Time to set a date on borders as leaders’ political games hold Australia to ransom

THE stalemate on when Australia can open up for domestic travel needs to end, as the leaders of five states and territories – including the NT – play political games by not agreeing on a date for the country to re-open. It’s time to set a date, and it needs to be a one-in-all-in approach

A truck passes a sign on the NT/SA border warning of border restrictions in place in the Territory. Picture: Emma Murray

THE stalemate on when Australia can open up for domestic travel needs to end.

It has now reached a point where the leaders of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania are playing political games with their borders by not agreeing on a date for the country to re-open.

They are holding Australia to ransom.

When all five states and territories shut their borders, it was a bold move to keep coronavirus at bay. While the federal advice was for borders to never be closed, it is difficult to argue the move did not contribute to a significant flattening of the curve since mid-April. So, for that, all five leaders should be commended.

But it is now time for the same leaders — Michael Gunner (NT), Steven Marshall (SA), Annastacia Palaszczuk (QLD), Mark McGowan (WA) and Peter Gutwein (TAS) — to repay the favour by choosing a date for their hard borders to come down. It needs to be a one-in-all-in approach.

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Here are the facts: There are four people in intensive care across the nation with coronavirus and a total of 26 in hospital. The numbers are falling every day. We have conducted 1.49 million tests in Australia, of which 1.482 million came back negative. Only one in every 200 people tested for coronavirus have had a positive reading.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hit out at the state and territory leaders who have kept their borders closed.

“The National Cabinet has never agreed that there should be borders closed in Australia,” Mr Morrison has said. “That was never the medical expert advice … so (the leaders) have got to justify those decisions.”

And, therein lies the problem.

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The public has yet to be given a clear scientific explanation as to why the borders need to remain closed, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs.

So while these leaders continue to play power games, Australia’s tourism and hospitality industries will continue to suffer and many businesses will never recover.

It’s time to set a date. And it should be sometime in July.