A single case of COVID-19 in NSW has highlighted the varying risk tolerance of state leaders amid calls for certainty on domestic borders.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan on Friday refused to declare whether his state would reopen to NSW as scheduled, saying he will await further health advice over the weekend related to a Sydney hotel quarantine worker’s infection.
It comes despite NSW authorities revealing the woman appeared to have been infected at work, either by a returned overseas traveller or airline worker, rather than in the community.
WA is scheduled to open up to NSW and Victoria from next Tuesday, dropping the 14-day quarantine requirement for travel from those states.
The Victorian border remains on track to open as scheduled but a decision on NSW won’t be made until Monday.
With travel resuming across the nation, Mr McGowan has maintained that he won’t hesitate to reimpose hard border controls should cases emerge.
His defiant stance has earned him record approval ratings but frustrated political adversaries and some business leaders.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce this week pleaded for travellers to be given certainty, while NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told Mr McGowan to “get real”, prompting a dismissive retort.
“I don’t know this guy,” Mr McGowan told reporters on Friday.
“NSW has not had a perfect record over the last eight months – Western Australia has. So we just want to keep our extremely strong record in place, and I think NSW should probably worry about NSW and we’ll worry about Western Australia.”
Mr McGowan said he expected NSW to conduct “many thousands of tests”, providing certainty that there was no undetected community transmission of the virus.
Federal cabinet minister Peter Dutton said WA should have faith in the ability of NSW to nail down the source of the infection.
“People can’t be forced to cancel their Christmas holidays or reconnecting with family members because of one case,” he told Nine’s Today Show.
But another Morrison government minister, WA’s Christian Porter, backed the premier’s call.
“It would be a bad thing for the state if you didn’t have travel because of one case of community transmission in NSW, but I think Premier McGowan did the right thing not to make the decision instantly and to just give it a bit of thought over a few days,” Mr Porter said.
NSW has detected locally-acquired cases throughout the pandemic but has backed its testing and tracing capacity to get on top of any clusters, in contrast to the harsh lockdowns experienced in Victoria and South Australia.
WA has not had any community transmission of the virus since April, with domestic travel effectively traded off for a restriction-free lifestyle.
Travellers from NSW and Victoria have been blocked from entering WA for almost nine months unless they went into quarantine and, until recently, secured exemptions.
Entry from South Australia remains off-limits.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your jurisdiction’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080. News and information is available in 63 languages at sbs.com.au/coronavirus
Please check the relevant guidelines for your state or territory: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, ACT, Tasmania
