Coronavirus: National cabinet to focus on economy

Scott Morrison and national cabinet leaders will unveil the next steps in reopening Australia’s economy.

Scott Morrison holds a national cabinet meeting in August. Picture: Adam Taylor/PMO

Scott Morrison and national cabinet leaders will unveil the next steps in reopening Australia’s economy, moving towards the removal of COVID-19 border and social restrictions by Christmas.

Under pressure from business leaders, health and industry groups to update the national cabinet COVID-19 roadmap released in May, state, territory and federal leaders will prioritise discussions on getting the economy back on track.

National cabinet leaders, meeting for the first time in five weeks, will also be briefed on hotel quarantine measures, mental health, the federal budget and progress on aged-care emergency response centres.

Coinciding with the first group of Australians returning home on specially chartered Qantas flights from London on Friday, the national cabinet will discuss quarantine logistics and the use of the Howard Springs facility near Darwin.

The Qantas 787 was due to leave London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday carrying 175 passengers to Darwin.

Ahead of the Queensland election on October 31, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would be briefed by the state’s Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young, before the meeting, including on whether NSW had contained community transmission enough to reopen the borders on November 1.

She hit back at a claim from NSW Premier Gladys Berejik­lian that Queensland was not pulling its weight in terms of hotel quarantine. “I don’t think Gladys Berejiklian should be criticising anyone, frankly. I think she’s got enough of her own internal problems,” she said.

“I’m not going to be lectured by the Premier of NSW. What happened to all working together? I mean, that’s what we do, we go into that national cabinet, and we want to work together.”

Ms Palaszczuk also flagged she would not be afraid of continuing to stand up to the federal government on COVID-19 issues.

“I stood up to the federal government, and federal MPs, and I stood up against Deb Frecklington, when they called for the borders to be open,” she said.

“Does anyone ever think about what could’ve happened in Queensland, if that’d happened. Is that the sort of Queensland everyone wants?”

“I made those tough decisions on the borders, because it was important to listen to the Chief Health Officer’s advice, and take that advice. People were yelling and screaming at me to open those borders. Well, I stood firm for the people of this state, and I’ll continue to stand firm for the people of this state, and if that’s about standing up to Canberra, you bet I’ll stand up to Canberra.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said Friday’s national cabinet meeting was the “best remaining chance” to agree on an updated COVID-19 roadmap for reopening the economy.

“October is the tenth month but this meeting of national cabinet comes at the eleventh hour. We need a roadmap now, for opening up by December, so businesses can plan to re-hire people and order supplies in a calm and orderly way, and not be caught in a last-minute scramble to be ready for pent-up pre-Christmas peak demand,” Mr Pearson said.

“The next national cabinet meeting might be too late.

“In the case of tourism and hospitality, two of the sectors hit hardest and first in this recession, restrictions must be eased for the critical trading period of December to allow bookings for Christmas and school holidays to go ahead with some certainty.”

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said it was time for national cabinet to “develop a plan to open our domestic borders by Christmas (and) get our aviation, tourism and retail industries going again”.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid has also pushed state and federal leaders to review its May COVID-19 roadmap.

The national cabinet meeting, pushed to this week after technical issues with the Prime Minister’s plane forced the cancellation of last Friday’s scheduled gathering, will focus heavily on lifting the weekly arrivals cap to get more than 32,000 Australians stranded overseas home sooner.

State and territory leaders, who have clashed over international arrivals caps in recent months, will be asked to do more as Victoria continues its path to reopening.