Coronavirus: PM Scott Morrison’s plea over state borders

Scott Morrison has issued a personal plea to the Queensland Premier, begging her not to cause “unnecessary” harm with her border policy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has issued a personal plea to Annastacia Palaszczuk asking for “critical” border changes to prevent “unnecessary” harm to farming services and supply chains.

In a letter to the Queensland Premier, Mr Morrison said such services risked being “unnecessarily or unintentionally” impeded by border restrictions, warning it was “critical the movement of people, products and services impacting agricultural production be as streamlined” as possible.

“The time-sensitive nature of many facets of agricultural production and supply chains directly impacts our ability to meet consumer demand for Australian products, both in supermarkets around the nation and in high-value export destinations,” he wrote.

Mr Morrison is also seeking more consistent border restrictions between states.

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Annastacia Palaszczuk has said Queensland borders would remain closed to Victoria and NSW until there was no community transmission in those states. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Similar letters have been sent to the premiers of NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Ms Palaszczuk on Monday said the Queensland borders would remain closed to Victoria and NSW until there was no active coronavirus community transmission.

“We will put the safety of Queenslanders first and we do not have any intentions of opening any borders while there is community transmission active in Victoria and NSW,” she said.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said they had to be “even more careful” with anyone coming into Queensland from a declared hotspot, which includes all of NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

Speaking on Today this morning, Queensland deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the border closure was a huge strain on police resources.

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The Queensland border closure has been a huge strain on police resources. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“We have over 1200 officers per roster dedicated to the COVID response,” he said. “We’ve been doing that for many months now. We’re managing it. It’s a strain. We’re planning ahead. We realise we may be going into next year with this type of approach and our planning is thorough around that.”

“The message is very clear – make sure you have the reason to enter Queensland. If you are coming out of the hotspot states as well as Victoria and ACT you will not be let in unless you have exemption and should have border declaration pass ready,” he said.