Premier insists she made border decision on health advice

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has rejected claims public sentiment polling conducted by an advisory firm played any role in the latest border announcement.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has gambled on not fully opening up the state’s borders to NSW as she attempts to win over Queenslanders in Saturday’s knife-edge election.

Some of the nation’s most prominent tourism and business leaders on Friday unleashed on the decision, which keeps Queensland’s biggest tourism markets – worth about $20 million a day to the state’s economy, locked out.

The decision to open up to NSW from November 3 – but not to Sydney – was made the day after polling by Newgate Research revealed a significant spike in Queenslanders’ support for border reopenings this week.

The polling is conducted by the research arm of a public relations firm whose director has been paid $190,000 by the Government to advise it on its COVID-19 response.

Late on Friday, the Premier denied seeing the polling, or using it to inform her decision, despite it being distributed throughout the Government.

As some of Australia’s leading business figures slammed the government over the decision, Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young revealed her advice was based on concerns of just one mystery case in NSW.

It was one of four identified on Thursday, with the other three linked to the mystery case.

In an unusual move, moments before Dr Young gave the address, Ms Palaszczuk politicised the announcement saying she kept Queenslanders safe, while claiming Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington’s push to open the borders in July could have led to a Victoria-style outbreak.

“I think everyone will remember when Deb Frecklington called for the borders to be open and the consequence that could’ve happened there,” she said.

Health Minister Steven Miles used the press conference to land political attacks on the LNP leader.

One of the documents showing public sentiment toward border closures.

“I think what you can see here is a very, very stark contrast; our Premier who listens to the advice and acts on the advice, versus Deb Frecklington who said she wouldn’t borrow and announced yesterday she would borrow,” he said.

The announcement sparked a series of extraordinary attacks from business leaders ranging from the CEO of Qantas to a former surfing world champion, accusing the state government of “killing Christmas” and of standing by a policy that was “going to be a sh*tshow”.

The Newgate Research polling dated Thursday showed support for the state borders opening “by Christmas” had increased “significantly”, up from 55 per cent last week to 65 per cent this week.

The move to exclude Greater Sydney has disrupted thousands of travellers and more than a dozen airline routes into Queensland, with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce slamming Ms Palaszczuk’s decision as “ridiculous”.

“Keeping the doors bolted ... makes no sense from a health perspective and it’s doing a lot of social and economic damage as well,” he said.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said waiting until the end of November to make a call on whether Sydneysiders can return to the state would all but kill off the vital Christmas holiday trading period.

“By then it will be far too late for people to make plans for the Christmas holidays with any confidence,” he said. His comments were backed by Warner Village Theme Parks chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa who forecast a dire holiday period, just a day after the company shelved plans to hire an extra 500 staffers for the summer season.

“It’s going to be a sh*tshow,” he said. “I’m not sure how long we can sustain this, I’m not sure how long this city can sustain this.”

Virgin will double the number of Brisbane-Newcastle flights each week from three to six and the airline is already operating a small number of NSW-Queensland flights, but extra Sydney-based routes including Cairns, Hamilton Island, the Whitsundays and Sunshine Coast which were to have resumed operations this week have been shelved in a move affecting more than a dozen flights a week and thousands of passengers.

Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills described the border announcement as “a disappointing and confusing decision”.

“This is another setback for Queensland tourism businesses, and I feel for the small businesses and operators who rely on the passengers coming through our airports,” he said.

Airport Retail Enterprises CEO John Chapman has seen his Gold Coast workforce slashed from 90 to 50 over recent months and he predicted further cuts based on yesterday’s decision.

“It’s devastating,” he said. “We were about to reopen some outlets in the hope Sydney would be allowed back in, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to deliver more bad news to staff now.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images

Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Hilary Jacobs said the damage to Queensland’s tourism reputation was “immeasurable”.

“If I was somebody living outside of Queensland, I would not be booking my holiday to come to Queensland because there has been no consistency and no way of knowing if you will be able to come here,” she said.

Former world surfing champ Joel Parkinson, who owns the Blackstone Cafe and Bar at Gold Coast Airport, blasted the border decision as “a joke”. “She’s (Premier Palaszczuk) kidding herself,” he said.

Asked yesterday if she believed the decision would improve her chances of being re-elected today, Ms Palaszczuk said she would only accept the advice of Dr Young.

“I kept my commitment. I am honest with the people of Queensland,” she said.

Announcing her decision, Dr Young pointed to four new cases in NSW on Thursday, including one that could not be linked to a cluster.

“So based on that new information, and the information up to that point, I believe it’s important that Queensland remain closed to those 32 LGAs in Sydney,” she said.

Originally published as Premier insists she made border decision on health advice