Qld election 2020: Berejeklian says Frecklington ‘would have opened borders months ago’

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she’s becoming increasingly frustrated by Annastacia Palaszczuk’s hard border stance, saying she would work better with Deb Frecklington.

Gladys Berejiklian says she’s becoming increasingly frustrated by being “lumped in” with Victoria when it comes to Queensland’s perception of her state’s COVID-19 risk, and the state’s opposition leader Deb Frecklington would have opened the borders “months ago”.

Speaking on Nine’s Today show on Wednesday morning, the NSW Premier said she was frustrated by her state being lumped in with Victoria for the last few months by her Queensland counterpart.

She said an LNP Queensland government was the best way for the Sunshine State to get jobs and its economy back on track.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steven Saphore

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“NSW has managed to have a thriving economy, we’re getting jobs back. We’re allowing our citizen as much freedom as possible in a COVID-safe way,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“You can’t compare NSW to what Victoria’s been through. That’s why the Queensland (border) completely lacks ration, it doesn’t make sense. There is no reason why the Queensland border is there.

“Queensland’s benchmark … I don’t think anywhere on the planet would be able to meet the 28-day benchmark (Queensland) gave us which I’ve never heard of.”

When asked whether she and Annastacia Palaszczuk weren’t speaking, Ms Berejiklian laughed and said “that’s a fair assumption”.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Zizi Averill.

Ms Palaszczuk is expected to receive advice from the Queensland chief health officer this week as to whether Queensland will open its borders to NSW from next Monday.

An announcement is expected to be made on Friday, on the eve of the Queensland election.

Ms Berejiklian said she had a “great working relationship” with Ms Frecklington and that they spoke as recently as yesterday.

“She feels strongly about keeping jobs and getting tourism up and running,” she said.

“I know if she was elected premier she would open the border … She would have done it months ago because that’s the way Deb and the LNP are because they know it is important to control the virus and keep the jobs and economy going because in six months time when JobKeeper isn’t there anymore, we don’t want to see literally hundreds of thousands of Australians join the job queue.”