Email shows Premier was too hasty blasting Morrison Government over virus response

Annastacia Palaszczuk has used a television appearance to blast the Federal Government’s handling of the coronavirus threat in Queensland, but an email obtained by The Courier-Mail shows the criticism was premature.

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk’s Government had not formally requested contact information for people potentially exposed to coronavirus in China when she blasted the Federal Government for failing to share information about the outbreak.

During an extraordinary round of television appearances this morning, the Queensland Premier sprayed the Morrison Government’s over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying authorities “urgently” needed to contact people who had visited Hubei.

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But The Courier-Mail has obtained correspondence showing the Palaszczuk Government only emailed a request for the information from Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young at 9.21am, hours after the television appearances.

It was followed by a formal letter sent at 11.16am, after Ms Palaszczuk had chaired a meeting of the Queensland Disaster Management Committee.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk blasted the Morrison Government's handling of the coronavirus but she is now under fire after it emerged her rant was premature. (AAP Image/Claudia Baxter)

The attack angered the Morrison Government with Health Minister Greg Hunt rejecting Ms Palaszczuk’s criticism, saying “any information that we have, we have shared and we will share”.

It is understood the issue of sharing passenger contact information with state governments was discussed in a national crisis committee teleconference yesterday afternoon attended by officials from Ms Palaszczuk’s own department.

The issue was also discussed in a separate lower-level phone call between officials from the Queensland and Federal government later last night.

“What do they want, calligraphy,” a spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said.

He added that Federal Government officials had said “we don’t have those types of resources” when asked by Queensland authorities for the passenger information.

Queensland Government officials have also been involved in nearly 20 intergovernmental meetings dealing with coronavirus since January 10.

But Dr Young’s email to Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy this morning was the first official and specific request for information.

“I understand there are passenger cards that will have this information and for Chinese Nationals and other people there will also be visa details,” she wrote.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young Chief Health Officer says she wants more information from the Federal Government to contact people who have potentially been exposed to coronavirus. (AAP Image/Claudia Baxter)

She highlighted the “urgent” need to contact “anyone who had been in Hubei province in the last 14 days”.

“This is urgent given we now have two confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and wish to contain spread of the virus as much as we possibly can,” she said.

It is understood the Morrison Government has offered Queensland authorities all the information they need including passenger details held by the Australian Border Force.

Mr Hunt said the government had already sent the full flight manifest including contact details for passengers aboard a Tigerair flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on Monday night.

Two of the passengers on that flight travelling in a Chinese tour group have tested positive to coronavirus.

Ms Palaszczuk said passenger information had been “asked over the teleconferences” and she was “incredibly frustrated” the Federal Government was not focused on contacting everyone who had been in the coronavirus epicentre of Hubei Province.

“We do not know in Queensland where people are who have come from Hubei Province in the last 14 days and where they are staying,” she said.

“Are they staying in hotels are they staying in other family residences, do they have any symptoms?

“We need to get information out to them so they can be tested if they have any symptoms.”

Dr Young told reporters today she would be “very grateful” if she could get more information from the Federal Government and hoped she would receive it soon.

“I think this would be very helpful to us in terms of containing this virus,” she said.

Originally published as Email shows Premier was too hasty blasting Morrison Government over virus response