How will border closures affect the region? Council requests clarification

Goondiwindi Regional Council has requested more information from the Premier’s office about how the upcoming closure of Queensland borders will impact the region’s community.

Mayor of the Goondiwindi region Graeme Scheu said the key message was not to panic and that clarification about how the closure would affect the region’s border towns was expected tomorrow.

“We’ve heard the news today that Queensland will be closing its borders to all non-essential travel, likely from midnight on Wednesday,” said Cr Scheu.

“What that looks like exactly is still to be determined in a border region such as ours, with so many access points and main roads going between the states.”

Goondiwindi Regional Council will be tele-conferencing with the Queensland Government late tomorrow [Tuesday] morning and Cr Scheu said he expected to be in a better position to give more details from tomorrow afternoon.

“In other states there are clear exemptions to border closures in place for residents who live near the state borders, so we just need to wait for the details to see how it’s going to affect our region.”

“We understand the intention of closing borders, but we would encourage the State to respond to the needs of rural agricultural areas, with regional hubs that service geographically dispersed populations.  That differs from the needs of coastal towns.

“I think the key message here is not to panic,” Cr Scheu said.