Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s plans to keep her state’s borders closed have seen her slammed by her own party.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles has dumped on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s resistance to reopen the borders when vaccination rates hit agreed targets revealing he’s keen to “distance himself” from her remarks.
The usually mild-mannered Mr Marles dropped a bomb on the Today Show this morning as he was grilled about a backlash over her warning that “every child is at risk” if Queensland reopens the border.
“I would be distancing myself from the comments of Annastacia, is the honest answer to that question,’’ Mr Marles said.
“I mean, we need to be following the health advice when it comes to the impact and who we should be vaccinating when. We don’t want to be spending an extra day in lockdown.”
The outburst is already prompting fury in Queensland Labor ranks with one senior figure telling news.com.au that he had “no idea WTF Marles thinks he is doing”.
The remarks even prompted a shocked host Karl Stefanovic to remark he “couldn’t believe what he was hearing” after earlier claiming it was “on like donkey kong” between the Prime Minister and the state premiers.
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this this morning, that federal Labor is abandoning Annastacia Palaszczuk who is trying to keep Covid out of her state,’’ Stefanovic said.
But Mr Marles then commenced a furious back-pedal, trying to shift the focus back onto the PM. But he still suggested the Queensland Premier was not working in the “national interest”
“It is not abandoning Annastacia. I think you can understand state premiers standing up for their states. That’s what they’re elected to do. But at the end of the day, we need a national interest here,’’ he said.
“There’s one person who has been elected to provide that for the country. It is Scott Morrison and from day 1 he has patently failed to lead this country and get the country on the same page.”
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham accused the Queensland Premier of “whipping up fear”.
“It sounded to me like that’s what she was doing,’’ he said. “She needs to leader and her leadership should be about encouraging her state to hit the vaccination targets, explain what the plan for the future means in terms of how we manage as a country to live with the realities of Covid, and not just to whip up fear and scare mongering in ways that frankly are not constructive.
Earlier, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said Australia could not remain a “hermit kingdom” forever.
“Will you just stay locked up forever? Do you isolate yourself from the world?,’’ he said. “Do you become a hermit kingdom all of your own in the South Pacific? It’s not possible. “
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMinwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9xdWVlbnNsYW5kL3BvbGl0aWNzL3F1ZWVuc2xhbmQtcHJlbWllci1hbm5hc3RhY2lhLXBhbGFzemN6dWtzLWJvcmRlci1wbGFucy1zbGFtbWVkL25ld3Mtc3RvcnkvNjdhOGNhM2FmNmVhNzgyNmEzM2VjNWQ4YmQzYWFlNzPSAaMBaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvcXVlZW5zbGFuZC9wb2xpdGljcy9xdWVlbnNsYW5kLXByZW1pZXItYW5uYXN0YWNpYS1wYWxhc3pjenVrcy1ib3JkZXItcGxhbnMtc2xhbW1lZC9uZXdzLXN0b3J5LzY3YThjYTNhZjZlYTc4MjZhMzNlYzVkOGJkM2FhZTczP2FtcA?oc=5
2021-09-02 23:04:53Z
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