Tensions over Aussie border closures heat up as COVID-19 lockdowns set to continue

SYDNEY -- Domestic border closures in Australia have continued to divide the country, with state leaders firmly at odds over the measures intended to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The northeast state of Queensland remained closed for residents from other states with higher case numbers -- New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria -- however some argued that the restrictions go too far.

Bitter fractures appeared not just along geographical lines, but also political ones, with those from opposite ends of the political spectrum trading barbs over one another's handling of the pandemic.

On Friday Queensland continued to turn away anybody who had been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days, which included the entirety of NSW and Victoria -- as Victoria reported just 11 new cases, and NSW reported 10, compared with Queensland's zero.

Queensland had previously stipulated that to reopen to residents from NSW, the state would need to record 28 days with no community transmission.

After achieving nearly two weeks without local infections, on Thursday NSW saw a sudden spike of eight new locally acquired cases.

Despite the so far anomalous nature of the cases, Queensland Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk was unsympathetic to the possibility of NSW having to begin the 28-day countdown again, saying that the risk to her own state remained too high.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian persisted in her defiant stance against Queensland's border closure, describing the requirements as unreasonable.

"I will put to you that it is ... highly improbable that NSW will ever get to 28 days with no community transmission because that is not how a pandemic works," Berejiklian said.

"We have to assume over the course of the pandemic that from time to time ... We're always going to have cases pop up because we're in a pandemic, but we're also in an economy that is open."

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard was even harsher in his criticism of Queensland's stance, invoking the struggles of families torn apart by the border closure.

"As Health Minister here in NSW, I'm over it, and I've got to say I think Premier Palaszczuk is being political. She is being cruel," Hazzard said.

"I am constantly having requests from people in NSW, who are in some very sad situations, who want to get across the border to reunite with families ... It's time that this pettiness is put aside and we move forward. We are all Australians."

In return Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said it was "disappointing" to hear NSW had "effectively given up on the goal of 28 days of no unlinked transmission," and rejected criticisms of heavy handedness.

Miles pointed to several serious outbreaks which occurred in NSW earlier in the year -- notably the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which was allowed to dock with infected passengers on board, and outbreaks in aged care facilities which wrought havoc on the vulnerable residents.

"We have avoided those situations in Queensland precisely because we have aimed to suppress every outbreak of community transmission," Miles said.

However the impact of the border closure on Queensland's tourism sector, which encapsulates the Great Barrier Reef and several other major tourist drawcards was not missed by Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who weighed in from the opposite side of politics to Palaszczuk to criticise her approach.

"I want to get Queenslanders back in jobs just like I want to get NSW people back in jobs but for that, you've got to be open," Morrison said.

Queensland is in the midst of a state election, with residents heading to the polls on Oct. 31, making for extra scrutiny of the leadership's position regarding borders and the pandemic.

However the leadership maintains they are acting in the best interest of the public rather than playing politics with the virus, with Palaszczuk dismissing claims to that effect as "rubbish".