New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard has accused his Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk of playing 'political games' with her state's hard southern border, claiming he has evidence but refusing to provide details. The accusation comes as NSW reported 10 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, including five in hotel quarantine and five linked to known clusters.
Speaking on Radio National, Hazzard said Palaszczuk's tough border restrictions were not based on health advice but were a political exercise ahead of the Queensland election. He pointed to her repeated demand that NSW go 28 days without community transmission before the border reopens, a threshold he described as unrealistic. 'It is a political agenda,' Hazzard said, adding that the timeline 'goes straight after the election.'
Hazzard also criticised a two-day deadline imposed by Queensland for NSW to link mystery cases to a known outbreak, calling it 'plucked non-evidence-based.' The deadline was later walked back by Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young, who said she felt 'more confident' in NSW's contact tracing and would monitor the situation before resetting the 28-day clock.
Queensland recorded no new cases on Friday, marking its own 28 days without community transmission. However, Deputy Premier Steven Miles expressed disappointment that NSW had not 'shared the aspiration' to eliminate community transmission. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian countered that zero community transmission remained her government's goal, despite the recent cases.
