Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the prime minister and the state opposition are using people's personal tragedies involving border restrictions to subject her to the worst bullying she's seen in her lifetime.
Ms Palaszczuk lashed out at Scott Morrison after Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington asked her about the case of a Canberra woman who tried but failed to enter the state in time to see her dying father.
She's now in quarantine and is set to miss his funeral at 2pm on Thursday in Brisbane after health officials told her she wasn't supposed to even be in Queensland because her right to enter didn't cover her father's death.
Ms Palaszczuk revealed the prime minister had called her to speak about the case before the funeral.
"It is absolutely not acceptable for the leader of the opposition to do what she is doing today: a co-ordinated campaign with the prime minister's office is disgusting and it is demeaning," Ms Palaszczuk told state parliament.
"I would hope that the prime minister would work in a co-operative matter with everyone across this country and this divisiveness, and these fights, and this intimidation, and this bullying is the worst I've ever seen in my lifetime."
Ms Palaszczuk reiterated the state's chief health officer was in charge of assessing medical exemptions to cross the border.
She said the state's hospitals were already treating 1000 NSW residents a week but admitted that many people were missing funerals.
"Around the world, we have seen bodies being buried in the pits ... where no families have been able to say goodbye," the premier said.
"This is a world pandemic, this is not the time to carry on like this, this is a time when every single person in this country should be working together and this politics of division is disgusting and disgraceful."
Queensland Police have intercepted more than 39,000 people at the state's road border checkpoints since midnight August 8, when the latest lockdown began.
About 3600 of those have been turned around while 750 people have been directed into self-funded mandatory quarantine.
"We continue to see people turning up to the border with invalid border passes," Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler told reporters.
He reminded Queenslanders if they visit a virus hotspot they will not be allowed back home by road but will have to fly, and spend a fortnight in mandatory hotel quarantine.
All of NSW and Victoria are currently categorised as COVID-19 hotspots.
"Anyone planning on crossing the border to NSW must understand they will not be able to re-enter Queensland by road unless they are able to obtain a valid Queensland border declaration pass.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton thinks police must be sick of managing the state's complex border system.
"I'm sure the police are pulling their hair out having to implement these stupid rules that are dictated to them by health officials," he told Sydney radio 2GB.
He accused "faceless bureaucrats" of making decisions that exacerbated the stress of the pandemic.
"It's all for political reasons and unfortunately a lot of people are suffering from the consequences," he said.
Australian Associated Press
