Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has made a humbling apology for allowing wives and officials of the NRL into Queensland while the state’s hotel quarantine program was paused for two weeks, saying it was the ‘wrong decision’.
‘I apologise, this was not the right thing to do when we had the pause,’ she said.
‘It should not have happened, unfortunately it did happen, and I extend my apologies to the public about that.
‘I understand that Queenslanders could see that while we were restricting the number of Queenslanders who could come in, it was not the right look… I accept that.’
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has made a humbling apology for allowing wives and officials of the NRL into Queensland while the state’s hotel quarantine program was paused for two weeks. Pictured: NRL families arriving during Queensland’s earlier intake in July
The apology came as she hit back at critics of her controversial comments about unvaccinated children after Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt accused her of damaging public confidence.
‘Let me say this to Queenslanders, my job is to keep you safe,’ she said at Friday’s Covid update.
‘We have a double donut day, we have no cases, we have an open lifestyle, we can go to cafes and restaurants tonight, have 100 people gather in each other’s homes and families can celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday.’
She defended her comments about unvaccinated children being at risk if Queensland’s borders are re-opened under the agreed national plan.
‘It is not about being against a national plan,’ Ms Palaszczuk said. ‘We are all for a national plan.
‘I wont be making decisions if I don’t see detailing modelling.
‘I’m asking very simple questions here, I want to see detailed modelling…. and rather than picking fights and attacks, let’s have a dedicated, decent conversation.’
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk talked up Queensland’s lack of cases and relative freedom as she hit back at critics of her ‘children at risk’ comments on Friday
Ms Palaszczuk further defended her remarks, saying national cabinet had agreed to do more work on the issue of childhood vaccination.
She cited evidence from the US about the number of children presenting with Covid and ending up in ICU.
‘I do not want to have that happen here,’ she said.
‘That is why I’m saying very clearly … is let’s have a conversation about it, and the Prime Minister himself and national cabinet, they agreed to go do some more work.’
Deputy Premier Steve Miles accused Prime Minister of leading a ‘pile-on’ not seen since the last state election in criticising the Queensland premier.
‘Scott Morrison has both his eyes on the election and no eyes on the outbreak ripping through Sydney right now,’ Mr Miles said.
Ms Palaszczuk told state parliament yesterday that Doherty Institute modelling predicted that ‘even with 70 per cent of the population vaccinated, 80 people will die each day from COVID once the outbreak reaches six months after it started’.
‘That is 2,240 who will die each month,’ she told parliament.
‘She is selectively misusing the Doherty modelling,’ Mr Hunt said yesterday. ‘It breaches good faith and damages public confidence.
Ms Palaszczuk announced that from Monday, 680 additional hotel quarantine places would be offered for families trying to return home or relocate from Victoria and NSW, in addition to the 50 rooms available tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a family at the centre of a coronavirus scare on the Gold Coast has tested negative to the virus, a school principal has told parents in a letter.
The family was ordered into hotel quarantine, with some of them unwell after reportedly returning from Melbourne without quarantining.
Separately the Queensland government reported a new locally acquired case of Covid-19, a truck driver who is now in NSW.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the driver, who lives at Windaroo, returned a positive result amongst 10,433 virus tests in the 24 hours to 6.30am on Thursday.
The 46-year-old man was infectious in the community in Logan and the northern Gold Coast between August 28 and September 1.
He is the second truck driver to test positive in as many days.
‘We are contacting him to find where he has been in Queensland,’ Ms Palaszczuk told parliament on Friday.
‘This is an addition to the truck driver reported yesterday.’
The school, the Australian International Islamic College at Carrara, sent all students home on Thursday
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said a Gold Coast family of five were ordered into hotel quarantine after the children told their classmates they had been to Melbourne.
She said early indications are the family returned to the state undetected via an inland route without going into hotel quarantine.
Some family members were unwell with symptoms and the situation had been complicated by an initial refusal to cooperate with health authorities and contact tracers.
‘Some of the family members are unwell, but we don’t know if it’s Covid (so) we have to treat it as if it is,’ Ms D’Ath told parliament.
The school, the Australian International Islamic College at Carrara, sent all students home on Thursday.
‘I’ve had to ask that all children who attend that same school need to go into quarantine until we’re able to get a test result from these two children,’ Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said on Thursday.
By late Thursday afternoon, health authorities had confirmed all family members had been tested.
Late on Thursday the principal of the school, Christine Harman, said she had been informed the results for all the family members had come back negative.
‘Having conferenced with Queensland Health they have deemed that there is no risk of exposure at our Carrara campus and the need for students and staff to isolate has been lifted,’ she said in a statement.
Ms Palaszczuk is waiting for further modelling on what will happen to unvaccinated 0 to 12-year-olds if borders reopen as vaccination rates increase
The first truckie tested positive in NSW after being infectious while in Queensland last Thursday.
He visited service stations at Archerfield in southern Brisbane, Goondawindi and Bundamba, near Ipswich, on August 26.
He later tested positive when he returned to NSW, and Queensland authorities are trying to track down anyone who may have come into contact with him.
The latest Covid-19 case comes with Queensland’s border shut to NSW for all but essential workers who have had at least one vaccine.
Ms Palaszczuk is waiting for further modelling on what will happen to unvaccinated 0 to 12-year-olds if borders reopen as vaccination rates increase.
‘The prime minister undertook to get some further work done, is my understanding,’ she told parliament.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg earlier urged premiers not to delay opening up.
‘My message to the premiers and the chief ministers is very clear: Do not delay the inevitable. You have to learn to live with Covid. Covid may come to your state within a week, it might be a month, it might be a little bit after that. But the reality is we can’t eliminate the virus,’ he told Nine’s Today program on Thursday.