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Qld reopens, calls for JobKeeper extension

Marty SilkAAP
Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland is reopening its border to NSW coronavirus hotspots.
Camera IconAnnastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland is reopening its border to NSW coronavirus hotspots.

Queensland's premier is calling for JobKeeper to be extended for tourism operators as the state prepares to reopen its last domestic border to Greater Sydney.

Annastacia Palaszczuk says Sydneysiders will no longer face mandatory coronavirus quarantine on arrival and road border checkpoints will be dismantled from February 1.

Queensland shut the border to 35 local government areas in Sydney, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains amid the COVID-19 outbreak in December, causing chaos for travellers before Christmas.

"NSW residents are now all welcome back into Queensland at 1am on the first of February - this is wonderful news," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.

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All Australians will be able to visit the state from Monday, but with school holidays already over in most states she is concerned tourism businesses will suffer when JobKeeper ends in March.

The premier is calling for the federal payments to be extended for industries such as tourism, which is dependent on international visitors.

"Perhaps Scott Morrison and the federal government could look at those industries that are doing it tough, and maybe JobKeeper, it does need to be extended for those industries," she said.

"We know other industries have bounced back after COVID and some industries are doing a lot better than others, but we do know that the tourism industry is hurting, especially those regions which relied heavily on international travellers."

Ms Palaszczuk said 10,000 businesses in the state's far north alone were on JobKeeper and they needed help as long as the international border remained shut.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli backed the call to extend JobKeeper to tourism, but said the state should also be playing its part.

He suggested that infrastructure projects would help the region's economy, which had been struggling well before COVID-19.

"Let's look to extend JobKeeper for regions or industries that are doing it tough, but leadership is also about putting your shoulder to the wheel on the things that you control," Mr Crisafulli said.

"And I would love to see the state get fair dinkum and start spending some money and creating some real jobs while we go."

The premier indicated there would not be blanket border closures in future, with a national hotspot regime adequately containing outbreaks in Sydney and Brisbane in the past two months.

Ms Palaszczuk said she was still putting together a proposal to shift city hotel quarantine to regional camps, with two options being explored.

She said it was her priority to protect the community and the economy from the UK variant of the virus while ensuring people in quarantine were safe and comfortable.

"These (camps) are like four star, they're not like two star, and they're very well ventilated and there's lots of room to move and everything, and then you have all your workers on site as well, there's less risk," she said.

"Our quarantine is our last line of defence, and if that UK strain gets out now in our community, I am really, really concerned what that will do to our economy.

"It could decimate our economy, not for weeks, but for months, so I think we all need to be on our guard."

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