Coronavirus Australia: Annastacia Palaszczuk moves to calm tensions over PCR test
The Queensland premier has pledged to put politics aside and work cooperatively ahead of an upcoming national cabinet meeting.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has moved to calm hostility between Brisbane and Canberra, pledging to put politics aside and work cooperatively ahead of an upcoming national cabinet meeting.
Tensions have boiled over in recent days during a war over the state’s PCR testing funding model for interstate hotspot arrivals, reaching fever pitch on Wednesday when the Queensland premier accused Scott Morrison of wanting residents in her state to get “Covid-19 for Christmas”.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Ms Palaszczuk fielded follow up questions about her inflammatory comments and repeatedly declared she had already explained everything in detail.
“I look forward to working cooperatively with the federal government” she said.
“We have a national cabinet meeting coming up soon and I think everybody needs to work together.”
She announced no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in Queensland.
‘Outrageous statement not fitting for premier’
Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli has lamented a ‘very embarrassing day’ for the state after premier Annastacia Palaszczuk accused Scott Morrison of wanting Queenslanders “to get Covid for Christmas”.
Relations between Canberra and Brisbane sunk to a new low yesterday when the Queensland premier made the inflammatory claim shortly after saying she wanted the Morrison government to “stop playing politics” with the pandemic.
It followed a day of heightened tension between Ms Palaszczuk and federal Health Minister Greg Hunt over confusion about whether visitors to Queensland would have to pay for PCR tests to present to border police upon arrival.
“This is about the federal election. Why did the federal government want Queenslanders to get Covid for Christmas? They wanted to scrap the PCR tests.”
Speaking to Sky News last night, Mr Crisafulli reassured interstate visitors that they were welcome in Queensland.
“The premier made the most outrageous statement blaming Canberra, saying they wanted to give Queensland Covid for Christmas,” he said.
“Now I’m sorry, but that is not a fitting comment of a premier. It was a very, very embarrassing day for our state.
“To all of your viewers interstate, you need to know that you’re welcome here … we’ve got a government at the moment that doesn’t quite know how to express it … but we want to see you, we want you to be part of our family, we want to see you at Christmas.”
Deputy Nationals Leader David Littleproud also hit back at Ms Palaszczuk’s criticism of the federal government over Covid measures, saying her comments are politically motivated.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Littleproud said Queenslanders saw Ms Palaszczuk’s comments “for what it is.”
“I think it’s more to do with politics and about a federal election and helping Anthony Albanese than it is with anything else. And I don’t think we should dignify it,” he said.
“I don’t think we need to keep giving it oxygen because I think all that does is play into the business model of Annastacia Palaszczuk’ and Anthony Albanese.”
Premier slams PM over test regime
Asked yesterday whether she or her Health Minister had picked up the phone to Mr Hunt to clarify the issue amid a week of headlines about the expensive tests, Ms Palaszczuk said that was not her job and said the Coalition was politicising the issue ahead of the election.
“I think the politics has to stop,” she said.
“This is about families, it’s about reuniting at Christmas.
“This is about a backflip from the federal government, this is about the federal government singling Queenslanders out.
“This is about the federal election. Why did the federal government want Queenslanders to get Covid for Christmas? They wanted to scrap the PCR tests.”
Mr Hunt’s desire for states to move away from PCR tests and used rapid testing technology, which can deliver results almost instantly but are not as accurate.
Ms Palaszczuk’s deputy, Steven Miles, blamed the confusion about who would pay for the tests – which Mr Hunt confirmed would be jointly paid for by both governments – on the media and “an orchestrated campaign” by the federal government to confuse people.
The premier was asked about the mooted $150 cost of the tests in parliament last week and whether the government would fund it, she did not correct the claim and responded as though it was true.
Nor did she or her government correct the claim over the ensuing five days, as the issue of families forking out hundreds of dollars to travel to Queensland over Christmas became a national story.
Mr Miles on Wednesday blamed the media and federal government for the confusion, saying it was not up to the Queensland government to clarify the issue.
It came after, Ms Palaszczuk on Tuesday clarified her government would accept a negative test result in the form of a text message from a testing authority rather than a travel certificate.
That prompted Mr Hunt to confirm existing funding arrangements in place since March 2020, in which both levels of government pay for the tests and text confirmation, would remain.
“The only thing that has changed is that after accepting text confirmation for 18 months and then rejecting it for 24 hours, Queensland is now accepting the same text messages again, dropping their demand for a certificate,” Mr Hunt said.
“It’s time the Premier apologised for the unnecessary stress she has caused to Queenslanders and those planning to travel there.”
Asked why the government did not clarify the issue earlier, Mr Miles blamed an “orchestrated campaign to confuse people”, apparently from the federal government.
“There was never an announcement from the state government that it would cost people,” Mr Miles said.
“We were asked whether people would need the test and we were presented with the argument that in some cases that would cost people money and we said they would still require that test.”
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