Anna hits back: Queensland Premier tells Scott Morrison to stop 'intimidating' her over border closures and focus on controlling outbreaks in Victoria and NSW - as she makes a bold claim about her AFL decision
Annastacia Palaszczuk has told the Morrison government to stop 'intimidating' her over her state's tough borders.
She also claimed any state which was awarded the AFL grand final would have made the same decision to allow hundreds of staff, players and WAGs to enter.
The Queensland premier has come under fire from federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg for keeping the border closed to parts of New South Wales and the ACT that have no community transmission of coronavirus.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has told the Morrison government to stop 'intimidating' her over her state's tough borders
She said he found the criticism 'intimidating' and that it upsets her family.
But Ms Palaszczuk said she would not open her borders anytime soon.
'I think it's a bit disingenuous for this heightened criticism that is coming from a whole lot of levels when our fundamental concern is to look after Queenslanders and to make sure that they are safe during this time,' she said.
'I do not want to see what has happened in our aged care sector in NSW and in Victoria happen here in Queensland. That would be a nightmare.'
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Queensland recorded zero new coronavirus cases overnight after 13,000 tests.
On Wednesday Mr Frydenberg slammed the premier's decision to allow the families of AFL players into the state.
'I think the Queensland Premier has got some questions to answer here,' he told A Current Affair.
'How can it be okay for people to go up to prepare for a footy game, and its not okay to go to hospital for treatment?'
Mr Frydenberg referenced several tragic examples of New South Wales locals not being allowed to cross the border during the pandemic.
'How can it be okay that a young woman loses an unborn child because of border confusion... that a four-year-old boy with cancer can be separated from his mother?
'These are cruel and confused implications from these strict border approaches... I think everyone needs to get a grip here and remember that we're first and last Australians.'
October 24 will mark the first time in the AFL's 124-year history that the grand final has been played outside of Melbourne, due to Victoria's outbreak.
Ms Palaszczuk insisted it was a 'huge win' for Queenslanders and said that any state that won the chance to host the final would have let the players and their families enter.
'It's almost like we're being criticised because we won it,' she said.
Scott Morrison will today try to persuade state and territory leaders to open up their borders.
The prime minister accepts Victoria must be sealed off due to its second wave outbreak, which is behind 87 per cent of all Australia's Covid-19 deaths and still ongoing with relatively high levels of community transmission.
From a conference room in Parliament House Scott Morrison (pictured) will host a video call with the state and territory leaders and try to persuade them to open their borders
But increasing movement between other states is essential to save the nation's dying tourism industry, which employs one million workers and is set to lose a staggering $54.6billion this year due to lockdowns and border restrictions.
Greater freedom will also help farmers, residents in border towns, and hundreds of thousands of Aussie families who are trapped apart in different states.
Ms Palaszczuk has adopted nationalist rhetoric, pitting her state against the rest of Australia and even declaring that Queensland hospitals are 'for our people'.
Ten days after that comment, a mother from Ballina, near the Queensland border, lost her unborn twin after she was flown 700km to Sydney for surgery because an exemption allowing her into Queensland took too long.
Then on Wednesday, the premier let hundreds of AFL players, WAGs and officials waltz into Queensland after clapping and wooping when Brisbane was handed the AFL grand final scheduled for 24 October.
Queensland grandmother Jayne Brown, 60, who was made to do hotel quarantine in in Brisbane following brain surgery, said the unfairness was 'mind-blowing'.
Passengers arrive on a charter-flight containing partners, wives and family members of AFL players at the Gold Coast Airport in July. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been accused of 'double standards' for letting them in while keeping out border residents
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