Queensland accuses Scott Morrison’s government of ‘picking fights’ to distract from its ‘own failings’ after footy WAGs were allowed into the state before soldiers stuck in Afghanistan
- Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said Morrison government is ‘picking fights’
- She denied reports Queensland had delayed soldiers returning from Afghanistan
- ‘There has been no delay, they aren’t being kept overseas,’ Ms D’Ath said
- Queensland had been accused of giving preferential treatment to NRL families
Queensland’s health minister has accused Scott Morrison’s government of seizing on any excuse to attack her state to distract from federal failings.
The state was sharply criticised for reportedly preferencing footy WAGs over Australian soldiers returning from Afghanistan for hotel quarantine.
But Yvette D’Ath hit back at the federal government at a press conference and Wednesday, accusing it of ‘picking fights’ with Queensland.
‘It is their modus operandi right now, it is all they do, go out and attack the Queensland Government… it’s a great deflection on anything else happening in the country,’ she said.
Ms D’Ath said she had texted Federal Defence Minister Peter Dutton to discuss the ADF issue but had yet to receive a response
‘We are a little bit sick of the Morrison Government coming out and attacking us on vaccines, attacking us on this ADF personnel issue, I think it is actually reflecting on their own failings.’
Ms D’Ath was responding to a Courier-Mail report that Defence Force personnel returning from Afghanistan were delayed in Dubai because Queensland Health had not provided a hotel quarantine exemption for them.
The report included quotes from an unnamed senior government source that the ADF had not heard back from Queensland about the application for exemptions.
‘It’s pretty ordinary,’ the government source said.
But Ms D’Ath denied the claim, calling the report ‘inaccurate’.
‘There has been no delay, they aren’t being kept overseas while we work through this.
‘We’re happy to do this and to play our part but someone is being mischievous in claiming that.’
Australian soldiers returning from Afghanistan had applied to go into hotel quarantine in Queensland, with the state government saying they would arrive on Friday and Saturday
She claimed details were being finalised for the return of the soldiers and the timeframe always had them arriving in Queensland this coming Friday and Saturday.
Ms D’Ath said she thought the federal government was the likely source of the reports.
‘This is appalling, it’s making families of ADF personnel anxious when they don’t need to be and I am just disgusted that anyone is playing politics with this issue,’ she said.
Ms D’Ath said she texted Defence Minister Peter Dutton to discuss the ADF issue but was yet to receive a response.
She also hit back at a claim by federal Health Minister Greg Hunt that Queensland’s complaints it was not receiving enough vaccine supply was because it had not ordered 60,000 doses of Pfizer.
‘We weren’t told there were 60,000 available to us to order,’ Ms D’Ath claimed.
‘I’m hoping that they’ll arrive tomorrow, and we’ll make sure that they get into arms as quickly as possible.
NRL star Benji Marshall arriving in Queensland with his family in July. The Queensland government had been under fire for giving preferential treatment to the code
‘I’m a bit tired of the rhetoric and the stunts. If there’s vaccine there, give it to the states.’
Queensland’s vaccination rate is the worst in Australia but the state government blames a lack of consistent supply from the Commonwealth.
Just over 35 percent of Queenslanders are fully vaccinated.
‘The Commonwealth needs to stop playing each state off against each other, accusing us of lagging behind,’ Ms D’Ath said.
‘Scott Morrison’s got to stop saying we’re in this together, and then doing the complete opposite and popping up his ministers every day to attack us.
‘Are we in this together or not? Queenslanders want us to be in this together. Stop picking fights and just get on with giving us the vaccine.’