Coronavirus: Queensland beautiful one day, shut the next

The Queensland Premier’s decision to open borders to NSW but exclude Sydneysiders has been met with fury from aviation and tourism.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to open Queensland’s borders to NSW but exclude five million ­Sydneysiders has been met with fury from the aviation and tourism ­industries, which accused her of delaying the return of thousands of jobs.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce described the decision as ridiculous and revealed that it had scuttled plans to fly more than 1000 Qantas and Jetstar flights between the two states, which would have seen many of the company’s stood-down employees reinstated.

The Queensland Premier’s decision came as West Australian Premier Mark McGowan announced a substantial rollback of his state’s “hard border” from ­November 14, going further than Queensland’s decision to keep out Victoria and 32 local government areas in greater Sydney.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce described the border decision as ridiculous. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

Ms Palaszczuk announced a limited opening of the state border one day before the state election and as new polling showed Queensland support for state borders reopening spiked sharply this week, from 42 per cent last week to 51 per cent. Newgate Research tracking polling published weekly and conducted for the Tourism and Transport Forum shows Queenslanders have warmed to the idea of opening the borders, from a low of 15 per cent in mid-June to 51 per cent now.

Ms Palaszczuk said she had based her decision solely on advice from Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young, who said she was too concerned about recent COVID-19 cases in Sydney, which had not been linked to previous clusters, to allow the total reopening of the borders.

A spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said she had not seen the Newgate research. But her department has spent at least $190,000 on Newgate Communications for the “provision of services” for the state’s COVID-19 taskforce. The Australian revealed last month the government had also spent $528,000 commissioning Ipsos Public Affairs to test voter sentiment on COVID-19 restrictions.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the Queensland decision was “politically motived’’ and he accused Ms Palaszczuk of “making it up as she goes along’’.

“At this rate Sydneysiders won’t be allowed north of the border until the Broncos win another premiership,” Mr Perrottet said.

He said Queensland already had the nation’s highest unemployment and its residents “must be shaking their heads wondering why the Premier wants to do everything she can to stifle the economy’’.

Ms Palaszczuk denied the borders decision was politically motivated, and said she was still hopeful Queensland could meet the national cabinet goal of reuniting families by Christmas.

“I am the Premier of Queensland and I will look after the people of Queensland … if I am re-elected, that’s exactly what I’ll do,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk’s hard line stance on the borders is expected to influence the results in several marginal electorates, helping the government in seats with a high proportion of elderly residents, and hurting it in tourism hot spots such as the Gold Coast and Cairns.

Her decision will allow residents of NSW to enter Queensland, but only if they live outside the 32 local government areas of the Greater Sydney region, covering approximately five million people. The decision was met with disappointment and exasperation by some members of the NSW government, which reported no new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Thursday 8pm. One new case emerged in the hours after the reporting deadline — a child in the city’s southwest who would be included in Saturday’s tally of cases.

The state is managing 55 active cases of the virus.

“I‘m disappointed,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, hours before the Queensland decision. “There’s no reason why NSW residents shouldn’t be allowed in every part of Australia.”

Mr Joyce issued a statement saying the decision defied logic and stood to wreak untold damage on the Queensland economy.

“Frankly, this is ridiculous,” Mr Joyce said. “Sydney is the biggest city in Australia and it probably has one of the best track records globally of managing a virus that is clearly going to be with us for a very long time.”

The Qantas chief executive said his company had been intending to fly more than 1000 Qantas and Jetstar flights between the two states had Queensland reopened to Sydney. This would have seen about 200,000 people shuttled into Queensland and many of the company’s employees reinstated to their roles.

“Queensland may find that by the time it does open up to Sydney, people have made other plans.”

A Virgin Australia spokesman said the announcement stood to affect “customers and team members” intent on resuming work and reconnecting with friends and family. “Our decision to reintroduce Queensland services, which were suspended as part of our response to COVID-19, is reliant on the Greater Sydney region reopening to Queensland,” he said.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind called the decision “disappointing” and warned many business would not be able to wait another month for a possible reopening with Sydney.

In announcing its decision, the Queensland government said those wishing to circumvent the arrangement could do so by isolating outside the city for 14 days.

Ms Palaszczuk said she had been given one option by Dr Young, who indicated she was ready to reopen the borders to most of Sydney until four mystery cases appeared on Thursday.

“I have reviewed the situation in NSW,” Dr Young said. “Prior to yesterday they had four local government areas in Sydney that had cases of community transmission that NSW was unable to link to any known clusters, which means they have transmission and they don‘t know where it’s coming from.”

Mr McGowan said the state’s “controlled border” would accept residents from “low-risk” states and territories without the need for onerous quarantining. This would include any jurisdiction that had not recorded any locally acquired cases for at least 28 days: Tasmania, the ACT, Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia. Residents of NSW and ­Victoria, both of which are managing small but persistent daily cases, would continue to be permitted into Western Australia as long as they underwent mandatory ­quarantining.

additional reporting: Paul Garvey