Queensland’s deputy premier has said the border may not open to NSW even when vaccination rates reach 80 per cent, because of the southern state’s worsening outbreak.
Speaking on Sunday, Steven Miles said the Doherty Institute’s vaccine modelling – which Nation Cabinet has based a four-stage plan for easing restrictions on – was endorsed “before the NSW outbreak” and might not be honoured.
The bombshell announcement came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded a Covid-zero Australia is “highly unlikely”, but that the number of community cases should have no bearing on the plan to ease restrictions.
Despite this, Mr Miles said Queensland had agreed to the national cabinet endorsed plan, which includes isolating lockdowns and reopening borders, before the NSW outbreak.
“We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We’re looking to see what’s happening and we’ll adjust our posture accordingly,” he said on Sunday.
“ … We’ve had road maps all along. They are based on the circumstances of the time. Decisions have to be made based on the circumstances of the time.
“For the past 18 months I’ve tried to predict where this pandemic would go, and I’ve almost always been wrong.
“We are committed to the plan, but some facts have changed.”
Mr Morrison told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning the country would be able to ‘move out of … an unsustainable situation” when vaccination rates hit 70 and 80 per cent.
“You can’t live with lockdowns forever and at some point you need to make that gear change,” he said.
“Case numbers are not the whole story … but right now we need to make the lockdowns effective, we need to suppress the virus as best we can.”
Queensland recorded no local cases on Sunday, while NSW recorded 830 new infections.
Tensions over the tightened Queensland/ NSW border are mounting, after 55 fines were dished out following a mass protest on Sunday.
More than 2000 people gathered on both sides of the Coolangatta checkpoint, protesting against Covid-19 restrictions and Queensland’s toughest ever border measures which has severely limited cross-border movement.
Mr Miles labelled the protests as “shameful and reckless”.
“I’ve been to a lot of protests, I’ve organised a lot of protests, I love a good protest, but now is not the time for protests, particularly on the border,” he said on Sunday.
“The border is our riskiest place right now. We have to see the situation in NSW the same way we’ve seen the situation in other countries throughout this pandemic.
“By having a protest there, they put the safety of our police at risk, they put their own safety at risk and they put the safety of the community at risk.
“Frankly, I’m pretty disgusted.”
On Saturday, 2715 vehicles were intercepted at the border, and 142 were turned away.
Twelve essential workers were denied entry to Queensland because they were not vaccinated, in line with new protocols introduced last week.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMioQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS90cmF2ZWwvdHJhdmVsLXVwZGF0ZXMvcWxkLWRlcHV0eS1wcmVtaWVyLXNheXMtZG9oZXJ0eS1tb2RlbGxpbmctYWdyZWVkLXRvLWJlZm9yZS1uc3ctb3V0YnJlYWsvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83MWY1YjNiYzk1MTg2YjlkNzdiODk2MDA0ZmFmMjY2NtIBoQFodHRwczovL2FtcC5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS90cmF2ZWwvdHJhdmVsLXVwZGF0ZXMvcWxkLWRlcHV0eS1wcmVtaWVyLXNheXMtZG9oZXJ0eS1tb2RlbGxpbmctYWdyZWVkLXRvLWJlZm9yZS1uc3ctb3V0YnJlYWsvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83MWY1YjNiYzk1MTg2YjlkNzdiODk2MDA0ZmFmMjY2Ng?oc=5
2021-08-22 22:15:03Z
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