Rescue flight cleared to land
The Queensland Labor government is allowing a charter flight of Australians from Laos to land on October 28.
The Queensland Labor government has given the greenlight for the arrival of a charter flight of Australians from Laos as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the border with NSW could still open on November 1 despite recent cases of community transmission.
A government spokesman on Friday night disputed Scott Morrison’s comments earlier in the day that Queensland had refused to allow the flight — believed to be carrying 40 vulnerable Australians — to land in Cairns.
The spokesman said the Palaszczuk government had not refused entry and that it would be allowed to arrive on October 28.
“The Queensland government has agreed to take this flight into Queensland and is working with federal counterparts to finalise arrangements,’’ the spokesman said. “The flight will be accepted within existing quarantine arrangements in southeast Queensland where those returning Australians deemed vulnerable can be best accommodated.”
While campaigning at a factory in the Brisbane suburb of Murarrie (Labor, Bulimba), Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland’s borders to NSW could open on November 1.
Ms Palaszczuk — who had previously outlined a plan to reopen the border to NSW if there was no community transmissions for 28 days — said Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young had not yet delivered advice on the reopening.
“As the Deputy Premier said this morning, those decisions will be made at the end of the month, and we are looking at the community transmission,” she said.
“But they have been able to get on top of a lot of those issues, we’re looking forward to seeing that health advice.”
Asked whether NSW had met the 28 days of no community transmission landmark, Ms Palaszczuk said Dr Young took “into consideration a whole range of issues”. “Including their sewage testing, their rate of testing, she’ll provide her advice to government about those very important matters,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk did little campaigning as she prepared for a national cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington campaigned on the Gold Coast, announcing that an LNP government would invest $20m to deliver the marine maintenance facility.
The new precinct would boost the capabilities of the existing shipyard with a 1200 tonne capacity lift to cater for vessels of up to 75m in length.
The LNP’s pledge would be a co-investment along with the Gold Coast City Marina and Shipyard to build the $108m facility and create 1500 jobs.
“This is a super day on the election campaign because the LNP are going to supercharge the super yacht industry in the Southern Hemisphere,” Ms Frecklington said. “It is very important that the maritime industry is looked after.”
During a visit to Griffith University on the Gold Coast, Ms Frecklington confirmed that she supported the federal government’s 23 per cent renewable energy target by 2020.
The Palaszczuk government’s target is 50 per cent by 2030 — something Ms Frecklington said was not set in legislation.
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