NOW IS TIME TO DRAW A NEW LINE IN BORDER SAND

PART of the fight against Covid is being able to pivot and put forward practical and not political solutions. This is why the Tweed River should become the new border marker. The Bulletin, in an exclusive report, on Friday shared the view of some strategists on how the health crisis on the Queensland-NSW border could be better managed.

The idea is not new, but the timing seems right this time around.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in July last year wrote to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in a bid to ease problems at the Tweed-Coolangatta border checkpoints.

The Queensland Labor leader suggested moving the border to the Tweed River. Her NSW counterpart suggested she would prefer it being shifted in the other direction. At that time there was no real infection rate with the virus in northern NSW.

The situation now has obviously dramatically changed. The Delta strain is impacting on several northern NSW local government areas.

From the Queensland perspective, the view is the health dramas across the border will not be changing any time real soon.

In the meantime, there are the practical realities of our region’s workers, many of them frontline and essential, leaving their NSW homes and working on the southern coast.

This newspaper has received concerning feedback that many frontline staffers, who have been exempt from restrictions, prefer to stay at home and follow NSW health directives, rather than go to work in Queensland.

Mayor Tom Tate immediately supported using the Tweed River as a border mark. The reason is this will include a large number of workers who are based at Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah and work at Coolangatta and Tugun.

“If by adopting the Tweed River as a temporary border assists the police with enforcement, I’m 100 per cent supportive. I understand a change in border may also greatly help the thousands of workers, school students and essential workers to move between Tweed and Coolangatta.”

The early responses by our readers also support the move.

Part of that Tweed Heads area north of the river includes the hospital, which will help ease the strain on southeast Queensland’s resources.

No solution here will be perfect. Authorities admit there are patients as far south as Coffs Harbour who use the John Flynn Hospital at Tugun or the Robina Hospital.

But the river, as a marker, will ensure the largest catchment of workers will be able to attend work. It is much simpler than using the previous postcode arrangement.