BORDER CHANGE OF HEART
NSW will enter into talks to establish a border bubble boundary at the Tweed River, the Bulletin can reveal.
Despite repeated requests by Queensland to move the boundary south to ease the logistical pain of residents and businesses, the NSW government finally agreed on Friday to work through a solution to the border farce. It comes days after the Bulletin highlighted the Tweed struggles of doctor shortages.
THE Tweed River could be the new Queensland-NSW boundary line of a permanent cross “border bubble” after the NSW government agreed to enter talks with the Palaszczuk government.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro wrote to Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Friday “seeking a review of conditions impacting on local communities”.
The move follows reports in the Bulletin outlining how some depressed border business operators were suicidal after losing 80 per cent of their trade, and Coast-based medical workers could not attend to dying patients on the Tweed.
The Tweed River boundary was first flagged by the newspaper in August as a game breaker for the border pain, but NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian refused repeated requests by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, citing legal and operational costs.
On Friday, Mr Barilaro said he was open to the following measures:
Establishing a consistent “border bubble” region;
Establishing consistent travel conditions for “border bubble” residents, including faster connections for essential health workers providing vital services in both states; Operational improvements on the border, including more crossings;
Creating an appeal process for exemptions.
“I would welcome an opportunity to discuss how we can work together to better manage border restrictions, and the impact on the people of regional Queensland and New South Wales,” Mr Barilaro wrote.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the Queensland government would work with NSW “to put in place whatever measures to keep the border safe and reduce the impacts on the community”.
Several health sources claimed the lockdown was also creating challenges for doctors and specialists. A health source said the Tweed was confronted with a doctor shortage as many Queensland practitioners were struggling to get south to patients.
Other sources say northern NSW specialists are not able to access their Queensland patients, and some Coast private facilities put restrictions in place on their northern NSW-based staff.
The Bulletin asked Gold Coast Health if it had taken a policy position that its doctors and specialists who attended to patients at the University or Robina hospitals were not allowed to access the Tweed Hospital.
“Gold Coast Health has less than 10 specialists who also work at hospitals across the border,” a spokesman said.
“Arrangements have been made for these critically essential staff to continue to work at both facilities. “These doctors will be required to abide by additional infection control measures.”
Bulletin readers reacted to the border health crisis by asking both governments to rethink relocating the border further south.
The Tweed Shire Council and northern NSW MPs joined forces to push for a new “cross border community zone” in the region, which has not recorded a single case during the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.