Queensland government blast Scott Morrison over border policy

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the state’s Health Minister Steven Miles have unleashed a scathing attack on the Morrison government over Australia’s bungled international border policy.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Miles took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the federal government allowing unvaccinated non-Australian residents into the country.

Ms Palaszczuk announced the state recorded three new Covid-19 cases overnight, including the brother of an unvaccinated Queensland hospital worker.

The case announced yesterday in a 19-year-old who works outside the Covid ward at the Prince Charles Hospital sparked a snap lockdown for parts of Queensland.

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Genomic sequencing has linked the 19-year-old worker in Brisbane back to a returned traveller who had left the country to visit Indonesia repeatedly, according to Mr Miles. The woman has the Delta variant of Covid-19, prompting fear the virus will spread to regional parts of the state.

Mr Miles said the returned traveller who is the source of this case had been allowed to leave the country to visit Indonesia “repeatedly”.

“They had been allowed to come and go between Australia and Indonesia repeatedly throughout this pandemic by the Morrison government. They are not vaccinated. And have been through our hotel quarantine several times,” he said.

“ABS data, the Federal Government’s own data, confirms that thousands of people are being allowed to travel here who are not stranded Aussies. These are not Australian citizens or permanent residents. But every week 600 UK citizens arrive in Australia. 500 Chinese citizens. More than 300 Indonesians. More than 250 people from the United States. More than 200 people from the Philippines. 115 people from South Africa.”

The traveller who visited Indonesia prompted Mr Miles to question the Federal Government’s border policy, and apparent flexibility on who is allowed in and out of the country despite Australia’s closed border.

Mr Miles said allowing people who can “afford” business class tickets in and out of the country was putting the rest of Australia at risk.

“We do know that many of those people will have COVID-19 … The borders are not genuinely closed,” Mr Miles said.

“And these travellers are displacing Australians who are genuinely stranded overs, genuinely trying to get home.

“In addition to the non-Australians returning, every month about 40,000 Australian citizens and about 6,000 permanent visa holders are allowed to leave the country. Many of them return … Rejoining the queue, going back through hotel quarantine and putting our community at risk.”

Mr Miles said the Morrison government had completely failed on the international border policy, questioning how businessmen and women could move in and out of the country despite the country’s closed borders.

“It turns out the only thing that’s required to get a permit from the federal government to leave the country is proof you have a meeting in another country,” Mr Miles claimed.

“Proof you have a business meeting. It’s not good enough that just because you can afford a business class flight or a charter flight you can breach our closed international borders.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the Federal Government needed to reduce the caps on international arrivals, saying the nation was at a “pressure cooker moment”.

“There are a large number of people that are travelling overseas for business … and there are questions that need to be answered about why they are leaving without being vaccinated,” she said.