Pressure mounts for premiers to open their borders over shortages of teachers, farm workers and food - as Annastacia Palaszczuk is slammed for 'playing politics' by keeping Queensland shut
State premiers are facing growing calls to ease border restrictions amid fears they are damaging regional communities and crippling businesses.
Nationals politicians on Tuesday morning called for borders to come down between states that have little or no community transmission of coronavirus.
Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie said border restrictions were preventing the movement of workers and goods and threatening national supply lines.
State premiers are facing growing calls to ease border restrictions. Pictured: The NSW-Victoria border at Albury
Nationals politicians on Tuesday morning called for borders to come down between states that have little or no community transmission of coronavirus. Pictured: A mandarin farm in NSW
'I think it's incredibly disappointing that over 120 years we've developed national supply chains of food, of workforce, of education systems, and that's all at risk now,' she told ABC News.
'We've got teachers that can't actually get to class to teach. And that's going to have a severe impact going forward.'
Senator McKenzie also accused premiers of keeping borders closed to for political reasons with upcoming elections in Queensland and Western Australia.
'I think that we need a nationally consistent approach and not just to be focusing where the votes are, which is in the capital cities.'
Queensland senator Matt Canavan also accused premiers of 'playing politics'.
'I think there has been a trend in the last few months by governments facing re-election to politicise their responses to the pandemic,' he told Sky News.
'No-one wants to see border closures based on politics, they want to see them based on a response to a public health crisis.'
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has urged states to address farm labour shortages. Pictured: Workers pack punnets at the Ashbern strawberry farm on the Sunshine Coast
Senator Canavan said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been 'slipping into the politics' and said her comment last week that Queensland hospitals were 'for our people' was a 'ridiculous outburst'.
He said businesses needed certainty over when borders would re-open.
Queensland is closed to all of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT, which has had no cases since 12 March.
On Monday Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud urged state governments to address farm labour shortages with overseas workers ahead of a crucial harvest period.
Australian state border restrictions
Victoria: Completely open, but other states are banning residents from going there
NSW: Border with Victoria is closed but others are open without restriction
Queensland: Open to everywhere but Victoria, NSW, and the ACT
Northern Territory: Open to everywhere but Victoria and Sydney, which must do hotel quarantine
South Australia: Closed to Victoria, NSW arrivals must self-isolate, rest are open
Tasmania: Closed to Victoria, everywhere else must do hotel quarantine
Western Australia: Closed to everywhere without an exemption
Mr Littleproud wants state governments to follow the Northern Territory, which has established a pilot program to bring in 170 workers from Vanuatu to pick mangoes.
'They have to lead this. They're big boys and girls now,' he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
'They actually have to put some rubber to the road and do the job.'
Farmers will be able to fill jobs with Pacific islander and East Timorese workers under two restarted visa schemes.
Between 1,000 and 4,000 workers are expected to enter Australia by Christmas under the Pacific Labour Scheme and Seasonal Worker Program.
Mr Littleproud said states needed to outline plans based on health advice to ensure safety for overseas workers and Australians.
He called on governments to allow temporary workers to move between states to help with harvests based on different seasonal conditions.
Queensland on Monday announced it would exempt agriculture and commercial fishing from its hard border closure with NSW.
Federal, state and territory governments are also developing a national code for agriculture to allow farmers and workers freedom to move across closed borders.
The schemes for Pacific islander and East Timor employees can only be accessed if the jobs cannot be filled locally.
Mr Littleproud said while unemployment was high, many farm jobs were thousands of kilometres away from Australians out of work.
Farmers have warned fruit and vegetables could be left to rot unless overseas workers are allowed to help, with a bumper season expected across many parts of the country.
In an opinion article for The Australian on Monday, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said the coronavirus crisis has showed that the federation is out of date and states should be scrapped.
'The erratic parochialism of the arbitrary restrictions on state borders under the heading of coronavirus is yet another sign that states, in their present guise, are past their use-by date,' he wrote.
Mr Joyce said state governments were too focused on cities and often neglected regional areas.
Scott Morrison has asked health experts to define a 'hotspot' to stop states arbitrarily closing their borders.
The Prime Minster said 'we need more clarity' on when residents in certain areas should be shut out from other states.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, made up of state and federal health experts, will attempt to come up with a 'hotspot' definition in two weeks.
It comes after Qantas boss Alan Joyce, and other business figures, called for a national framework for when borders should open and close.
Mr Joyce said it is confusing why states with no cases are not open to each other and that thousands of jobs could be saved if borders come down.
Scott Morrison is pictured at AstraZeneca in Sydney last week amid talks about vaccine production