McGowan’s state of disorder

With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us, and the vaccine rollout well under way, selfish premiers are finding it difficult to surrender their controlling ways. In Western Australia, Mark McGowan is determined to wreck any hopes that national cabinet on Friday can reach a unified and sensible position on how to manage state borders.

Instead, with a state election only weeks away, Mr McGowan is tapping deeply into populist sentiments in the west to keep outsiders out. On Tuesday, Mr McGowan flirted with making border controls imposed to tackle COVID-19 permanent in the name of fighting crime. Travel permits are a hallmark of totalitarian regimes around the world and throughout history. Mr McGowan challenged civil libertarians to block his way before making a humiliating backdown in the face of an angry response from the federal government, the business lobby and constitutional experts.

Similar to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ penchant for extended emergency powers, Mr McGowan’s authoritarian sentiments prove that liberties surrendered by citizens in times of crisis can be difficult to get back. Impeding free movement and restricting trade between states comes at a high cost. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce is leading the charge for a more co-ordinated approach to domestic borders, but Mr McGowan admits he hasn’t bothered to speak with him about it. A recalculation of GST payments to favour Western Australia and booming state receipts from high iron ore prices might give Mr McGowan the fleeting luxury of indifference.

But in Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk has surveyed the wreckage caused by her government’s shortsighted border closures on the state’s tourism industry and is working hard to send the bill to Canberra. Ms Palaszczuk’s public spat with Josh Frydenberg amplifies the juvenile antics of her deputy, who has refused to honour a deal with NSW to reimburse the costs of quarantining Queensland residents. Mr Frydenberg has called out Ms Palaszczuk’s actions for the grandstanding and petty politicking they are. It is becoming clear the real damage being done to Australia by COVID-19 is to sensible state government and the federation.