Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Prime Minister ‘making things up’ amid regional quarantine dispute

The stoush between Scott Morrison and one state leader continues to heat up, with a cheeky gibe about the Prime Minister’s “big plane”.

The Queensland Premier has emphatically shut down the Prime Minister’s dig at the state’s proposal to establish a regional quarantine facility outside of Toowoomba.

Earlier in the week, Scott Morrison said the pitch from Annastacia Palaszczuk lacked detail and sensationally told her government to “do the homework”.

The Premier fired back, ridiculing the suggestion from the Prime Minister that vaccination passports could be required for interstate travel and imploring Mr Morrison to discuss COVID-19 policies at national or federal cabinets before he “makes things up” in the media.

Ms Palaszczuk was the first state leader to propose moving returned travellers out of the city-based hotel quarantine sites and to put forward the idea of a 1000-bed facility near an airport at Wellcamp, which would be paid for by construction company Wagners.

RELATED: PM tells Palaszczuk ‘do the homework’

Morrison has travelled around Queensland this week on his ‘big plane’. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch/POOL via NCA NewsWire

But Scott Morrison doubled down on his stoush with the state government during a press appearance in Brisbane, declaring a similar bid from the Victorian government was “chalk and cheese” compared with what the Sunshine State had pitched.

“Victoria put a very comprehensive proposal to us,” he told reporters on Monday morning. “Something we can actually work with. And we are.”

He went on to say “there was just not enough detail to assess” the Queensland proposal with regards to costing, transport and access to health staff.

Ms Palaszczuk stood firm, however, insisting “he doesn’t need anymore detail” and suggested he wasn’t being briefed about the extensive communications taking place between state and federal counterparts.

“As I’ve said, the threshold question here is are they going to allow flights to land into the airport — yes or no? It’s a very simple question,” the Premier told reporters on Wednesday morning.

Mr Morrison said the Howard Springs facility that accommodates quarantining travellers outside of Darwin was able to function because charter flights could arrive at a nearby airport, which Ms Palaszczuk has continually suggested could occur at the Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba if approved by the federal government.

“His big plane has landed in Wellcamp before,” she said.

QuarantineBuilder, anyone? Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“We will continue to put our case to the federal government but it’s a bit rich cherrypicking which ones the federal government likes and which ones they don’t like.”

Last week, the Queensland Premier once again slammed the Morrison government over the disagreement, declaring the “most glaring omission” in the federal budget was the refusal to commit to a regional quarantine plan.

“In this ongoing age of COVID, there are two things Australia needs: safety and certainty,” Ms Palaszczuk told state parliament on Wednesday.

“Regional quarantine is our last, best hope for both.

“Returning stranded Australians from overseas, plugging the gaps in the labour market, the return of foreign students, the return of international travel – all these problems are solved with regional quarantine.”