Scott Morrison throws down gauntlet to rebel premiers

Scott Morrison has lashed premiers for casting doubt over border reopenings, insisting Aussie families will be reunited at Christmas.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has thrown down the gauntlet to state premiers over ongoing border closures, insisting political leaders owe it to Australians to allow families to reunite at Christmas.

Mr Morrison said he couldn’t see any reason why people should be kept apart by state borders after the 80 per cent national vaccination target was reached.

“It’s important that we do move forward. We can’t stay in second gear. We’ve got to get to top gear in living with the virus … that’s where we need to be,” he told Weekend Sunrise on Sunday.

“My message is to Australians that what I‘d like them to have for Christmas is their lives back.”

Mr Morrison slammed Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and WA’s Mark McGowan for their unwillingness to commit to granting Australians that same wish.

‘We can’t stay in second gear. We’ve got to get to top gear in living with the virus,’ Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. Picture: Olivier DOULIERY / AFP.

“There comes a time when you’ve got to honour the arrangement you’ve made with the Australian people, and that is when you get to 80 per cent vaccination, it’s very clear that you can start opening up,” the PM said.

“I think that puts the big challenge on the premiers. I mean, they've had the power to do what they’ve been doing. They’re not new powers. They’ve always had them.

“But, you know, there comes a time when you just got to move on and get on with it.”

Miles slams PM

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles rejected Mr Morrison’s latest call for holdout states to open up on hitting 80 per cent full vaccination for Covid.

Renewing his feud with the Prime Minister, who from the US urged the states to “get on with it”, Mr Miles said the 80 per cent double-jab benchmark was only one of a number of considerations for reopening Queensland’s closed border with NSW and Victoria.

“I find it pretty incredible. I mean this bloke is the master of distraction isn’t he?” he told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday.

Steven Miles said he believed the Prime Minister was attempting to distract from federal government failures. Picture: Jerad Williams

“Nine people died in NSW from this virus today. You’ve got diplomatic incidents with Paris. He broke up with France by text message.

“You’ve got him being rebuked by the European Union. You’ve got a trade dispute provoked with China.

“So all of that and he’s managing to distract the national debate by some discussion about what’s going to happen in Queensland in three months’ time.

“Frankly, I think the primer minister should be more focused on the health of people in NSW and Victoria and national affairs than what might happen in Queensland in 90 days time.”

Queensland and Western Australia have refused to commit to Mr Morrison’s roadmap out of the pandemic, underpinned by modelling from the Doherty Institute, to ease most restrictions from 70 per cent full vaccination and return to near-normal living once the 80 per cent target was achieved.

Asked what it would take for the Queensland border to reopen, Mr Miles said today: “What we’ve said is that it will depend on what the situation is here and what the situation is there (in NSW and Victoria) in terms of the number cases, number of hospitalisations, number of people in ICU and number of people vaccinated.

“So there is more than one variable. I know that the Prime Minister, with his constant attempts to distract from his own failings, wants to boil this down to a single number.

“But it is not that simple and it is misleading people to tell them that it should be that simple.”

The Queensland and WA premiers have held firm in their resistance of the national plan.

Ms Palaszczuk has demanded more research into the effects of Covid-19 on children before she says her state will embrace the reopening targets agreed on at national cabinet.

Mr McGowan has shown similar defiance, insisting WA is unlikely to reopen its borders until 2022.

But Mr Morrison slapped down both premiers’ claims, insisting the entire country should reopen at the 80 per cent vaccination target, which is expected to be reached before the end of the year.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has demanded more research into the effects of Covid-19 on children before she says her state will embrace the reopening targets. Picture: Richard Walker

‘I expect we’ll open again once we get very high levels of vaccination, I expect that will be some time next year,’ said WA Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Jackson Flindell The West Australian.

“Once you get to 80 per cent of your population that’s vaccinated, it’s very clear. I can’t see any reason why Australians should be kept from each other,” he said.

“(Reopening by Christmas) is within the gift of governments. And that’s a gift I’d like to see us give them.”

The PM also made it clear that the country would not wait for vaccine-hesitant Aussies to make up their minds, insisting the national plan will go ahead as planned whether people decide to get their jab or not.

“Once we get to 80 per cent – the fact is that everybody has had the chance to get vaccinated by that point,” he said.

“If you've chosen not to get vaccinated, that’s your choice … but we must go into the next chapter.”

Andrews hopeful borders can reopen

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said, “I certainly hope so”, when asked whether he backed the PM’s expectation that borders between states would reopen once the 80 per cent full vaccination target is reached.

“But again, with the greatest of respect to the PM, that’s not his call. That’s a call for chief health officers, and for premiers,” Mr Andrews said.

“And the national plan, which we are faithfully delivering, doesn’t really go to these issues. No-one is locked into having borders open.

“I want them to be open. I want people to be able to travel across their state, interstate, travel overseas if they think that’s something that they want to do.

“But, again, I can’t predict that. We have to wait and see how things go and how many cases there are. Just like I don’t think the Prime Minister would necessarily be able to give you a definitive list of all the countries that are going to be able to be in travel bubbles with us right now, we’ll have to wait and see.”