Pauline Hanson gives Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk one day to open border or face challenge
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has given Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk one day to open Queensland’s borders or face a High Court challenge. It comes as Clive Palmer said he was considering joining Hanson’s fight.
QLD Politics
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ONE Nation leader Pauline Hanson has given Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk an ultimatum, open the borders tomorrow or face a constitutional challenge in the High Court.
It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison also shot over Queensland’s closed borders, saying there is “no doubt” the decision was hurting jobs and the economy.
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Talking on both Nine’s Today Show and Seven’s Sunrise this morning, Senator Hanson has kicked off her birthday by laying down the deadline of opening the borders by 4pm Thursday afternoon or she will move forward with her case against the Premier.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk is actually destroying people's lives, their livelihoods and businesses and they can't go on.” She said on Today.
“I hate this dictatorship. I am all for leadership, but this is dictatorship.”
Senator Hanson has also revealed she sent the ultimatum via letter to Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday afternoon, asking for both her and Queensland’s Chief Medical Officer Jeanette Young to present document showing why Queensland’s borders should remain closed.
Within that letter to the Premier it states:
“We act for various persons who consider that the border ban is invalid under the Commonwealth Constitution and was not authorised by the Public Health Act 2005 (QLD) (the Public Health Act). Because the Border Ban is invalid, we request that you undertake to revoke the Border Ban by 4pm on 28 May 2020 and otherwise undertake not to enforce it.”
If the High Court Challenge is filed, it will be led by Queensland law firm Mahoneys and recently recruited NSW Constitutional Lawyer Guy Reynolds, with additional funding being made through a GoFundMe Page that has been set up in Ms Hanson’s name.
“I want to ensure people that none of this money will go to myself or the oneself party. If there is any money left over, it will go to a charity or charities,” she said.
Speaking on Channel 9 this morning, Mr Morrison said it was up to premiers to explain their decisions to keep borders closed in the face of national advice that it was unnecessary.
“The national Cabinet has never agreed that there should be borders closed in Australia,” he told the Nine Network.
“That was never the medical expert advice that came at any time.
“Premiers and their governments in states, whether it’s SA, WA, Tasmania, Queensland, have all made their own decisions and so they’ve got to justify those decisions.
“There’s no doubt that those sort of orders do harm the economy, they do harm jobs and it is important that we do get those removed as soon as possible.
“They will take their own health advice in their own states, but I want to stress, the national medical advice that came from the expert panel that has driven all the other decisions never recommended closing borders.”
Meanwhile, businessman Clive Palmer is now suggesting he could take High Court action against Ms Palaszczuk after lodging documents seeking to rule WA’s border closure as unconstitutional.
He said he would view that as a test case for similar action in Queensland.
“By maintaining a lock down and closed borders, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has condemned nearly a million Queenslanders to financial ruin, unemployment, stress and family break-up,” said Mr Palmer, whose Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party is running candidates in the upcoming state election.
“There is no time to waste with the winter school holiday break on our doorstep, where an influx of southern visitors could be the saviour for so many Queensland businesses on the brink of closing their doors forever.
“Queenslanders need certainty.
“Australia’s deputy chief medical officer and leading expert on infectious diseases, Professor Paul Kelly, says it’s safe to open the domestic borders yet Annastacia Palaszczuk thinks she knows better.”
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