Taskforce established to help region recover from COVID-19

Townsville City Council will establish a dedicated taskforce to bring together business, community and government in a collective approach to the long-term health, social and economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact not only on the Townsville community but nationally and internationally,” Mayor Jenny Hill said.

“Locally, we have seen business closures and changes, job losses and changes to the way we interact with each other.

“Council acted quickly in responding to the impact on the community, announcing a range of initiatives including the deferral of rates and pedestal charges, a reduction in development application fees and infrastructure charges and the breaking-up of work packages to allow more contractors to secure work on council projects.

“However, the recovery from the impacts of the pandemic will require all sectors of our community, and all levels of government work together to plan a united approach for how we take the city and indeed the region into this new world.

The taskforce will report to Council monthly and link into State and Federal government taskforces.

“We want to have the right people at the table to provide advice on how best to recover so our community not only recovers, but finds itself in a stronger and more resilient position than it was before the pandemic,” Cr Hill said.

“Current modelling indicates it may take 3-5 years for communities to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, which is why Townsville City Council has established this taskforce.”