WA Premier says COVID-19 elimination is the right approach

“Queensland doesn’t know if they’ve got community spread, that don’t know, and this is the British strain which is highly contagious and obviously causing mass deaths across Britain, so we need to just be certain before we take any action.”

Mr McGowan said 28 days without a community case remained the standard for WA to have quarantine-free travel with another state, however he acknowledged that advice could change if there are minimal cases – such as is currently the case in Queensland and Victoria.

The idea you tick along with the virus and somehow that is a better model is wrong and I just urge the New South Wales government and people in New South Wales to look at what other states and territories are doing

Mark McGowan

WA slammed the border with Queensland shut on Friday after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel tested positive to coronavirus. Since the discovery of the case, no further community cases have been detected.

WA also has hard borders in place with Victoria and New South Wales.

On Monday, Victoria recorded five days without local transmission and NSW reported three new locally acquired cases.

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Mr McGowan stuck by his cautious approach, warning COVID could re-erupt despite other states seeming to have the virus under control.

“Once you open a border it starts again and then there’s more cases and you have to close it again,” he said.

“When these things happen it’s obviously very debilitating, there’s a lot of confusion, and a lot of people seek urgent responses to sometimes difficult questions.

“The advice I have had is the system works very well and West Australians have been able to return quite quickly.”

Mr McGowan denied claims made by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday that counterparts hadn’t extended the “courtesy” of consulting with her before closing their borders.

“I announced it the other day at National Cabinet what we’re doing with Queensland,” he said.

“The New South Wales government needs to be more respectful of what other states do to protect ourselves.

“The whole country is not New South Wales, other states need to protect ourselves from the spread in New South Wales and other states that are infected.

“The border arrangements have worked, the border controls have worked, hotel quarantine has worked, international borders have worked.

“The country as a whole has done an amazing job compared to anywhere else in the world. I think this nitpicking and undermining should stop.”

A day later, Mr McGowan criticised New South Wales for their approach to managing COVID-19.

“There’s five states and territories doing one thing, and one state doing something different,” he said.

“The states and territories that want to eliminate the virus, I think have the right approach.

“The idea you tick along with the virus and somehow that is a better model is wrong and I just urge the New South Wales government and people in New South Wales to look at what other states and territories are doing in order to crush and kill the virus.”