Sanitisers, gloves and gowns delivered

Cairns Regional Council has secured sanitisers, gloves and gowns for distribution to local outreach services.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning provided the update on the supply of personal protection equipment (PPE) which is to be distributed to providers such as Junction House, Anglicare, Salvation Army and Red Cross following the seventh meeting today of the Local Leadership Committee (LLC) for the Cairns coronavirus response.

The LLC includes Cr Manning, Member for Cairns Michael Healy, and Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch.

“We have recently taken delivery of a large package of equipment (PPE) from some of Council’s suppliers – 1000 hand sanitisers, 500 pairs of gloves and 300 gowns, and there are masks and thermometers to come,” Cr Manning said.

Cr Manning said the Cairns Local Coronavirus Hotline (1300 396 102) had now received more than 550 calls and urged residents to visit the Council’s coronavirus webpage for a “single point of truth”.

“People can go to the webpage and all the information they require, or the links to that, will be there and it is super simple to navigate,” Cr Manning said.

Mr Entsch welcomed changes to the Federal Government’s Jobseeker package, which now allows registered charities to access the payment subsidy if they had been hit with a 15 per cent decline in turnover.

“Given how important these not-for-profits are going to be in working through this, it important that we could include them in this package,” Mr Entsch said.

“Another positive is in relation to our seasonal workers and news that they can have their visas extended for another 12 months, and there also is extra flexibility for to temporary visa holders.”

Mr Entsch said there had also been significant discussions about addressing problems associated with itinerants and homeless people.

Mr Healy said that he was informed over the weekend of two additional cases in the Cairns region, bringing the cumulative total for the region to 30 confirmed cases.

“A number of people are contacting my office, Warren (Entsch’s) office and the Cairns Regional Council about people who are none compliant,” Mr Healy said.

“The Queensland Police Services are working hard in this area, we appreciate and recognise there are certain cohorts that are not compliant and as a result we want to let people know that we are looking at this issue and doing everything in our power to ensure everyone is doing their part to contain and kill this virus.

“The sooner we all comply, the better it is. Let’s think about others and the broader community.”