Mayor calls for checkpoint rethink

TWEED Mayor Katie Milne wants border checkpoints to be shifted south of the Tweed.

Earlier this week, Ms Milne had suggested the blockade could move into the Gold Coast “to Bilinga-Tugun”, instead of to the Tweed River. It echoed NSW Premier Gladys

Berejiklian who shot down relocating it south and said “if anything” if should go north.

But now Cr Milne said her community faced “extreme distress”: “As an alternative, state governments may wish to consider moving checkpoints to the southern end of Tweed Shire where traffic could be more easily controlled.”

“The proposal by the Queensland Premier to move the checkpoint south to the Tweed River would simply move the same problem into NSW and the Tweed Shire.

“While border communities are highly interconnected, the communities within the Tweed Shire are connected to an even greater degree.”

She slammed the Queensland Government’s implementation of the border blockade.

“The management needs to be far more considerate of our border communities to relieve the havoc and extreme distress on our residents and businesses,” she said.

A GOLD Coaster has likened her stay at a Surfers Paradise quarantine hotel to a “cruel and unusual punishment” after enduring two weeks of constant construction noise.

The woman, released on Thursday morning, did not want to be named for fear of impacting her employment but flew home this month after travelling to Melbourne for work.

Like others in isolation at the QT Hotel who have spoken out, the woman said she understood why she was there and abided by the rules, but inescapable jackhammering at the hotel pool was “too much”.

The hotel has since informed the Bulletin the works and noise have stopped.

“I was staying up late to work in peace and quiet,” she said. “I had ear plugs on and the TV blaring through the day to drown it out but it still wasn’t enough. They said there was nothing they could do. Every staff member I spoke to had their scope of responsibility, no one dealt with the issue.’’

The woman said authorities agreed to stop work for a few hours so she could carry out a Zoom business meeting but the jackhammer started again before the meeting ended.

“At one point I was in tears on the phone to the Red Cross lady checking in on me. I wouldn’t pay $2800 for this. No one would. It was driving me insane. I thought they had