Why 'stubborn' Queensland premier could shut the border AGAIN within days ruining holiday plans - as Gladys Berejiklian reveals Annastacia Palaszczuk's 'sneaky' tactics
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned the state border with Queensland may not reopen on the promised date of November 1.
Her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Friday she would relax the harsh restrictions and reopen the border to all of NSW residents.
Thousands of holidaymakers would be allowed to freely travel into the state ahead of Christmas in a massive boost to the local tourism industry.
But Ms Berejiklian said she her momentary excitement lapsed when she learned the November reopen date was still based on a 28-day-free community transmission policy.
If there is just one 'unlinked' community transmission case recorded in NSW the border reopening could be pushed back .
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned the state border with Queensland may not reopen on the promised date of November 1 (pictured, cars queued at the Queensland and New South Wales border)
'After having a second of excitement, because somebody had told me at the press conference that the border was coming down on the first of November,' Ms Berejiklian said on Friday..
'It was then brought to my attention that it's pretty much just a reiteration of the 28-day-free period of community transmission. Their definition hasn’t changed.'
Ms Palaszczuk has promised to reopen the border as long as NSW goes 28 days without any 'unlinked' cases of community transmission of COVID-19.
NSW is currently on its seventh consecutive day of zero community transmissions.
But the good run was placed in jeopardy on Friday after a passenger on a Melbourne to Sydney flight tested positive to COVID-19.
Thousands of holidaymakers would be allowed to freely travel into the state ahead of Christmas in a massive boost to the local tourism industry (pictured, beachgoers at Byron Bay in New South Wales)
Though Ms Berejiklian said she held back her excitement when she learned the November reopen date was based on a 28-day-free community transmission policy (pictured, officers patrol the Queensland and New South Wales border on October 1)
The remaining passengers on the Jetstar Flight JQ510 could have been exposed to the virus and most of them are in isolation.
Ms Berejiklian has openly criticised the 28-day policy as a 'pretty tall order'.
To add insult to injury, the state premier said she only learned of the November reopening date through a press conference.
Communication between Ms Berejiklian and Ms Palaszczuk has deteriorated as the two premiers war over the closure of the state border.
Ms Berejiklian has constantly insisted Queensland lift its border closure while Ms Palaszczuk has remained firm on her policy to keep it shut.
In September, Ms Berejiklian said the pair had completely lost communication with each other and only spoke about the border issue at National Cabinet.
Ms Berejiklian now says she has becoming increasingly frustrated with 'hard' border states like Queensland and Western Australia.
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has openly criticised the 28-day policy as a 'pretty tall order'
NSW must go 28 days without community transmission of COVID-19 before residents can holiday in the Sunshine State. Pictured: Beachgoers are seen on the Gold Coast in April
'We came off a low base; it's frustrating to me that Western Australia and Queensland keep lumping us in with Victoria.
'What happened in NSW was not what happened in Victoria.'
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister has also demanded state leaders open their borders in time for Christmas.
Michael McCormack said it's 'not good enough' that Australians still can't travel within the country despite daily coronavirus cases continuing to plummet.
'We want the Premiers of those states who have still got very tight lockdowns to ease those restrictions,' he told Sunrise on Monday.
'People want to travel, particularly as we approach the warmer months where people want to go on holiday and they want to catch-up with their loved ones over Christmas.
'It's not good enough that we've got tight border restrictions that are preventing many people from travelling where they want to be around this great nation.'