JAIL THREAT JUSTIFIABLE

IT is difficult to argue with more punitive measures being brought in by the State Government for trying to sneak into Queensland from a coronavirus hotspot.

This newspaper has been critical of aspects of the Labor State Government and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s handling of some aspects of the pandemic response so far – and with plenty of justification.

A prolonged lockdown of the state borders and period of uncertainty around setting a reopening date has been much debated. It got to the point where even tourism heavyweight Paul Donovan followed by Mayor Tom Tate – who had been on board with the closure – demanded a date for suffering small tourism operators.

State Government also admitted it was not modelling the economic toll of the closure and it emerged the early premise of its response to court challenges to the border blockades would argue there had been little impact on business.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Steven Miles revealed penalties of six months jail would be added to monetary fines for breaches of public health directives aimed at halting coronavirus – more specifically he made it clear the people in their sights would be those from interstate hotspots caught trying to sneak into Queensland.

“Right now the maximum penalty on the spot for breaching our public health orders is $4003. In some cases that fine appears not to be a sufficient penalty ... perhaps people think $4000 is worth it to come to Queensland,” Mr Miles said. “So this week we will move amendments that will allow us to apply a penalty of imprisonment of those health directions.”

On this instance, the State Government has got it bang on. Keeping Queensland and the Coast relatively COVID-19 free is critical – for everyone.