WA Premier says there is “no benefit” to reopening the border

The WA Premier has again ruled out reopening the border to select jurisdictions, saying it would cost jobs, as the state recorded one new infection of COVID-19 overnight.

Premier Mark McGowan says there is no benefit to reopening the state’s border and those pushing for it only want to see WA’s high income earners splash their cash in cities like Sydney.

WA this week announced it was softening its exemption criteria for NSW, bringing that state into line with other jurisdictions, while Victorians granted a travel exemption will be able to quarantine in a suitable home rather than in a hotel.

But the WA government is still refusing to reopen the border, despite mounting pressure from other states.

Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson has maintained the hard border should only be removed when there is no community transmission for 28 days across the country.

Mr McGowan said he did not want to rely on other states’ border arrangements to keep WA safe.

WA Premier Mark McGowan says opening the state’s border will cost jobs. Picture: Colin Murty/The Australian

“Honestly, the benefit to opening to the Northern Territory or South Australia for Western Australia is not there,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“All we’ll do is lose jobs were we to open to those states.

“The other states want us to open the border so that West Australian tourists will flood east, not so that people from the east will come here.

“They’re only saying all this for very self-interested reasons because we have higher incomes, we have people that are more used to travelling and therefore we’ll have more tourists going from WA to the east.

“They’re not advocating it for any other reason than they want to see WA incomes spent in Sydney or Brisbane or wherever it might be.”

WA recorded one new infection of coronavirus overnight - a man aged in his 30s who returned from India and is quarantining in Perth before going home to Melbourne.

Port Hedland is the nexus of Australia’s iron-ore industry. Picture: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mr McGowan later travelled to Port Hedland, where 10 crew members from the Patricia Oldendorff are quarantining in a hotel.

Seven other infected crew members remain onboard. Four others remain healthy.

Mr McGowan was critical of a WA Health employee who was photographed near crew members without any PPE.

“Obviously it was a very disappointing and to a degree stupid thing that took place, and I’m unhappy that the example being set wasn’t of the standard that we expect,” he said.

“I would have thought that stronger measures and more wisdom would have been put in place.”

Mr McGowan said the woman had tested negative for COVID-19 but had been put in quarantine as a precaution.

Health Minister Roger Cook visited Port Hedland on Wednesday and said the government felt “let down” by the Philippines, adding he expected the Commonwealth to assist with the broader international issue.

Ports Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the Philippines had a two-tiered quarantine system and she would look at whether a higher standard should be demanded.

Mr McGowan said it was clearly a foreign affairs matter.

The bulk carrier is expected to leave by October 10 at the latest without collecting its shipment of manganese ore from Port Hedland, but another vessel will arrive to take the load.