As millions of Greater Brisbane residents prepare to emerge from lockdown, tempers are beginning to fray once more over coronavirus restrictions, with state premiers split over border closures.
About two million Queenslanders endured a snap three-day lockdown as health officials scrambled to trace the contacts of a hotel quarantine worker infected with the highly contagious UK strain of COVID-19.
They will be allowed to emerge on Monday night after Queensland recorded another day of zero new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
Some restrictions, including wearing masks, will remain in place for 10 days.
The Queensland government’s decision should determine whether residents of other states are free to leave Brisbane.
But one year into the pandemic, there are still no nationally consistent protocols on borders and hot spots, so outcomes could be vastly different across the states and territories.
The federal government has previously been highly critical of premiers and chief ministers for maintaining harsh restrictions and border closures.
However, Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack has struck a more sympathetic tone about the “different means and methods” embraced by states to keep their residents safe.
“While I understand and appreciate that border lockdowns have had an impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, what we’ve actually been able to see is Australia remain as largely COVID-free as possible,” he told ABC radio on Monday.
“With the vaccine coming on board in the early parts of this year, I think that will be another step in the right direction as far as getting into a more normal existence that we enjoyed before COVID.”
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly believes that post-COVID “normal” existence is more than six months away.
‘It is a bit hard to tell now … I can’t look into my crystal ball, I’m afraid,” Professor Kelly told reporters in Canberra.
“(But) every single person that gets their two doses of vaccine and gets that very strong protection against severe illness, will give people more confidence, will give the public health system more confidence, will give our politicians – that need to make these decisions in the end – more confidence.”
Last week, the federal government brought forward the start of the vaccine rollout to February.
The government is hopeful a network of vaccination hubs will be able to deliver it to four million Australians by the end of March.
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has accused Victoria of moving too quickly in closing the border after an outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley said the state governments were in daily contact and the border closures should have come as no shock.
Thousands of Victorian holiday-makers are still stuck in NSW and unable to come home.
The Victorian government will make a decision this week on whether or not to reopen its border with NSW.
Thousands more Victorians are stranded in Queensland after the state government closed the border to travellers from Greater Brisbane.
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