Queensland’s Health Minister has accused the Federal Government of misleading the state over the Defence Force’s withdrawal from the state’s border checkpoints.
Key points:
- Steven Miles has accused the Federal Government of misleading the state on the ADF withdrawal of troops at border checkpoints
- Queensland recorded zero new cases of coronavirus overnight
- Wastewater testing has found “mysterious” traces of the virus
Speaking in Brisbane, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said he was “disappointed” to learn yesterday that 110 Queensland-based AFD personnel had been deployed to Western Australia to help with their border response.
“No less than three Federal Government ministers said the troops were being withdrawn from the Queensland border in order to prepare for the disaster season,” he said.
“Now we learn they lied, we learn they were being withdrawn to be sent to another state that still has border restrictions in place.
“It simply shows how political Scott Morrison has been about this whole thing.
Queensland COVID-19 snapshot:
“I think it’s about time he stopped using our Defence Force as a political bargaining chip.”
Queensland authorities have been lobbying the Federal Government for an extension of ADF support at the state’s border checkpoints beyond September 30 to match agreements with other states.
It is understood Defence will still provide support to Queensland police at hotel quarantine operations beyond October 1.
‘Obscene’ politics
Speaking on the Gold Coast, Police Minister Mark Ryan labelled it “obscene politics from the Federal Government”.
“My question is, why can’t Queensland troops do COVID-19 duties here in Queensland?” he said.
“Why are they sending them to Western Australia and why are they fibbing to the Queensland community about the reason?
“They said it was to prepare for storm season, obviously that’s not the case because those troops are now doing COVID duty in Western Australia.”
Queensland has six active coronavirus cases remaining across the state after recording another day of zero new cases.(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Mr Ryan said while the Defence Force withdrawal had an impact, there were sufficient police resources in place to handle border restrictions, hotel quarantine and other work.
“It means they [Queensland police] have to do more,” he said.
“If the Prime Minister wants to put his politics aside and say that the troops can come back to the Queensland border, we’d be very happy about that.”
In a statement, the Department of Defence said the Queensland Government had not been misled and that the troops going interstate to assist with hotel quarantine were not the same ones who were pulled from the Queensland border.
The department said troops were helping with hotel quarantine in several states, including Queensland, so more Australians could return home from overseas.
It said some troops were being rested ahead of what is expected to be a busy storm season.
“The ADF is prioritising urgent national priorities such as support for mandatory COVID-19 quarantine arrangements and preparations for the high-risk weather season,” the department said.
Zero new cases
It comes as Queensland recorded another day of zero new coronavirus cases, leaving six active cases remaining across the state.
Mr Miles said the result was “fantastic news” as Queensland approached 250 days since its first case of COVID-19.
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Meanwhile, the state’s Chief Health Officer has extended Queensland’s public health emergency declaration to the end of the year.
Jeannette Young said the extension until December 31 was necessary to protect the state from COVID-19.
“We can’t forget that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic and our response to the pandemic must continue,” she said in a statement.
“We have proven the strength of our response time and time again here in Queensland and for that, I would like to thank Queenslanders for working with us.”
‘Mysterious’ COVID-19 traces detected
Minister Miles said wastewater testing, which has been rolled out across the state, had detected “a small number of positive” traces of coronavirus.
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“Some that we would expect and some that are a bit mysterious,” Mr Miles said.
“We have positive results in North Rockhampton, Cannonvale, which we advised during the week, as well as in Cairns and Goodna, which we would expect.
“In North Rockhampton, the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service has stood up their fever clinic for additional hours over the coming days.
“They just want to increase their testing rate to see if we can get to the bottom of that.”
A total of 4,804 tests were conducted in the last testing period.
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