Queensland borders: Scott Morrison takes swipe at Palaszczuk over border changes

As Queensland gears up to slightly soften its hard border with NSW, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken another swing at the state’s Premier.

After six weeks of closed borders with NSW, the Palaszczuk Government announced on Tuesday the Sunshine State will relax the hard line restrictions for some postcodes to cross the border.

From next weekend, Queensland will throw open its borders to five additional NSW shires.

The 41 postcodes that make up Byron, Ballina, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Glenn Innes shires will be welcome in Queensland from 1am on October 1, with Queensland residents allowed to “travel freely” to those regions.

The decision comes after weeks of chaos at the state line, with some cross-border residents unable to get to work, attend medical appointments, visit sick and dying family members or attend funerals.

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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will slightly soften the NSW border. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the softening of the Queensland border is ‘common sense’. Picture: Joel Carrett/NCA NewsWire

The closed border has been slammed by the Federal Government as having no medical backing, with the Prime Minister saying the most recent decision from the Queensland Government is “common sense” and “not before time”.

“I think that (border bubble extension) will just further assist getting people back into jobs and making sure that we live alongside the virus and not have the virus dictate how we live,” Mr Morrison told Sky News.

Appearing on Channel 9’s Today show, Health Minister Greg Hunt said the slight softening of the Queensland border was welcome, saying there was no “epidemiological basis or health basis for borders outside of Victoria to be closed”.

“There is no federal advice to that effect and ultimately we have been very clear that that’s something we’d like to see (borders opening),” he said.

“There is progress and we should welcome that progress and we do welcome that progress but we would like to see ultimately a national travel bubble outside of Victoria and then once Victoria is safe and recognised by the states as being safe then we can get back to full movement in Australia.”

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Queensland will open their border to a few more NSW postcodes. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Ms Palaszczuk said the new bubble over the border will allow residents in the zone regions of NSW the ability to apply for a pass to travel around Queensland, and Queenslanders “will also be able to travel as well”.

“I think this is a great effort to consider how we can make our border zones more effective, but also looking at these areas have a lot in common with Queensland … So we believe that this is the right measure to take,” she said.

There are about 152,000 people who live in those shires. Queenslanders and northern NSW residents coming into Queensland will still need to apply for a border declaration pass to confirm they have not visited a hotspot in the previous 14 days.