The NSW Health Minister has launched an extraordinary attack on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s border rules.
Visitors to Queensland from “hotspot areas” – including NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Adelaide – need to take a Covid-19 PCR test and return a negative result in the 72 hours before they plan to enter the state.
The Queensland government has stood firm on the current rules, which it says will be reviewed on January 1, at the earliest. “This is passive aggressive stupidity from the Queensland Premier at her worst. Getting rid of PCRs for tourism testing is absolutely critical so there can be a focus on the clinical needs of patients at risk,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Hazzard, who has been urging NSW residents only to get PCR tests if they have coronavirus symptoms, on Sunday accused Ms Palaszczuk of “effectively perverting the purposes of pathology testing”. “So the pressure on the testing system in NSW and other states is not because of people wanting to travel to Queensland. And this is the same testing regime as other states – South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.”South Australia had required visitors from NSW, Victoria and the ACT to return a negative PCR test but the state changed its rules on December 26 to accept rapid antigen test results.
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