CAPALABA MP Don Brown has called out the opposition for pushing to reopen the state's borders as Victoria reports a spike in COVID-19 cases and revisits tighter restrictions.
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It comes as opposition leader Deb Frecklington doubles down on her call to open the borders on July 1, saying the situation was taking a significant toll on Queensland's economy.
Mr Brown said the opposition were reckless when it came to managing COVID-19 and needed to stop politicising the issue.
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He called for local MPs and state LNP candidates to follow the chief health officer's advice.
But Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson said he supported the borders reopening as he believed there was minimal risk to public health while people followed guidelines and social distancing directives.
He said the Australian Tourism Industry Council had estimated that the border closure was costing 174 jobs a day and $174 million a week in economic activity.
"The prime minister has said the states should reopen their borders and the deputy chief medical officer has said there is no medical reason why the state borders should remain closed," Mr Robinson said.
Capalaba LNP candidate Bev Walters said additional coronavirus cases were inevitable unless the borders remained closed permanently.
She said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had claimed she was putting public health first by keeping the state closed off but had created a double standard by allowing a rally with 30,000 protesters to proceed.
Redlands LNP candidate Henry Pike said the economy was suffering and businesses needed clarity on when Queensland would reopen to the rest of Australia.
"The chaos and confusion caused by the Palaszczuk Labor Government's flip-flopping on the border is closing businesses and costing jobs," he said.
"The first step in getting Queensland working again and restarting the economy is to reopen the interstate border."
Mr Brown said noone in the Redlands wanted to see an outbreak as tighter restrictions would be devastating for local businesses that were starting to recover.
But Mr Pike said there would be coronavirus cases in Queensland whether the borders were opened or not.
"We cannot achieve a zero-risk environment, we have to manage the risk through having the right testing, tracing and treatment," he said.
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