'Rather cute' NSW waits for Queensland election for border call: Berejiklian
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she thinks it is "rather cute" that her state is waiting until the Queensland state election to hear if they will be able to cross the state border again.
Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB on Wednesday morning, Ms Berejiklian said she continued to be annoyed by the border closure, having recently spent time in northern NSW and heard the stories of affected communities.
The border debate has been an ongoing issue between Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer, Paul Harris, Kate Geraghty
"It think it's rather cute that it's happening the day before her election, and I'm just so upset and frustrated that the border has been in place for so long," the Premier said, adding she hoped an announcement would come before the end of the week.
"I just wish she'd had the courage to do it earlier," she quipped.
Asked about her own border closure, the Premier said she thinks "everyone would accept that Victoria is in a different situation".
"They're still in partial lockdown, and we know it's much easier for the virus to not spread when no one is going to work or school," she said. (All Victorian school students returned to school this week.)
She said she did not want to reopen the NSW border in stages – i.e. allowing regional Victorian residents first – due to operational difficulties at checkpoints.
"If we see, within a couple of weeks, the virus is still under control, we will have no problem taking the border down."
As Victorians prepared to emerge from a 112-day lockdown on Wednesday morning, the issue of borders reopening was reignited on Tuesday, with Tasmania announcing it would welcome NSW travellers without quarantine next week.
There were no similar commitments from WA or Queensland, but the latter is expected to make a decision on Friday – a day before polls close in its election.
On Tuesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk shrugged off criticism from former Labor premier Peter Beattie who urged her to "follow NSW's lead" and reopen the border.
“I will be getting the health advice from the Chief Health Officer and when she is ready to provide that advice, we will make our announcement,” Ms Palaszczuk said on the election campaign trail.
“She [Jeannette Young] will talk to the chief health officer in NSW. She will look at all of the data.”
More to come
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Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.