WA Premier rejects Christmas Grinch tag over SA travel rules and denies snubbing Steven Marshall

WA Premier Mark McGowan has denied he is ‘snubbing’ the national cabinet or being a Christmas Grinch towards South Australian travellers.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has denied he is snubbing his South Australian counterpart by not attending the national cabinet meeting in person, saying the issue has been “overblown”.

Mr McGowan has also played down suggestions he is being a Grinch by refusing to allow quarantine-free travel for people in South Australia until Christmas Day.

He will be the only leader not attending the national cabinet meeting in person, but insists he is following the advice of WA’s chief health officer Andy Robertson.

“It’s not a snub to national cabinet, it’s nothing against the SA Premier,” Mr McGowan told reporters on Thursday.

In fact, Mr McGowan said he had supported the SA government’s decisions during the state’s recent outbreak.

Asked if he was disappointed SA Premier Steven Marshall was not returning the support and was instead questioning his logic, Mr McGowan said: “No, not at all ... perhaps this issue has been overblown to a degree.”

Mr Marshall earlier called on Mr McGowan to release the health advice that was stopping him from attending the meeting in person, describing the decision as extraordinary.

“South Australians haven’t been stopped from going to the ACT for a very long time and Western Australians have been going for weeks, so you have South Australians and Western Australians mixing over there,” he said on ABC Radio.

“For some reason Premier McGowan has formed the opinion that presumably, based on some sort of health advice, he can’t be in the same room as me.”

Mr McGowan insists he is following the health advice and is not able to self-quarantine. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tony McDonough

Mr McGowan said he would only miss a dinner, but would be part of all meetings on Friday via video, as he had done on 35 other occasions.

“I’m not going to break the rules that apply to all other West Australians,” he said.

“I advised the Prime Minister of that a week or so ago, and it’s very important that I set a good example.”

Mr McGowan said he had always supported the national cabinet and was the first to call for it to replace COAG.

“I do think it is a much better way of conducting the affairs of the nation between the states and the commonwealth,” he said.

Asked if he really believed Mr Marshall was a coronavirus risk, Mr McGowan said: “If I broke the rules, well then other people would say ‘why can’t I break the rules?’.”

Under WA’s COVID-19 directions, Mr McGowan would be required to self-quarantine for two weeks if he had contact with someone from SA.

Emotional family reunions could be on the cards for SA travellers to WA on Christmas Day, just like the recent arrivals of people from Victoria and NSW at Perth Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tony McDonough

Meanwhile, SA will be declared a “low risk” state on Friday, which means travellers to WA will be subject to 14 days of self-quarantine and a coronavirus test on day 11.

Anyone arriving in WA on Friday would complete their self-quarantine by Boxing Day.

SA could also reach the all-important 28 days of no community spread by Christmas Eve, which means it could become a “very low risk” state on Christmas Day.

Travellers will then be able to arrive by plane to WA without having to self-quarantine on Christmas Day.

Asked whether he would consider bending the rules for Christmas travellers, Mr McGowan said: “One of the things we’ve been very keen to avoid is changing the rules.”

“If we start changing things as we go, obviously we’ll then have people perhaps coming from low risk countries overseas wanting to get the same exemptions,” he added.

Asked if he felt like the Grinch, Mr McGowan said: “No. People who have arrived, we expect, will be able to come out of self-quarantine ... as of (Boxing Day).”

SA Premier Steven Marshall says he wants to see the WA border open for Christmas. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt/NCA NewsWire

Mr Marshall said he wanted the borders to open, so family and friends could reconnect.

“My thoughts are with people who have been separated from friends and family over in WA and visa versa. I just want to see them get back together … I’m hoping we can move on this really soon,” he said.

“I think there are many people here in our state who have got friends, they’ve got family, they’ve got loved ones in Western Australia – they would love to see them for Christmas.

“We’ve done extraordinarily well. I think it’s time for Western Australia to again consider lifting those restrictions in time for Christmas.”