Coronavirus Australia: Mark McGowan says reopening borders ‘complete madness’

WA Premier Mark McGowan has decried Australia’s plan to reopen borders at 70 per cent vaccination rate and hit out at a joke about cave dwellers.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has launched a public rant about borders, sensationally declaring the plan to open Australia up at 70 or 80 per cent vaccination rates “complete madness”.

Mr McGowan posted a lengthy rant to Facebook on Monday night, taking aim at “commentary” from interstate leaders and the Commonwealth on WA’s hard border stance.

Mr McGowan claimed “hundreds” would die if WA opened up when NSW reached 70 per cent vaccination rates, and argued the focus should remain on making sure the rest of Australia’s “fate” wasn’t the same as NSW’s.

You may have heard some commentary from the eastern states recently about WA and the national plan to transition out of...

Posted by Mark McGowan on Monday, August 30, 2021

“Some people want us to remove our border controls with Sydney when only 70 per cent of adults are vaccinated … by knowingly letting the virus in, it would mean we’d have hundreds of people die, have to wind back our local freedoms, introduce restrictions and shut down large parts of our economy,” Mr McGowan wrote.

“Right now, in August, the focus should be on dealing with the crisis in NSW … The Commonwealth government should be more concerned about getting the current situation under control, and trying to spare the rest of the country from the fate that NSW is suffering.”

Mark McGowan has hit out at the federal government over pressure for WA to commit to reopening their border. Picture Jackson Flindell

Mr McGowan also hit back at comments from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who last week drew comparisons with border hesitant states like WA and cave-dwelling early humans in the kids movie The Croods.

“We are not living in caves, we have some of the freest, most open, exciting communities in the world and we want to keep it that way while we get our population vaccinated,” he wrote.

“The idea that we would prematurely decide to deliberately import the virus and shut down parts of the mining industry, is complete madness.”

Mr McGowan also criticised the federal government for advocating for border closures to be lifted.

“It‘s just odd for the Commonwealth government to keep arguing for this … Western Australia will remove our controlled border with other states in the future, when it is safe to do so,” Mr McGowan wrote.

It comes after warnings from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who has repeatedly threatened to cut rogue states off from the Covid support piggy bank if they refuse to reopen in line with vaccination targets.