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Tourism Minister urges states to open in July after Palaszczuk comments

written by Adam Thorn | May 19, 2020

Brisbane Airport’s Taxiway Papa is among 10 dedicated parking zones to accommodate grounded aircraft (Brisbane Airport)

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham appeared to criticise Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s suggestion that her state’s borders may remain closed until September.

“If one or two states were to hold out, then they will be answerable to their tourism industry and will ultimately need to provide additional support to that industry,” said Minister Birmingham.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed a three-step plan with states to reopen the country, which would see border restrictions lifted in July. However, Premier Palaszczuk’s surprising remarks on Monday signalled a split between members of the national cabinet.

The Premier said restrictions could end earlier “subject to further planning and review” but that things “would look more positive towards September”.

“Having said that, I do not want to rule anything out – I will give you that advice at the end of May, as quickly as possible,” she said.

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Minister Birmingham didn’t name Queensland directly, but his comments indicate he is in favour of opening earlier.

“Those states who’ve got border controls in place, assuming we’ve continued to see very low rates of transmission of COVID-19, ought to be looking at opening up their borders,” he told Nine’s Today program on Tuesday. “We need people moving across this country again when it’s safe to do so.”

Meanwhile, various tourism groups have added their views, with the Australian Tourism Industry Council saying Queensland should “align with the spirit” of the national cabinet three-step plan.

Executive director Simon Westaway said, “It serves no purpose for a scattered and long drawn out approach to the removal of state and territory borders.

“If it is good enough to have a beer or a meal in a socially-distant setting across all states and territories, it surely is good enough to have clearly-articulated and declared dates for hard border lifting.”

On 8 May, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced national cabinet had agreed a broad three-step plan to reopen the country, with recreational interstate flights returning in July. It also hinted at the introduction of cross-Tasman, Pacific island and international student travel in mid-winter, too.

Currently, a combination of state border closures and day-to-day movement restrictions have ruled out all but essential interstate journeys.

Last week though, New Zealand eased its restrictions to move into “Alert Level 2”, allowing wide-scale flying to restart.

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Comments (15)

  • Jennifer

    says:

    Is Premier Palaszczuk up for re-election? When will these politicians realise they work for us? Palaszczuk and her health minister need to go. Vote her out.

  • Paul

    says:

    Qld govt wants tourists. Premier wants borders closed. When will commonsense prevail?

  • Surly the common sense thing to do would be for the Queensland premier & health minister to talk to other states so that we can all live in Australia not doing what the Queensland premier said this morning that she only listens to her health minister who is out on her own on this issue obviously on a different planet

  • John

    says:

    Alp union govt about to get wiped out in qld. Be lucky if they can put together a cricket team after electoon. Exerting last bit of power.

  • Bob Pearman

    says:

    All you tourism operators from the story bridge in Brisbane to the Cooktown main street need to realise that this labour,LABOUR,Premier is not doing our Queensland businesses any favours by keeping the border closed.
    REMEMBER OCTOBER IS ONLY 5 MONTHS AWAY.

  • Eric Crone

    says:

    This is not the time and place to play politics but since it has been initiated I’ll offer my view.. It was originally decided in the bi-partisan National Cabinet that Premiers would have individual authority dependent on how they perceived particular circumstances in their states – that is until it is inconvenient it seems to Federal ministers like Dan Tehan ( re Victorian schools) and Simon Birmingham (re Tourism). To begin, both Anastacia Palaszczuk and her health minister are deferring to advice from their CMO – so Jennifer, you misread that in your clearly anti Labor rant. Ms Palaszczuk also said policies would be reviewed at the end of each month and hinted there may be some flexibility without giving false hope. No-one is able to categorically rule out a second wave . I do understand the economic case for getting the tourism /aviation sectors operational again and will wholeheartedly welcome that when it is deemed safe. Maybe it could start now with intra -state travel. I am in the vulnerable age group and am happy to see a cautious approach. One needs to appreciate the very difficult job of the Premiers balancing health and economic considerations – damned if they do, damned if they don’t!!

    • Dan B

      says:

      ^ this guy! Exactly… Thank you Sir…

    • Jennifer

      says:

      Hi Eric,

      I don’t care which side of the coin the Premier aligns with. I care that she is bankrupting the economy.

      Pay attention to the narrative happening around the world. The information we are fed about this “crisis” is changing every day, almost every hour. They told us to get tested, now they tell us the tests are inconclusive and have a high false-positive rate (Dr Brix); they told us to wear masks, then they told us masks do not make a substantial difference (CDC); they told us the virus ‘jumps’ and lives for hours or days on some surfaces; today I read that the virus is NOT as infectious as previously thought, it does not remain infectious on surfaces for hours, it is most infectious at close quarters between humans, just like many other viral infections (CDC).

      The physicist in the UK who produced the modelling that shut down the world has stepped down from his position because he and his mistress could NOT practice what he preached: that the gov’ts of the world must lockdown their populace or else millions would die. Obviously he meant the ‘ordinary’ people. The field hospitals in the US are being closed down, most of them having seen ZERO action. The amount of money wasted is astronomical, will be devastating to the future taxpayers of that country and is only ONE example of the mess the US is in. Our own gov’t is printing money that it cannot afford to give away. Why do you think SCO-MO won’t answer the JobKeeper-to-Sept question? He seems to have suddenly realised that the coffers are skint and he wants reelection. So let’s get back to work!

      I am sick and tired of our elected officials (who continue to get paid by you and me) continuing to listen to the false information of the so-called experts, many of whom readily admit they have no clue about this viral threat. Australia has had, what 100 deaths from CV-19? And we stop the entire nation’s economy based on the fear of one guy who, it turns out, isn’t really all that scared? Our children and grandchildren will not thank us for allowing ourselves to succumb to the fear and groupthink. “Lockdown” is a term used in prisons that house convicted criminals. It is a standard tactic employed to control, by force if necessary. The QLD Premier has “locked down” the state, broken the tourism industry and crippled many small businesses. No wonder she is so worried about losing VA to another state. She can see the writing on the wall.

      I do not feel sorry for the Premier at all. She can still pay her rent.

      I ask you, when would you deem it ‘safe’? Do you mean ‘safe’ for your vulnerable age group? If you are not comfortable with the risk (as we know it today), exercise your right to stay home while those of us who are willing to assume the risk get back to work.

      Thank you.

  • Jack Chomley

    says:

    Keep it up Premier, as Qld will soon suffer a Bankruptcy pandemic, spreading to the rest of the country.

  • Patrickk

    says:

    It is interesting that Queensland is being singled out but not South Australia with a liberal government has the same policy and is where Birmingham is from. I note the (dare I say partisan) attacks here on the Queensland government are not extended to South Australia Western Australia or Tasmania. To most of us closing borders makes sense.

  • Stan

    says:

    So lets get this straight… On one hand the QLD government is bidding for a stake in Virgin Australia, wanting to keep it based in QLD and bring it back to profitability… On the other hand they want to keep the QLD border closed to the rest of the country. Simple airline economics, aircraft have to fly for an airline to remain profitable. Virgin stands no hope with this attitude form state government. At least they could run an interesting puppet show…

    • Jennifer

      says:

      Well said, Stan.

      Why would VA -or any other business that relies on interstate commerce- want to set up shop in QLD? What happens when the next “crisis” appears?

      The precedent has been set.

  • Red Cee

    says:

    Judging by most of the comments above, Queensland could open its border, and then have an increase in Covid imported fro NSW and Victoria. Meanwhile, WA, SA, the NT, and Tasmania keep new cases low, as they kept there borders closed. Sound like double standards to me.

  • J.Power

    says:

    I don’t care which side of the coin the Premier aligns with. I care that she is bankrupting the state’s economy.
    Pay attention to the narrative happening around the world. The information we are fed about this “crisis” is changing every day, almost every hour. They told us to get tested, now they tell us the tests are inconclusive and have a high false-positive rate (Dr Brix); they told us to wear masks, then they told us masks do not make a substantial difference (WHO); they told us the virus ‘jumps’ and lives for hours or days on some surfaces; today I read that the virus is NOT as infectious as previously thought, it does not remain infectious on surfaces for hours, it is most infectious at close quarters between humans, just like many other viral infections (CDC). They told us to let them track us and we agreed. Well, some of us did. They have taken away our liberties and we have let them. We will not get them back easily. Pay attention.

    The physicist in the UK who produced the modelling that shut down the world has stepped down from his position because he and his mistress could NOT practice what he preached: that the gov’ts of the world must lockdown their populace or else millions would die. Obviously he meant ‘other’ people. The field hospitals in the US are being closed down, most of them having seen ZERO action. The amount of money wasted is astronomical, will be devastating to the future taxpayers of that country. Our own gov’t is printing money that it doesn’t have. Why do you think SCO-MO won’t answer the JobKeeper-to-Sept question? He seems to have suddenly realised that the coffers are skint and he wants reelection.
    I am sick and tired of our elected officials (who continue to get paid by you and me) blindly listening to the false information of the so-called experts, many of whom readily admit they have no clue about this viral threat. Australia has had, what 101 deaths from CV-19? And we stop the entire nation’s economy based on the fear of one guy who, it turns out, isn’t really all that scared? Our children and grandchildren will not thank us for allowing ourselves to succumb to the fear and groupthink. “Lockdown” is a term used in prisons that house convicted criminals. It is a standard tactic employed to control, by force if necessary. The QLD Premier has “locked down” the state, broken the tourism industry and crippled many small businesses. No wonder she is so worried about losing VA to another state. She can see the writing on the wall.
    I do not feel sorry for the Premier at all. She can still pay her rent. I mean, we can still pay her rent.
    I ask you, when would you deem it “safe”? Do you mean “safe” for your vulnerable age group? If you are not comfortable with the risk, exercise your right to stay home while those of us who are willing to assume the risk get back to work.

  • what a Bloody idiot you are Mr Tourism Minister Palaszczuk
    putting Us Tasmanians who are Covid free and you want to reopen borders Victoria has 19 new cases of covid 19.
    i will sue your Ass off mate if you reopen tassie borders to victorians if i get Covid 19 Thank God you Not our Prime minister as we be all in graves in Tassie.

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