hospitality sector – the industry hit first and hardest by COVID-19.
But it’s not just a statistic. It represents livelihoods and people. The impacts of this global health and economic crisis do not discriminate. They’re far-reaching and many North Queensland businesses are on their last legs.
Financial relief measures to wade through the immediate devastation were warmly welcomed. But we’re workers in the North, and want to get back to our jobs.
The State Government has a solid recovery framework in place for the state, but North Queensland can potentially reopen sooner.
With neighbouring tourism bodies we’ve outlined to the premier and CHO that North Queensland can reopen responsibly and safely with only slight road map adjustments. We’re not asking to reinvent the wheel. Minor modifications will mean major business benefit.
The ideal option is expanding the Outback travel bubble across all regions north of Mackay and increasing gathering allowances of 20 to 50 from June 5, followed by whole of state reopening and select interstate travel.
Increasing patronage allowances is key – if visitors can travel here we need as many as possible in businesses.
The north and south disparity cannot be overstated.
What may work in Toowong cannot be expected to work in Townsville.
There’s 1300km between the two and more than 4 million people within a 250km radius in the South East compared to 400,000 within twice that distance in North Queensland, not to mention our region’s clean bill of health for more than 50 days.
We’re not the sole voice in this discussion. Several state and federal members, councils, local media and businesses are saying the same thing.
We look forward to the premier’s review, and whether it’s a bubble or a regional management zone, we all want to return to work as soon and as safely as possible to get our economy moving again.