MAKE UP YOUR MIND
LAST WEEK... Palaszczuk Govt admitted it had no idea of the cost of border closures TODAY... Her Govt will argue the border block has not hurt 60,000 Gold Coast businesses
THE State Government won’t admit in court its controversial closure of Queensland’s border is causing financial hardship to suffering Gold Coast businesses. The stunning defence to a legal challenge to overturn the border block comes after Treasury told the Bulletin last week it “has not modelled the impact”. Coast business boss Martin Hall called the legal defence “the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard”.
THE State Government is refusing to admit in the High Court its controversial closure of the Queensland border is causing financial hardship to suffering Gold Coast business.
That is the state’s stunning defence to a small business legal challenge aimed at overturning the border block.
The legal argument comes after the Queensland Treasury department last week conceded to the Bulletin it “has not modelled the impact of the Queensland border closure”.
Told last night of the State Government’s defence, gobsmacked Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said: “That is possibly the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard.”
The development in the High Court challenge to the controversial border lockdown could stall the case by forcing business owners involved to prove how much revenue they have lost since restrictions.
The group of business ownShe ers and individuals challenging the border lockdown will today attempt to force the Queensland Government to hand over documents used to justify the interstate travel ban.
In a defence argument filed in the High Court, State Solicitor-General Sandy Thompson QC revealed the Government “do not admit” the business’ financial hardship is a result of the border restrictions.
The document appears to contradict comments from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk acknowledging the disastrous financial impact of the restrictions on tourism businesses and workers. On May 19, she told parliament the state’s $12 billion tourism industry was dealt a “crippling blow” during the pandemic and it had been “absolutely heartbreaking to witness”.
“It has been heartbreaking to make tough but unavoidable decisions; for example, the decision to close our borders and place hard restrictions on the industry knowing they would hurt, while at the same time understanding they were absolutely critical to save lives.”
said the impact was something “I never imagined I would witness in my lifetime”.
Previous estimates have put the potential blow to tourism at $5 billion if the border remains shut until September.
Ms Palaszczuk has said she will not consider opening the borders before a review of the measure at the end of June.
The companies – Mount Ommaney Travel agency Travel Essence and the parent company of Reefinity Adventures which runs a charter service on the Great Barrier Reef – argue they continue to suffer financial hardship as a result of the border closure.
Linen hire company – Super
Services Group – says it has been unable to grow outside of Queensland and NSW due to the restrictions.
The case is scheduled to return to court today at noon for an urgent directions hearing into access of the documents the Government is relying on to keep the borders closed.
The Government yesterday failed to meet a deadline to hand over the documents, a move they opposed last week on the grounds the subpoena seeking the advice had been invalidly lodged.
A separate constitutional challenge to the border closures being brought by billionaire businessman Clive Palmer’s flagship company Mineralogy and others is expected to be heard in the first week of July.
Asked about the challenge facing Coast businesses, Mr Hall said: “Listen to the genuine stories from small business owners across the Coast feeling the loss compared to this time last year.”
NEWLY elected Southport city councillor Brooke Patterson is facing a backlash from some residents after publicly supporting Mayor Tom Tate and firing a political shot at the Premier.
A prominent Coast LNP member who ran as an independent in the March local government poll, Cr Patterson has been accused of trotting out the “party line” to target Annastacia Palaszczuk about the closed border.
In a post on her Facebook page, Cr Patterson wrote: “The Premier owes the Gold Coast Mayor and the Gold Coast an apology.”
Cr Patterson explained that the Mayor had agreed the city needed to make sacrifices including the border closure then he “took the hit from a justifiably aggrieved and deeply distressed Gold Coast businesses”.
“Now the Premier shows us she is happy to bend the rules when it suits her,” she wrote.
The Facebook post included an aerial photograph showing thousands of people in inner city Brisbane protesting at a Black Lives Matter rally.
“How does she allow this kind of mass grouping while allowing the Gold Coast to suffer?
“This is a slap in the face to our mayor and our city,” Cr Patterson wrote.
A resident in a post wrote: “Come on Brooke don’t jump on the LNP bandwagon by copying Deb’s (Opposition leader Deb Frecklington) posts.”
Another resident wrote: “Brooke it’s obvious this post has backfired. You went into the local government elections on the platform of being an independent candidate, even as you are a member of the LNP. It’s a shame on you, so early after your win in Division 6, are now pushing the LNP State Opposition’s misguided propaganda.”
Cr Patterson was also accused by a resident of deleting posts, but denied this.
Cr Patterson told the Bulletin she stood by her comments on social media.
“The Premier owes our Mayor and the city an apology. The Mayor took the Premier in good faith when she came down just 10 days prior to ask him to back her very strict position,” she said.