The National Cabinet will meet today, bringing together Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for the first time since the Queensland election.
Toping the agenda will be the reopening of state and territory borders.
The NSW premier said it would be “cruel” and “spiteful” if her Queensland counterpart reopened their border to Victoria before NSW, due to Victoria consistently recording zero new cases:
Ms Berejiklian said her focus would be on advocating for the border reopening, doubling down on her position that NSW had done “the heavy lifting” on hotel quarantine for states like Queensland.
“The Queensland Premier shut the borders and is keeping them shut. No one else bears the responsibility”…
Earlier this week Ms Palaszczuk suggested Queensland could reopen to Victoria by Christmas, prompting speculation it could do so before Greater Sydney. However, she will reserve a decision until the end of the month.
Ms Berejiklian said she was “mortified” by the idea Queensland could welcome back travellers from Victoria first, describing it as “cruel” and “spiteful.”
Speaking after the swearing-in of her new cabinet on Thursday morning, Ms Palaszczuk said she was “not going to respond to [Ms Berejiklian] in relation to that,” saying only she would follow health advice on who the state would open to next…
“NSW can’t control it, they’re still … bumping along in Sydney,” he said, criticising Ms Berejiklian for “spending more time attacking Queensland than managing her own state” [Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said]…
The whole issue is about petty politics, not health.
There are only 22 recorded active cases in NSW – a drop in the bucket in a state of 8.2 million people – and NSW has gone six days without a local infection:
NSW has also done the heavy lifting on hotel quarantine, taking in more than half of the nation’s returned travelers.
So what is Queensland doing here? Premier Palaszczuk has won the election, so there is no need to talk tough. Quit the charade and open the damn border.
Otherwise, constituents in her own state will suffer:
Every day state border restrictions remain in place, Gold Coast tourism operators lose another $10m in revenue for reasons they are now struggling to understand…
“It’s cost us a huge amount this year,” said Destination Gold Coast chairman Paul Donovan. “This whole thing has cost us $3.5bn in revenue (an estimated $10m a day), and seven million visitors. We’re really hurting and we will continue to hurt until our largest source of domestic overnight visitors, being Sydney, is opened up.”
It’s time to reunite the nation and allow free movement.
