Planned weekend rollbacks not enough: PM demands borders must open
Queenslanders are expected to be able to travel within the state under the fast-tracked lifting of travel restrictions to be announced this weekend, but the Prime Minister has demanded itās not enough and the state needed to justify its decision to keep the border shut.
Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk is expected to give the green light on Sunday for travel within Queensland, combined with the easing of the 20-person limits allowed in cafes, bars and restaurants.
The move would give some relief to ailing businesses furious over the Queensland border remaining shut to interstate travellers.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the border barriers should be āremoved as soon as possibleā.
āThe National Cabinet has never agreed that there should be borders closed in Australia,ā Morrison told Channel Nine.
āThat was never the medical expert advice that came at any time.
āPremiers and their governments in states, whether it is South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, have all made their own decisions and so they have got to justify those decisions.
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āThere is no doubt that those sort of borders do harm the economy, they do harm jobs and it is important that we get those removed as soon as possible.ā
The Premier on Tuesday refused to back away from the Governmentās refusal to open the border, based on medical advice and due to active transmission of coronavirus still being recorded in southern states.
āI donāt want to see everything weāve done in Queensland put at risk because thereās been active transmission in NSW and Victoria,ā Palaszczuk said.
āI want to get people back into work as quickly as possible. But if I donāt do it safely it could cripple our industry for years to come and take us backwards. No one wants to go back to a lockdown.
āSo I say to NSW and Victoria: get your cases under control so we can open everything.ā
Following a meeting with tourism and business chiefs at the Gold Coast, which estimates its tourism industry has suffered a crippling $4 billion in losses as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he backed the Premierās border stance.
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āNobody would think weād be down to 12 cases within 10 weeks when the rest of the world has a second wave and Brazil canāt bury people quick enough,ā Tate said.
āSo my point is that it is a huge price to pay to make sure that we get down to a COVID-free state, but we really have no choice, because if you donāt do it right this pandemic will ignite again. And I back the Premier.ā
But President of Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce Martin Hall, who was among the industry representatives at the meeting, said the borders needed to be open for our businesses to survive.
āIt was disappointing we didnāt walk out of there without some more definite milestones,ā Hall said.
He said travel within the state would āgo nowhere near filling the void that borderless travel would allowā and business needed a firmer date for the lifting of all domestic travel restrictions.
āWe canāt keep treading water endlessly. We need that light on the horizon to swim to,ā Hall said.
āYouāve got to be mindful that even if the borders were opened up today businesses canāt mobilise that quickly. We need that horizon, we need that vision to be able to see and plan because even the smallest business has a supply chain to think about.ā
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
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