Queensland Premier says she will not be pushed into changing her stance on Queensland’s border closure

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she won’t be forced to change her position on closure of the state’s border.

“Queensland will continue to have our borders closed to keep Queenslanders safe,” Ms Palaszczuk said this morning.
“I’m not going to be moved on this,” she said.
“The federal government can throw whoever they want at that, we can have Clive Palmer as well.”
It comes after Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had urged prime ministers and chief ministers to show “more compassion” saying closures had caused tremendous hardship.
“I think there’s so much confusion and ultimately too much cruelty in the way that their borders have been closed,” he told Sky News yesterday.
“What we need is more compassion, all we need is more common sense.”

The Queensland border is officially restricted to all of Victoria , NSW and the ACT. Queenslanders returning home can enter but must, at their own cost, go under compulsory hotel quarantine.

Ms Palaszczuk said the economy can not develop without first providing an effective answer to health.

“Fundamentally the health of Queenslanders is my number one concern and you can’t have a strong economy, you can’t have the economy growing unless you have the health under control,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk also said it will create a new hotline to support medical exemption applications for residents of New South Wales who require border care.

The announcement follows a series of controversial events, including an expectant mother from Ballina who last week lost one of her unborn twins.

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