Pressure mounts on states to 'save' the Australian economy by opening up the borders - as bitter war of words erupts between divided premiers
- The federal government wants to re-boot Australia's huge tourism industry
- The New South Wales government also wants state borders to come down
- But premiers are refusing to taken down borders until virus cases are reduced
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The federal and New South Wales governments are increasing pressure on other states to relax borders to generate tourism revenue and save jobs.
With international borders closed for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, the federal government wants to re-boot Australia's tourism industry, which provides around 700,000 jobs, by encouraging domestic holidays.
But a major obstacle is that every state except New South Wales and Victoria are refusing to take down their border restrictions which ban inter-state visitors.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told ABC News Breakfast that the border with NSW (pictured) may not open until September
Today Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the border with NSW may not open until September, much to the fury of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian who says open borders benefit businesses in both states.
Asked when the border would open, Ms Palaszczuk told ABC News Breakfast: 'Things would look more positive towards September. Having said that, I don't want to rule anything out.'
Ms Berejiklian responded furiously, saying: 'Closing borders doesn't help Australia, it doesn't help any of the states, it doesn't help our population and it doesn't help economic activity.
'If we can open up our internal borders that will help everyone.'
Queensland recorded two new coronavirus cases on Sunday and New South Wales recorded just one. WA and SA recorded zero new cases while Victoria had six.
Ms Berejiklian said Queensland was wrong to target an elimination strategy and should open the borders as part of a plan to get back to normal.
New South Wales residents cannot take holidays in Noosa (pictured) due to border restrictions preventing them from getting to QLD
'This notion that you are somehow going to completely eradicate the virus from Australia is beyond reality. I can't forsee that happening in a population of 25 million people,' she said.
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan also refused to set a time for removing his state's borders today.
Hitting back at Ms Berejiklian's demands, he said: 'She is persistent, but our advice to her is no, we will make these decisions when the time is right.
'There is clearly much greater levels of community transmission and infection in New South Wales and Victoria than here.'
On Monday afternoon, federal tourism minister Simon Birmingham weighed into the debate, saying that keeping borders closed would harm local businesses.
'If one or two states were to hold out they will be answerable to their tourism industry and will need to provide additional support to that industry,' he told Sky News.
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, a senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at University of South Australia, said that local businesses in less populated states were very keen for inter-state travel to resume.
'In terms of tourism businesses there is more money coming from the wealthier states and the more money you've got circulating the better,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
She warned that intra-state travel alone may not be enough to keep businesses that depend on tourism alive.
Share this article
'The sort of travel that's going to be easiest and that people feel comfortable with - such as camping and caravaning - isn't the best for the economy because people might not spend a lot.
'South Australia, for example, would love to attract wealthier tourists from inter-state and when the borders come down we're going to be competing for their custom.'
However, Dr Higgins-Desbiolles said state premiers are unlikely to relax the borders until community transmission is reduced in NSW and Victoria.
'Until then this puts our federal system in a bit of tension,' she said.
Regions such as Port Douglas (pictured) in north Queensland are not available to anyone outside the state due to border restrictions
