Scott Morrison’s blast for slow states as vaccine rates lag

Low vaccination rates in Queensland and WA threaten to delay the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.

Scott Morrison says ‘this groundhog day has to end, and it will end when we start getting to 70 per cent and 80 per cent’. Picture: Getty Images

Low vaccination rates in Queensland and Western Australia threaten to delay the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns as Scott Morrison says Australia must adjust its mindset to living with the virus.

The Prime Minister on Monday stared down state leaders wavering on the four-phase ­reopening strategy agreed by ­national cabinet, warning that Australians would remain stuck “in the cave forever” if the plan to progressively ease restrictions at 70 per cent and 80 per cent full vaccination rates was abandoned.

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With Queensland and WA ­indicating they may not stick to the plan because of high case numbers in NSW and a growing outbreak in Victoria, Mr Morrison said: “If not at 70 per cent and 80 per cent, then when? We must make that move and we must prepare to make that move and we must prepare the country to make that move.

“We have to break this cycle. The national plan is the way to cut through and for us to emerge from that. This groundhog day has to end, and it will end when we start getting to 70 per cent and 80 per cent.”

The Prime Minister’s intervention came as S&P Global Ratings said states and territories would put their credit ratings at risk if they failed to end lockdowns once 80 per cent vaccine coverage was achieved and business leaders called on WA and Queensland to ramp up their vaccination rates.

WA and Queensland continue to lag behind other states. NSW has delivered more than 59 per cent of first doses, but WA and Queensland are sitting at about 46 per cent.

On current vaccination projections, NSW will meet its 70 per cent double jab target around ­October 29 and 80 per cent around ­November 16, while Victoria will reach the 70 per cent full vaccination threshold around November 3 and 80 per cent around November 21.

Mark McGowan. Picture: Getty Images

Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Tertius Pickard

However, Queensland is not expected to reach a 70 per cent full vaccination rate until about ­December 4 and 80 per cent around December 28, while WA is not projected to reach 70 per cent until around November 11 and 80 per cent around November 29.

The slower vaccination rates in holdout states will delay the whole country as thresholds are linked to national vaccination rates and could lead to borders being closed longer.

Under the four-step strategy, lockdowns and restrictions will be eased when the country moves to phases two and three after state and national averages reach 70 and 80 per cent of double doses. Queensland at the weekend threatened to walk away from the national plan, arguing it had signed the agreement before infections in NSW reached the current levels of more than 800 a day. Federal officials insist more cases will not radically alter virus caseloads once states open up.

Ahead of a national cabinet meeting on Friday that will consider higher Covid-19 caseloads in the Doherty Institute’s updated analysis, which underpins the reopening plan, Mr Morrison said states must commit to “living with this virus”.

 

“We must adjust our mindset,” he said. “Cases will not be the issue once we get above 70 per cent. Dealing with serious illness, hospitalisation, ICU capabilities, our ability to respond in those circumstances – that will be our goal. And we will live with this virus as we live with other infectious diseases.”

Mr Morrison, who spoke with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce on Monday after the airline ­announced it would mandate vaccines for workers and offer incentives for vaccinated Australians, faces increasing internal pressure to pushback against states and territories undermining the national reopening plan.

But WA Premier Mark McGowan fired back at Mr Morrison and argued the national cabinet had agreed that targeted lockdowns would remain even at 80 per cent vaccination rates.

“Just because the NSW government has made a mess of it doesn’t mean the rest of us should suffer,” he said. “My view is we should do everything we can to stay in the state we are currently in, and at the same time vaccinate like hell.”

An ibis crosses a quiet street in the Sydney CBD. Picture: AFP

The federal government has shifted to a combination of vaccines, targeted lockdowns, testing, tracing and treatments to help move Australia out of the suppression phase.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she feared jabs could go to waste unless more people joined the state’s vaccination waitlist. Only 79,599 people were in the jab queue as of Monday, compared with 112,000 people vaccinated last week.

A senior Queensland government source said no consideration would be given to removing border restrictions with NSW until the infection rate fell below 1 and case numbers fell to the “early hundreds”.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox warned that the nation could not wait for the “last person in the last state” to be vaccinated.

Police patrol in the Melbourne CBD on Monday. Picture: AFP

“I’m confident that the slower-to-vaccinate states will soon see that the cost of isolation is much higher than the cost of striving for the future, obviously unrealistic dream of maintaining Covid zero,” Mr Willox said. “If not, those states will be left behind economically and socially and they will make our national Covid recovery harder to achieve.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said vaccinations must be the primary tool to control Covid-19. Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott urged state leaders to stick with the Doherty plan.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said when NSW reached 70 and 80 per cent double dose coverage, residents would be able to “live more freely”.

Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews said while he was ­“highly unlikely” to impose a statewide lockdown on Victorians once 80 per cent were vaccinated, he could not rule it out.

As Europe, the US, Singapore, Israel and others shift their focus to lowering hospitalisation and death rates, Mr Morrison said lockdowns were “taking an ­extremely heavy toll both on the mental and physical health of Australians and on the economic success of Australia”.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: PAUL GARVEY, RACHEL BAXENDALE, DAVID TANNER