On a picturesque stretch of Tasmania’s east coast, Kate Bradley’s berry farm and cafe has struggled since Covid drastically cut the number of hungry tourists pulling up for her “desserts with a view”.
But as Tasmanians prepare for the border with the rest of the nation to open fully on Wednesday, Bradley shares mixed feelings of anxiety and relief with many in the island state.
“I’m a little bit apprehensive about opening up. One part of me says bring it on as quickly as possible, the other says, how are we going to go?” Bradley says.
“But we need the business and I’m optimistic.
“All my staff are vaccinated and most of our family are too. I’ve got all the cleaning and sanitation gear here and I’m also going to buy for all my staff these rapid antigen tests. I’m as prepared as I can be.”
Tasmanians have enjoyed a relatively restriction-free lifestyle throughout 2021, with no community cases of Covid. Apart from a three-day lockdown when a traveller fled hotel quarantine, there have been no orders to wear masks except in hospitals, airports and at large events.
The island has the nation’s oldest population and one of the poorest health systems, so many Tasmanians have welcomed the government’s hardline stance on borders.
Locals have also been free to travel around the state, enjoying the novelty of visiting Wineglass Bay and Cradle Mountain free from the usual busloads of interstate and overseas tourists.
If South Australia’s experience is anything to go by, Tasmania’s Covid-free status will end in a matter of days once the state opens to Victoria and New South Wales on Wednesday.
There is a sense of anticipation in central Hobart as Christmas shoppers and lunchtime diners make the most of, as one business owner puts it, the “last days without Covid”.
“I’m actually terrified,” grandmother Judy says over a bowl of leek and potato soup at Mathers House, a community space run by Hobart city council that offers positive ageing workshops and three-course roast lunches.
“I have a brother in New Zealand, a sister in WA and a sister in Canberra and they’re jealous that we’ve done so well here and they can’t believe we’re opening up.
“We don’t have the capacity in the hospitals and it doesn’t take much for one person to come in and infect everyone.”
Another patron, Leon Glover, is more ambivalent. “It’s a real double-edged sword,” he says.
“Businesses need the people from Melbourne and Sydney, but locals have been spending locally, and if there’s a shutdown they won’t be spending anything. That’s the conundrum.”
Concerns for health system
Emily Shepherd from the nurses’ union says hospitals are already under strain and not in a position to cope with a large Covid outbreak.
“Our members are working extremely long hours – overtime, double shifts – just to meet the healthcare demands of Tasmanians without Covid-19,” Shepherd told the ABC.
The premier, Peter Gutwein, has attempted to allay concerns, saying the state will have access to 367 ventilators and up to 114 intensive care beds if needed, as well as extra health staff and a home care program for low-risk Covid patients.
“I know this will concern people. I have a family, I live in the state as well,” Gutwein told state parliament.
“We have had the rare opportunity over the last 18 months of having one of the best runs of Covid-19 out of any jurisdiction in the world. We have to rejoin the world.”
More than 90% of Tasmanians over the age of 16 have been double vaccinated, but children under 12 will not have access to vaccines until 10 January.
The Hobart-based federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie predicts Gutwein’s popularity will suffer as Tasmanians adjust to life with Covid.
“To be fair to Peter Gutwein, I think he’s trying to find a balance between the competing demands of the hospitality and tourism sector and the fair number of Tasmanians who want to keep the border shut indefinitely,” Wilkie says.
For parents like Mark Thomas, whose Tasmanian-born children are either working or studying in Melbourne, the open border will allow for a much-anticipated family reunion at Christmas.
“I know many Tasmanians are feeling nervous about the borders reopening, but the reality is that we must open, for the overall Tasmanian economy, which relies so strongly on the tourism and hospitality sectors,” Thomas says.
But Madi Peattie, the organiser of Hobart’s popular Franko night market, has found herself uncharacteristically pessimistic ahead of the border opening. After this Friday she is shelving the event, which usually runs weekly throughout summer and into autumn in a leafy inner-city park.
“Franko will sit it out until December 2022. I think everybody is going to hibernate for six months and then we’ll spend six months learning to live with it, like they are in Victoria and New South Wales. I think it’s going to be a real shock to the system,” Peattie says.
At Franko’s season launch, patrons had to wear masks in line with government guidelines around events, which Peattie says are unfairly onerous compared with rules for pubs and clubs.
“For every one person who came in, two people left. And they were angry too, because we didn’t have disposable masks, because we’re waste-free.
“This is what worries me about the shock that our community will face. If you haven’t been carrying a mask with you for the last six months, then you’re not really understanding what’s coming.”
