Qld will fight case to force border reopening
The State Government has said it will pay ‘whatever price is necessary’ to keep Queensland safe, flagging it would fight any court bid to force our border open.
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QUEENSLAND will “pay whatever is necessary” to keep Queensland safe, including by fighting a High Court case trying to force the state to reopen the borders, Treasurer Cameron Dick says.
The Opposition has today attacked the Palaszczuk Government over wasting taxpayer money by fighting the High Court case when businesses were suffering from the border closure.
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But Mr Dick said he did not resile from protecting people, calling the High Court case “a contest” to keep Queensland safe.
“We are in a contest at the High Court to keep Queensland protected,” he told Parliament.
The Treasurer said the government would not “lift the drawbridge” until they knew for sure Queenslanders would be safe from COVID-19 transmission in NSW and Victoria.
“We will pay whatever is necessary to get Queensland through this,” he said.
The Queensland roadmap says that the borders are due to reopen on July 10, subject to review by health authorities.
Meanwhile Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’s travelled across regional Queensland in recent weeks and been told people don’t want their families to catch COVID-19.
“People across Queensland do not want the borders open and risk all of our great health response,” she said.
“We have put in place a very clear roadmap.
“The Prime Minister has said July, our roadmap says July.
“We will assess it at the end of the month.”
Ms Palaszczuk said she would not put Queenslanders’ health at risk.
“Of course we recognise that businesses are doing it tough ... but they would be doing it even tougher if there was an outbreak of community transmission in Queensland,” she said.
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