Qantas boss Alan Joyce doubles down on WA comparison with North Korea

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has doubled down on his criticism of the West Australian border closure, firing up at the rogue state yet again.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has doubled down on the comments he made last week about the West Australian border, after comparing the state to North Korea.

Mr Joyce sensationally claimed Western Australia is “starting to look like North Korea” with its hard line border closure in a radio interview last week.

Speaking on Melbourne’s 3AW radio, Mr Joyce called for a plan to reopen borders, comparing Premier Mark McGowan’s state to the totalitarian regime of North Korea.

“You can’t even travel around your own country … it’s starting to look like North Korea,” he said.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has doubled down on his WA border criticism. Picture: Dylan Coker/NCA NewsWire

“We thought we had a date for that border to be opened … but that was stepped back from, it’s disappointed tens of thousands of people that had booked to go to WA.

“I think we should all be a bit outraged by it … we’re supposed to be all Australians.”

But now, he’s backtracked slightly on the severity of his slur – telling the ABC he was not describing the West Australian government as a dictatorship, but that the hard border had divided the country “a bit like Korea is divided”.

“I said, ‘Unfortunately our country is divided, a bit like Korea is divided,’” he said.

“And it feels like we have a part that is like North Korea, that is very restricted in parts of what the people can do in terms of travel.

“And I think that is the way people feel.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been critical of the WA border, but showed support last week. Picture: Matt Jelonek

Mr McGowan has said he would not be opening the border on the promised date of February 5. Picture: Matt Jelonek

Late last month, Mr McGowan announced he would not be opening the border on the promised date of February 5 but would instead reopen sometime in the middle of the year, when the state has given boosters to 80 per cent of its eligible population.

The ongoing hard border has been devastating to many industries but especially tourism and the airline sector.

Before the pandemic, one of Qantas’ most popular international flights was a direct Perth-London trip and Perth Airport yesterday announced it would be shuttering parts of the complex to reduce operational costs.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been critical of the Premier’s border control, last week he said Mr McGowan had done right by his state, despite months of criticism over his refusal to open the state’s borders.

“The things we were doing before, don’t work the same way under the Omicron virus,” Mr Morrison told Perth’s 6PR radio.

“As a result, you’ve got to reset, and you’ve got to rethink the things you were doing in the eastern states.

Originally WA Border closures were set to lift this month. Picture: Tony McDonough/NCA NewsWire

“We’ve had to change things over the summer, it’s had significant impacts but Omicron brought that about.

“That’s the big lesson from the eastern states to the west, when it inevitably moves – as the Premier has said – into the Omicron stage, that the lessons from the east coast be applied there and that when the health system he believes is ready to go, I’m sure he’ll take the next step.”

Western Australia was due to open to the rest of the country on February 5, meaning international and domestic arrivals would no longer have to quarantine, provided they have been double vaccinated.

But in a late-night press conference last month, Premier Mark McGowan said it would be “reckless and irresponsible” to open the border then, given the number of Omicron cases in the east of the country.

Mr McGowan said he made the decision on the basis that just 25 per cent of WA had received their booster vaccine, and wanted to avoid rising fatalities as is being seen in NSW and Victoria.