Berejiklian ‘mortified’ over QLD’s Victorian border call
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has lashed out yet again at Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after it was revealed the Sunshine State could reopen to Victoria before Greater Sydney. It comes as Queensland records one new case of COVID-19. VOTE IN THE POLL
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Queensland has recorded one new case of COVID-19 overnight, as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian again lashed out at her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk, saying the conditions that will lead to a reopened QLD/NSW border are “unrealistic”.
The new Queensland case was acquired overseas, with the infected person currently in hotel quarantine.
Speaking on Channel Nine’s Today program on Wednesday morning, Ms Berejiklian hit out at
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s previous demands that there should be 28 consecutive days without a mystery case before she would consider re-opening the Queensland border to NSW.
She also demanded that mystery cases be found and linked to existing clusters within 48-hours.
The Greater Sydney area last week reported a mystery case in the Southern Highlands without a source of infection. There have been four close contacts linked to this.
“I think it is unjustified and I think it is spiteful. NSW has demonstrated you can manage the pandemic by keeping the community safe but also by keeping people in jobs and keeping people mobile and relatively free in a COVID-safe way,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We are doing the heavy lifting (in NSW) and we do it because we are Australians. I think it is appropriate that people recognise that and were not so cruel in letting politics get in the way of public health.”
Ms Berejiklian there was no health evidence for the 48-hour deadline.
“I do not know what that medical advice is based on. I have never ever heard about having to track each source of infection within two days – I don’t know where that has come from,” she said on Today.
“I think we’ve got the best contact tracers in Australia, if not the world, here in NSW. Sometimes it can take hours to find a source, sometimes days. Sometimes it takes weeks to get all the genomic sequencing to match. That is what the health facts are.”
The blast comes after Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young yesterday said she was “hopeful” about Queensland opening to Victoria before greater Sydney - a suggestion that angered the NSW Premier.
“There is absolutely no health advice which says that NSW poses a danger to anybody, quite the contrary,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Ms Berejiklian said she would be “mortified” if Victorians were let into Queensland before Sydneysiders.
“I think that the goalposts that Queensland has set for opening the borders to NSW are unrealistic, and I just wish that they would act in a more compassionate and commonsense way,” she said.
One of those goalposts include being able to trace an outbreak to its source within 48 hours, a deadline that ignited tensions over the border last month with NSW contract tracers who were attempting to find three new cases in the state at the time.
“I’ve never heard of health experts saying that you have to trace every single source of infection within two days,” she said.
“I think I’ve made my case clear. And she’s made her position clear.”
Ms Berejiklian was left humiliated last week after it was revealed she was ‘ghosted’ by Ms Palaszczuk when she tried to reignite border discussion, instead only getting a response when Queensland won State of Origin Game I.
When asked if she’d be calling or texting the Ms Palaszczuk tonight after the game, she gave a resounding “No”.
“No, I’m over that to be honest. And it’s not just about me and her any more. It’s a lot at stake,” she said.