Coronavirus: Annastacia Palaszczuk slams gate shut on ‘border liars’

Annastacia Palaszczuk says the worsening coronavirus crisis in Victoria and border liars have forced her to shut the state to NSW and the ACT from Saturday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Annette Dew

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the worsening coronavirus crisis in Victoria and border liars have forced her to shut the state to NSW and the ACT from Saturday, saying the temporary “inconvenience” to business would be better than a mass outbreak.

The state opposition, Gold Coast tourism groups, scientists and the small business lobby backed the “pre-emptive” decision, but Scott Morrison said Ms Palaszczuk needed to be driven by medical advice and “nothing else”.

Queensland opened its borders to all states bar Victoria less than a month ago, and later declared greater Sydney a hotspot.

From Saturday at 1am, all of NSW and ACT — the latter of which has zero active coronavirus cases — will be hotspots.

Queenslanders who return from those places will have to fly in, or drive across the NT border, and will have to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks at their own cost. No one else will be allowed in, with limited exemptions, including people living in border towns such as Tweed Heads.

With the October 31 state election looming, Ms Palaszczuk denied her decision was political, and said it was based on advice from Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young and driven by “continuous” breaches of the border by Queenslanders lying to get back into the state. “My job is to protect Queenslanders’ health, to protect our economy, and to protect our lifestyle,” she said.

A spokesman for Ms Palas­zczuk said the government had not done polling to ascertain Queenslanders’ views on border closures.

Police have ordered 12 people to face court for falsifying border declarations and 24 others have been fined for providing false information on border passes.

In the past week, six Logan residents have been charged for re-entering Queensland without declaring they had been in Melbourne. Two have since tested positive for COVID-19.

Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said: “We went 63 days with no community transmission … but that all changed seven days ago — a lot can change in a week”. “We can’t afford to have that second wave in Queensland; there is also intelligence to suggest some people are flying to the ACT (and then Queensland) to avoid our hotspot lockdown,” he said.

Queensland recorded one new coronavirus case overnight, and currently has 11 active cases.

The Prime Minister said there needed to be “transparency” about Ms Palaszczuk’s medical advice. “She’ll make her decisions and I’ll leave it to her to explain them and the medical advice on which they’re based,” he said.

Additional reporting: Charlie Peel