Coronavirus: Deadly political border games must stop, says Scott Morrison

Locked-border premiers are being shamed into opening their largely COVID-19 free states after the death of an unborn twin provoked new warnings from Scott Morrison.

Scott Morrison in Cooma, NSW, on Friday. Picture: Sean Davey.

Locked-border premiers are being shamed into opening their largely COVID-19 free states after the death of an unborn twin provoked new warnings from Scott Morrison that the nation faced “economic ruin” and a damaging “retreat into provincialism” from continuing closures.

The Prime Minister on Friday demanded answers from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about why a pregnant woman in Ballina in northern NSW had to travel 750km to Sydney for medical care instead of obtaining an exemption to cross the border for treatment in Brisbane.

Mr Morrison described the case as “terribly distressing” and “heartbreaking”, arguing it was “unthinkable” that a family was dealing with border permits when they were concerned for the health of their unborn child.

Frustration is rising in business and political circles as state governments, particularly Queensland and Western Australia, maintain border closures ­despite states outside Victoria having low coronavirus infection rates.

The border debate was reignited when Queensland’s border closure prompted clinicians to send pregnant Ballina woman Kimberley Brown to Sydney for urgent surgery to attempt to save the life of her twin girls rather than be operated on in Brisbane 186km away. Ms Brown, who waited 16 hours for a medical flight to Sydney, lost one of her twins after surgery at the city’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The tragedy emerged 10 days after Ms Palaszczuk said people living in NSW “have NSW ­hospitals; in Queensland, we have Queensland hospitals for our ­people”. On Friday, Ms Palaszczuk stood by her comments but said the unborn baby girl’s death was a tragedy.

Mr Morrison said he had a simple message for the grieving ­mother: “My heart breaks for you.”

The Prime Minister used The Daily Telegraph’s bush summit in Cooma to say he would forge ahead on nationally consistent travel restrictions for coronavirus hotspots, warning state and territory leaders that ­failure to comply would require an explanation.

“There will be a commonwealth definition of a hotspot. Come rain, hail or shine,” he said. “I hope it’s a national cabinet one but, and I will certainly seek to achieve that.

“But at the very least, there will be a commonwealth one. And if there are any differences to that, well people can explain them.”

Mr Morrison warned that the imposition of hard borders was causing problems that were hurting people and damaging the economy. “We must not allow this crisis, this pandemic, to force us to retreat into provincialism — that’s not the answer,” he said. “If you impose a border, you can’t help but cause problems. That’s why we got rid of them in the first place.”

Ms Palaszczuk denied her government was preventing urgent interstate cases from accessing medical treatment in Queensland and clarified she was “not involved in individual cases”.

She said decisions about ­exemptions to cross the border for non-emergency procedures were left to clinicians and emergency care was not denied to anyone wanting to cross the border in a helicopter or ambulance vehicle.

“We are very, very compassionate in this state,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “If there is someone that needs emergency care, if they need a helicopter to fly them to one of their hospitals, that will happen.”

Reflecting on his response to the pandemic, Mr Morrison lamented that he had not insisted on key principles to govern border restrictions earlier. “If I had my time over then I think we would have spent more time on that,” he said.

“But frankly, at that point in time we were looking at people digging mass graves in New York … That’s not an excuse. That’s just an explanation.

“So now we find ourselves in a situation where there is, I think, too much inconsistency between these (border) arrangements.”

Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe on Friday briefed Josh Frydenberg and his state and territory counterparts on the economic recovery, repeating his call for states to boost fiscal support by at least 2 per cent of GDP, the equivalent of about $40bn.

Treasurers were also updated by Dr Lowe and interim National Skills Commissioner Adam Boyton on the state of the labour market and the priority skills needed to drive job creation as well as the domestic and international economic outlook.

Mr Morrison warned of an economic calamity if state and territory leaders did not change their stance on border shutdowns. “The idea that we’re going to live with domestic borders until there’s a vaccine is a recipe for economic ruin — that is not the plan,” he said.

“The plan is to ensure testing, tracing and outbreak containment, strong quarantine, COVID safe behaviours in the workplace, in the home, at the footy club, at the ground, in this conference.

“That is how you live with the virus and keep people in jobs. Borders don’t do that. Borders are not the answer.”

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the state had always and would continue to provide emergency health services to residents of northern NSW. “Police do not stop ambulances, they do not stop Life Flight helicopters,” she said. “I believe that I am a compassionate person.”

Mr Morrison praised the “flexible” hotspot policy of the Northern Territory’s Gunner government along with Denmark’s “traffic light” system for travel restrictions based on the number of infections per 100,000 people.

The Australian Medical Association’s Queensland vice president, Bav Manoharan, said he supported border closures, but warned that Ms Brown’s case highlighted the need for clarity surrounding the processes for patients with extenuating circumstances needing compassionate consideration.

“We would ask state and federal governments to define and communicate these processes clearly and quickly, so that health staff and the public understand protocols and options,” Dr Manoharan said.