Annastacia Palaszczuk ‘doesn’t want to get hopes up’ over borders

Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland may scrap quarantine for interstate arrivals as early as December 10 if vaccination rates continue to surge.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk chats to a local after a press conference at Burleigh Heads. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland may scrap quarantine for interstate arrivals as early as December 10 if vaccination rates continue to surge, but did not want to “get people’s hopes up”.

The Queensland Premier has promised to abolish quarantine for travellers from NSW and Victoria on December 17, or sooner if 80 per cent vaccination coverage is reached.

“If these rates continue, we may see our date in December brought forward as well, but it all depends on Queenslanders getting vaccinated,” she said.

“It could come a week earlier, but I don’t want to get people’s hopes up.”

Queensland on Sunday evening reached the 70 per cent double-dose vaccination milestone, a week ahead of schedule, triggering relaxation of quarantine rules.

Fully vaccinated travellers from Australian hotspots can now apply to quarantine at home provided they arrive by air and have had a negative Covid test 72 hours before travel.

Authorities do not expect a big uptake of home quarantine, with coronavirus swabs reportedly taking up to four days to come back in parts of NSW.

As of Monday afternoon, a total of 82.29 per cent of Queenslanders had had their first dose while 70.54 per cent were fully vaccinated. The state’s first-jab rate increased by 2.45 per cent in the past week after Ms Palaszczuk announced mandatory jabs for the hospitality industry last Tuesday. The double-dose rate went up by 2.7 per cent.

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

Once the border reopens, unvaccinated people will be banned from Queensland’s bars, restaurants, cinemas, theme parks and stadiums.

But with one month to go until visitors from Covid-ravaged states are allowed in without having to quarantine, almost 20 local areas are yet to reach 60 per cent vaccination coverage.

Federal government data shows the Indigenous communities of Yarrabah and Cherbourg have the worst vaccination rates in the state, both with single-dose rates at 55 per cent.

Jab rates have steadily been rising in those communities after the state government last month started going door to door.

Just 42.6 per cent of the population are fully vaccinated in the Isaac region, Queensland’s largest coalmining community, which supports a large fly-in-fly-out workforce.

In the Whitsundays, one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations, only 60 per cent of the population have had both doses.

Ms Palaszczuk has warned regions that fail to reach 80 per cent vaccination coverage will continue to be subjected to snap lockdowns when the state border reopens.