Mark McGowan shrugs off border ‘coincidence’ as court date with Clive Palmer looms

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has insisted the state’s border reopening aligning with another important date was not planned.

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has insisted the state’s border reopening aligning with his return from Sydney “is a coincidence”.

The tightest border in the country will finally be open on March 3, but a raft of restrictions are also set to be introduced to mitigate the imminent spread of the virus.

Mr McGowan told reporters on Friday that quarantine-free travel would be allowed for triple-dose vaccinated people aged 12 and over if eligible.

He said he could not foresee a reason for the date to change again, given it was so close.

The reopening comes amid a court battle between Mr McGowan and Clive Palmer. The mining magnate is suing Mr McGowan for defamation, while the Premier is countersuing Mr Palmer in the Federal Court in NSW.

The Premier will be required to travel to Sydney to give his testimony in person.

“It is a coincidence that when I return, the border will come down a couple of days later,” he said at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

“That’s a coincidence I haven’t been able to avoid. If I can finish what I’m saying. It’s a coincidence I am unable to avoid that I return from Sydney, I am in quarantine when the border comes down. I will be doing seven days of quarantine.

“I will be in a hotel room, working from there, doing a full seven days and just so there can be no argument that somehow, by anyone, that somehow this was put in place to benefit myself.”

The Premier said he “can’t have it said that in some way this was put in place to benefit me” and he was “trying to do the right thing here”.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has announced a new opening date for the border.

International arrivals must follow Commonwealth rules, complete a G2G pass and take a RAT within 12 hours of arrival.

“So I will do a full seven days of quarantine and I will make sure that I stay in quarantine,” he said.

“I will be in a hotel room, but working the whole time. Otherwise people will say all sorts of things. I don’t want that said.”

Mr McGowan said his case with Mr Palmer “wasn’t of his creation” and admitted it threw a big spanner in the works for the upcoming months.

“I am trying to do the right thing by the state and trying to set the right example. You know, it’s a tricky situation,” he said.

“Not of my creation. I didn’t bring this court case, as you know Mr Palmer did. I did not set the date the court is holding it. I’m trying to do the right thing here.”

Daily infections continue to increase rapidly in Western Australia, with 177 local community cases on Thursday, 115 on Wednesday and 48 on Tuesday.

The state also recorded eight travel-related Covid-19 infections on Friday, bringing the total number of active infections in the state to 724.

International arrivals must follow commonwealth rules, complete a G2G pass and take a RAT within 12 hours of arrival.

Unvaccinated returning Australians from overseas must complete seven days of hotel quarantine.

Mr McGowan said he had written to the Prime Minister to indicate those arrivals would be capped at 70 per week.

“I know removing the hard border is a step that some in the community have been looking forward to,” he said.

Today we announced the new date for WA’s full border opening – and it’s worth talking through how we got here.

Four weeks ago, on January 20, we took the difficult decision to delay Western Australia’s full border opening. pic.twitter.com/zEpV2tQRoR

— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) February 18, 2022