Border blues
In case you are not aware, the people/businesses living along the State Border between Jennings and Legume and as far northeast as White Swamp are totally reliant on the towns of Stanthorpe, Warwick and Killarney. The people living at White Swamp actually live closer to Brisbane than they do to Tenterfield. Seven of the largest farms put approximately $10,000,000 into the Queensland economy, in this case, Stanthorpe, in fact, we are de facto Queenslanders and take exception to be being treated like infectious aliens.
The residents of this area very seldom use Tenterfield for anything other than paying of rates or registration, I have been informed that Queensland businesses are being negatively affected because NSW residents have had to take their business to Tenterfield and these days with more people using the internet for many business transactions it will be a long time before some of these businesses return to Queensland
It appears to be a case of Queensland doesn’t want our business so we will go somewhere a bit more friendly.
So far all of the tourism ventures have had a loss of between 80-100 per cent because all their guests come from Queensland.
In Wallangarra/Jennings the town’s hotel is in Jennings and in their wisdom, a cement barrier was placed on a road leading to the hotel right in front of the hotel and the barrier is in NSW the barrier should have been placed 200 meters back up the road in Queensland.
A plumbing business is up for sale due to Queensland restrictions placed on the business crossing the border.
One produce agency has had an 80 per cent reduction in turnover. This agency is less than a kilometre from the border, whereas another NSW produce agency has had very little reduction in turnover because QLD customers can drive right to his shop unrestricted even though the shop is in NSW! No attempt to isolate this road has been made! The residents along this road have been free to come and go!
Several of the large horticultural enterprises have either closed or have scaled back operations, some due to restrictions on getting workers on to the properties, to be fair a large portion of the blame for those farms that have stopped producing can be directed to the amount of red/green tape imposed on agriculture by the NSW Government.
The horticultural area I mentioned is all around Liston.
Incidentally all of the border residents are in the catchment area of Queensland Health Which was made possible by a great Labor leader Gough Whitlam, and has been that way for 50 years until now and gave us a sense of identity, unfortunately we see another labor leader destroying all the great work done by Gough Whitlam, incidentally, the only risk posed to us border residents of covid19 was when a Warwick person tested positive.
The easy fix would be to give the residents in the mentioned area a restriction free permanent pass based on phone numbers, Liston 0746861xxx, Legume 07466641xx or addresses.
These businesses need help either Federally or from NSW after all we are NSW citizens, it is highly unlikely that Queensland would help even though they caused the problem through either indifference or ignorance.
Gary Verri, Willsons Downfall
If you have a letter or opinion you would like to share with Warwick/Stanthorpe Today readers, send your Letter to the Editor to newsdesk@warwickstanthorpetoday.com.au or drop it into our office at 94 Palmerin St, Warwick.
The editorial team holds the right to edit or withhold letters.
