Clive Palmer said today his pending High Court border challenge in early November had forced the Queensland Premier into scheduling next week’s reopening of the State.
“This is a serious back-down on her stance up until now,” Mr Palmer said.
“Labor has wilted under pressure with Annastacia Palaszczuk in essence acknowledging that the borders should be reopened.
“The Premier has been campaigning in tourism areas and has seen first-hand what has been clear to everybody else for a long time, that tourism has been decimated by her party’s hard border stance.
“The timing is very interesting, with the announcement scheduled just before the State Election and the High Court challenge,” Mr Palmer said.
Mr Palmer said Queenslanders were fed up with the lack of compassion shown to families by Labor.
“Queenslanders are sick of the double standards when the Palaszczuk Government lets the AFL and movie stars like Tom Hanks into the State but denies families basic freedoms and dignity.
“I can’t believe that Labor and Queensland’s Chief Health Officer also stopped a young girl from visiting her dying father and then refused to allow her to go to his funeral.
“If that wasn’t bad enough, they also refused a pregnant woman medical treatment just because she came from New South Wales, causing her to lose her baby as she had to wait 16 hours to go to hospital.
“The human costs of the border closures has been severe with increased suicides and domestic violence spiralling out of control.
“Queensland needs a new deal,” Clive Palmer said.
