Opinion: Premier’s dilemma - Open up and let Covid in or keep Fortress QLD?

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk sits at a very difficult crossroads that could spell political suicide if the wrong move is made. Open up or keep pursuing the elimination strategy? VOTE IN POLL

Open the borders and let Covid spread through the community or keep pursing the elimination strategy?

That’s the multi-billion dollar dilemma for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

For someone who was re-elected largely off the back of her tough Covid response, Ms Palaszczuk now sits at a very difficult crossroads.

Queensland is currently Covid-free and enjoying the freedoms our southern neighbours can only dream of.

But as the world, and our Covid-ravaged southern neighbours, progress plans to reopen to the globe, Queensland stands at risk of being left behind, literally locked behind state lines.

It’s a tale of two pandemics - for the first 18 months the strategy was simple, do whatever it takes to keep Covid out.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is at a political crossroads with her Covid strategy. Photo John Gass

Queensland did that remarkably well.

But as our population edges closer to that 80 per cent vaccination milestone, the Premier faces one of the toughest decisions of her tenure.

Open up and let loose the virus she’s fought so hard to keep out? Or keep Queensland as its own little island, cut off from the rest of the world?

There are positives and negatives for both.

On the one hand, we’re desperately clinging to the hope life will one day soon get back to ‘normal’ where we can travel the globe and visit family interstate without the risk of being locked out or forced into 14-days hotel quarantine upon returning home.

People are desperate to see their families and we cannot underestimate the mental health toll the past 18 months has taken on everyone.

We need the ability to plan events and celebrations with certainty - without the risk of a snap lockdown.

We need the economy firing again.

But on the flip side, many (understandably) don’t want to catch Covid ... no matter how mild.

And any parent with a child under 12 won’t want to expose their child - currently without having the option of vaccination - to catch the virus.

So what do you do?

The Premier is clearly torn.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will be pushing for her residents to be allowed into Queensland once we hit 80 per cent. Photo: Jeremy Piper

Faced with increasing pressure from the Federal Government to toe the line and stick with the National Cabinet decision to reopen at 80 per cent, she risks huge backlash if she reneges.

But that decision was first made before Delta outbreaks took hold in NSW and Victoria.

If she reopens, Delta will undoubtably rip through Queensland too.

It could be political suicide if Queensland suddenly began recording hundreds (or even thousands) of cases each day and multiple deaths.

As chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said, ‘no death is acceptable’.

For a state that’s been lucky enough to avoid any serious scale of Covid outbreak, that scenario will not be well received by voters.

But the alternative will likely wreak havoc on the economy and people’s mental health.

The latest Newspoll shows support for the Morrison government is sinking in most states ... all except Queensland which shows a majority Coalition stronghold with a 55/45 per cent lead.

For a Premier who has tracked public sentiment closely during the pandemic, the support for her nemesis ScoMo could indicate the tide is turning away from her elimination strategy.

Will she pursue New Zealand and Tasmania’s strategy of a 90 per cent vaccination rate before reopening borders?

Does she introduce a raft of freedoms for the vaccinated population as a sweetener to keeping ‘Fortress Queensland’ in place for a while longer?

Unlike Melbourne and Sydney, Queensland has avoided lengthy lockdowns in 2021. Photo: David Geraghty

Does she wait for a Delta outbreak in Queensland and then, follow the other states who very much threw their hands in the air and said ‘you win Delta’?

Or does she stick to the national plan, accept that eventually we need to learn to live with Covid, and begin the steps back to normality?

Based on recent comments, Ms Palaszczuk is leaning toward keeping those infected southerners firmly out for the indefinite future.

Whatever the decision, she cannot keep Queenslanders in limbo any longer.

She needs to tell us what the plan is - do we stay locked in our beautiful state or is there a light at the end of the tunnel for freedom to roam again?

We deserve some certainty back into our lives after a very uncertain 18 months.