Scott Morrison issues border warning to state premiers ahead of Christmas

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned state premiers against deviating from their plans to reopen as Christmas approaches.

Scott Morrison has issued a warning to state premiers ahead of Christmas, urging them not to sway from their existing reopening plans in the face of the Omicron Covid variant.

Speaking to 2GB radio host Jim Wilson, who asked whether Mr Morrison was confident premiers would “stay the course” and “not go and shut the borders at the blink of an eye”, the Prime Minister said: “They shouldn’t, and I don’t believe they will.”

“I think there was a good test of that in the last few days when [South Australian] Premier [Steven] Marshall opted not to go back that way and keep going forward,” he said.

“And when [Queensland] Premier [Annastacia] Palaszczuk decided to open up just that little bit earlier. I think we’re really getting the message through.”

Managing each premier’s response to outbreaks was a “challenging environment”, he added, given the federal government didn’t have any overarching power to overrule them.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said premiers should not slam their borders shut before Christmas. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

“The federation is a challenging environment because all the premiers have their open powers, there’s no power for me to come over the top and make them do X, Y or Z. They haven’t been given any additional powers during this pandemic,” Mr Morrison said.

“It’s the same powers they’ve had for over 100 years, it’s just we don’t have a pandemic every other year, they turn up just about once every hundred years.”

Wilson also asked Mr Morrison about Australia’s international border.

“What can you tell our listeners about international borders reopening? Is it still tracking well for Christmas?” he asked.

“Yes it is. We’re just taking some final bits of information,” said the Prime Minister, adding that national cabinet had discussed the matter earlier on Friday.

“With the moves that Queensland has made, that means people are going to be able to return back to Queensland and be quarantining at home. We’ve already got, you know, the 72 hours (of isolation) in NSW and Victoria. I know that South Australia is looking at those issues as well very soon.”

Mr Morrison said all states and territories, aside from Western Australia, had stuck to the national plan on reopening.

“There’s only one state that hasn’t got there, but all other seven states and territories have got there,” he said.

“We made a deal with the Australian people and we said, ‘You roll up your sleeve, and we’ll bring Australia back together again.’ And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.

“I’m pleased to see so many have kept that deal with the Australian people.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says she hopes premiers stick to their original reopening plans. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

Mr Morrison also reiterated his remarks from earlier in the day saying initial evidence suggested the Omicron variant is less likely to cause severe illness than other variants.

However, national cabinet conceded Australia “is still in the early stages of understanding” Omicron.

The human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015 has therefore been extended for two months to February 17.

More than 88.9 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over have been fully vaccinated, including more than 95.1 per cent of over 50s and more than 98.7 per cent of Australians over 70.

More than 93.2 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over have had a first dose including 97.9 per cent of over 50s and more than 99 per cent of over 70 year olds.

National cabinet will next meet in February.

Originally published as Scott Morrison issues border warning to state premiers ahead of Christmas