Premier apologises over NRL flight as state records zero Covid cases

Annastacia Palaszczuk has apologised to Queenslanders over a flight of NRL families and officials into the state as others were locked out. It came as an ‘upset’ chief health officer responded angrily to journalists’ questions.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has apologised to Queenslanders for allowing NRL families and officials to fly into Queensland earlier this week when residents were locked out because of a pause in relocations.

Her apology was issued at a press conference in which Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young responded angrily to journalists’ questioning about Covid-19 deaths and Deputy Premier Steven Miles accused the federal government of a ‘pile on’ over comments surrounding the Doherty modelling.

Ms Palaszczuk confirmed there had been no new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, and that there was minimal concern about the cases of two truckies positive with the virus in the state this week.

It comes after the state was on Covid alert on Thursday after a family entered the state from Covid-ravaged Melbourne. Members of the family tested negative for the virus.

Ms Palaszczuk said it was “good news” the state had a “double doughnut” day but again urged people to come forward for testing and to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is seeking a ‘conversation’ about national modelling. Picture: David Clark

Ms Palaszczuk apologised for the controversial decision which allowed NRL players’ families to enter Queensland while the border was shut to thousands of desperate residents trying to get home.

Three days after The Courier-Mail revealed exemptions had been granted, and following days of sustained criticism both in the community and in Queensland Parliament, the Premier today conceded it wasn’t the right decision.

“It was not the right thing to do when we had the pause (on hotel quarantine),” she said.

“It shouldn’t have happened.

“Unfortunately, it did happen, and I extend my apologies to the public about that.”

The state government has defended the decision all week, insisting the families and officials were operating outside Queensland’s hotel quarantine cap - meaning they weren’t taking rooms off people coming home.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young on Thursday also defended the decision, saying the NRL 100 per cent funded its bubble including accommodation, security and health care.

But the Premier today said, “It shouldn’t have happened when we had the reduction happening in our hotels.”

Pressed on why she hadn’t admitted it was the wrong decision earlier this week, in light of parliament sitting, Ms Palaszczuk said because other issues were being discussed.

Pressed further around the fact she was asked about the exemption during Question Time this week, the Premier said, “I don’t have the exact question on me sorry.”

Ms Palaszczuk said authorities had worked very hard over the last week to get the “pressure cooker” of the hotel caps down so that more Queenslanders could come home.

People trying to return home to Queensland have been told to check the Queensland Health website and that they will still need to have the correct paperwork.

Addressing criticism of her comments around Doherty modelling, the Premier rejected claims of “fear-mongering” and said it was “only fair and reasonable” to have a conversation about these issues.

“There is nothing wrong with asking decent questions about the safety of families,” she said.

She likened the conversation to the debate around the protection of older people that had seen the mandatory vaccination of aged care workers.

“It is not about being against a national plan. We are all for a national plan,” she said.

“So let’s have an educated national conversation about these issues.

“These are real issues and I think that we can come up with the answers.”

Ms Palaszczuk said she was not fear mongering.

“At the beginning of this pandemic we were very concerned about the elderly ... and now what we’re seeing in evidence out of the US it is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, a lot more children are presenting with Covid and a lot more children are ending up in ICU,” she said.

“I don’t want to have that happen here.

“This is about Queenslanders and having a conversation - what will we need to do?”

Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: David Clark

Ms Palaszczuk said national cabinet had agreed to look at this issue.

She said the fact her Labor colleagues in Canberra had distanced themselves from her comments was “a matter for them”.

“Queenslanders know me ... and I look forward to the day we can open up,” she said.

She said she looked forward to a time people could go on holiday and be reunited with loved ones, but vaccination rates weren’t there yet.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles described criticism from the federal government yesterday as a “pile on” not experienced for some time.

“Don’t fall for Scott Morrison’s marketing tactics,” he said of the Doherty modelling.

“This is much more complex than a number and a three-word slogan.”

He said it was clear the Prime Minister had “both his eyes on the election and no eyes on the outbreak ripping through Sydney right now”.

Dr Young fired up when she was questioned over deaths related to Covid-19, saying she was a doctor and not comfortable with any deaths.

“I went into medicine to save lives,” she said.

And she denied making any political decisions.

“You’ve got my quite upset now,” she said.

“I don’t want to see the death of any Queenslanders,” she said, clarifying that that included deaths from smoking, obesity, road deaths and any disease, not just Covid.

She said she wouldn’t make any decision around the pathway to open up until “every single Queenslander has been given the opportunity to be vaccinated”.

Dr Young also urged everyone 16 years or older to get vaccinated, saying it was the “best protection” as it was only a matter of time before the state had another outbreak.

Ms Palaszczuk announced that another 600 hotel quarantine places would be offered from Monday for families stuck in Victoria and NSW and unable to return home.

That’s on top of 50 rooms tomorrow.

But there were 3000 border passes that were cancelled when Queensland made the decision last week to impose a pause on the hotel quarantine program.

“As you did know, we did have a pressure cooker situation,” she said.

She said “having that respite” had made a lot of difference.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Queensland’s vaccine rollout was more difficult than other states due to the decentralised nature of the state.

“We need to make sure we’re hitting those targets out in our rural and remote communities as well,” she said.

The state couldn’t just hit targets in the southeast if there were small communities at just 30 per cent, for example, she said.

Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Ms D’Ath said the Gold Coast school had reopened

As far as the comments about zero to 12-year-old’s, Ms D’Ath said it was important to remember how the virus had spread through the recent Indooroopiloly schools cluster “so it is important to have that conversation”.

She encouraged the public to read the Doherty modelling themselves.

The family at the centre of the latest Covid scare came to the attention of authorities are two children attending the Australian International Islamic College on the Gold Coast on August 31 said they had been to Melbourne, forcing the school to close.

Authorities believe the family, now in hotel quarantine, returned undetected via an inland route.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll described the family’s decision to travel to Melbourne as “incredibly disappointing”.

She said that police are still investigating the circumstances of how the family of five re-entered the state but they are believed to have come via back roads to cross the border.

“It is obviously incredibly disappointing.”

Commissioner Carroll said that police would be doing all they could to track the family’s movements through Melbourne and New South Wales.

“We will be investigating where they came from in Melbourne, but also travelled through New South Wales.”

“You can be assured that if there are any offences that they will be investigated.”

Commissioner Carroll said that the family has been co-operating but made clear that police were not afraid to take enforcement action.

“Thankfully, the family is co-operating, so that has been good progress in the last day or so,” she said.

“But if action needs to be taken, it certainly will be.”

Late last night the school principal revealed the family’s tests were negative.

“It is with relief that I inform you that all results for the Gold Coast family who have been the subject of investigation have come back negative,” principal Christine Harman wrote to families.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young earlier confirmed a lockdown hinged on the results of the family’s testing.

Queensland had one local case on Thursday – a truck driver who went to NSW and was unknowingly infectious from Saturday to Wednesday.

Dr Young said she did not know what her level of concern was as yet. But she was “less concerned” about a truckie from NSW who spent 24 hours in the community from August 25-26, mainly at truck stops in Goondiwindi, Bundamba and Archerfield.

AIIC principal Christine Harman told parents she was working closely with authorities.

“Our college became aware that members of our Carrara campus community may have returned from a Covid-19 hotspot,” she said. “Based on our initial inquiries … we were unable to determine whether they had undertaken the mandatory hotel quarantine period of the manner by which they entered the state.

“As a result, we immediately took proactive and precautionary steps to safeguard our school community and contacted the appropriate authorities to investigate our concerns.”

Originally published as Premier apologises over NRL flight as state records zero Covid cases