Annastacia Palaszczuk used the pride Queenslanders feel in their state to turn COVID-19 into State of Origin. But she’s been badly exposed using the death of a young miner to keep her irrational border lockdown, writes MIKE COLMAN
- ‘Border wars’ between NSW and QLD have been compared to rugby league
- Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been banking on her state’s parochialism
- But thousands of business owner are protesting as they can’t make money
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Politicians have been jumping on the State of Origin bandwagon for years but it has just blown up in the face of Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Palaszczuk, who is seeking re-election when Queenslanders go to the polls in October, gambled on the electorate’s renowned parochialism when she steadfastly ignored all calls to reopen the State’s borders and embarked on a war of words with her NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian.
Almost inevitably Queensland media labelled the increasingly heated slanging match between the two premiers as ‘Coronavirus State of Origin’.
Politicians have been jumping on the State of Origin bandwagon for years but it has just blown up in the face of Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured at the Suncorp Stadium in 2015)
Queensland businesses such as Bedarra Island Resort (pictured) are losing money due to the border closures
It was a classic move from Labor leader Palaszczuk, with Queenslanders indoctrinated from an early age to believe that anyone or anything from south of the Tweed River is not to be trusted and that it is the duty of every Maroon-blooded patriot to stand up to the dreaded Blues whether in sport, business or politics.
Some early polls suggested the game plan was working but it all came unstuck in spectacular fashion with revelations over the death last week of 30 year-old Blackwater man Nathan Turner reportedly from the Coronavirus.
As Queensland’s $27 billion-a-year tourism sector ground to a halt and local businesses went to the wall, Palaszczuk and her chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young claimed that Turner’s death proved that continued isolation was the right way to go.
Except that it turns out Mr Turner never had Coronavirus at all.
On Monday night Dr Young was forced to admit that the positive test result returned after Mr Turner’s death was incorrect, leading to anger in the township of Blackwater – where 5000 residents were forced to undergo testing – and renewed calls from Queensland business owners to reopen the borders.
On Tuesday, political commentator Peta Credlin told host Neil Breen on Brisbane’s 4BC Breakfast program of her belief that Palaszczuk’s determination to keep the Queensland-NSW border locked was a ploy to win votes.
Residents in New South Wales and Victoria are prevented from spending their money in Noosa (pictured) due to border closures
‘I’ve spent a lot of time working on election campaigns and I have seen a lot of the closure argument through the prism of where the Premier thinks it will aid her going into her October election,’ the former chief of staff of Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Breen.
‘She is completely poll driven. She would be very much driven by focus groups on this. She would not still be talking about closures going through to July or September if she didn’t think it was working for her.’
And why wouldn’t she think that?
Going back to 1999 when Queensland premier Peter Beattie won a bet with his notoriously un-sporty NSW counterpart Bob Carr that saw the Queensland flag flown atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge after the Maroons won that year’s State of Origin series, Queensland politicians have been quick to cash in on the rugby league rivalry.
And it has spread far beyond the sporting arena, with the State’s leaders – particularly Beattie, his successor Anna Bligh and now Palaszczuk, promoting the belief that in times of natural disaster Queenslanders, imbued with the ‘Queensland spirit’, are a breed apart from those in other States or countries.
Nathan Turner’s family demanded an apology from the Queensland government after he was declared ‘Australia’s youngest COVID-19 victim’ only for an autopsy to reveal he never had the virus
While outsiders might cringe, it has been a theme that has proved very successful at the polling booths – although in this case, with Queenslanders’ livelihoods at stake, it might just backfire.
Local business owners have been vocal in publicising how much the continued border closure has cost them, with five launching a court challenge . There have also been numerous anecdotes such as the one about the visiting Ireland-based Australian IT multi-millionaire stranded with his family in Sydney who decided to wait out the Coronavirus shutdown at a luxury North Queensland resort.
Banned from crossing the border from NSW he eventually lost patience and took his family – and his money – back to isolation in Ireland.
Stories like that – and the embarrassment of the Blackwater fiasco – have put pressure on Premier Palaszczuk’s State of Origin tactics.
Fulltime on election day will tell whether she has dropped the ball.
Residents in New South Wales and Victoria are prevented from spending their money in Port Douglas (pictured) due to border closures