Barnaby Joyce slams Queensland border as a ‘sham’

Barnaby Joyce says the decision to let Tom Hanks into Queensland but not a young woman to attend her father’s funeral had angered Australians.

Barnaby Joyce has slammed Queensland’s hard border as a “sham” after Hollywood star Tom Hanks and his posse were granted exemptions to enter from America.

The National Party MP told Sunrise on Monday people were angry Hanks was allowed into the state while others couldn’t attend funerals.

A war of words erupted between Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week after a 26-year-old woman from Canberra was unable to be with her family and attend her father’s funeral.

Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are back in Queensland for the filming of a new Elvis Presley movie. Picture: Valerie Macon / AFP

“You have the AFL in there at first class, Tom Hanks in there, his offsiders in there, but we can’t get a person across to see their dad buried,” Mr Joyce said.

“That is why people are upset … Personally, I think the whole thing is a sham.

“People in regional seats of Queensland are seeing it as a sham.”

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says shutdowns from the border closure between Queensland and NSW have to stop. Picture: Toby Zerna

Mr Joyce went on to ridicule the border shutdown in Queensland, saying it was “driving our economic nose into the dirt”.

Queensland chief health officer Jeanette Young last week said exemptions had been given to people in entertainment and film because that was “bringing a lot of money into this state”.

Hanks, who is filming an Elvis Presley movie directed by Baz Luhrmann, in March contracted COVID-19 while in Queensland.