Thousands sign petition demanding Annastacia Palaszczuk is banned from leaving Australia to attend the Tokyo Olympics after pushing to reduce the number of travellers into Australia
- 7,000 people have signed a petition to keep Queensland Premier in Australia
- Annastacia Palaszczuk is going to Tokyo Olympics to make Brisbane 2032 bid
- Australians banned from travelling overseas for holiday, business until mid-2022
- Ms Palaszczuk has called for international arrivals into Australia to be halved
Thousands of Australians have signed a petition demanding Annastacia Palaszczuk be banned from leaving the country to attend the Tokyo Olympics.
The Queensland Premier has insisted she needed to be in Japan to convince the International Olympic Committee that Brisbane should host the games in 2032.
But with Australians banned from travelling overseas for a holiday, or in many cases a business trip, until at least mid-2022, more than 7,000 people have signed a change.org petition protesting at her special travel privileges.
They want Australian Border Force to block Ms Palaszczuk from being able to leave Australia.
‘The people of Australia believe the Queensland government should lead by example,’ the petition said.
‘We hereby petition for Annastacia Palaszczuk to be DENIED the right to leave Australia at this time until she increases hotel quarantine capacity to such an extent that she will not take up a space that could have gone to a stranded Australian.’
Ms Palszczuk campaigned at Friday’s National Cabinet to have international arrival numbers immediately slashed in half so the hotel quarantining system could cope after a more contagious Delta variant put 12million Australians into Covid lockdown.
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Thousands of Australians have signed a petition demanding Annastacia Palaszczuk be banned from leaving the country to attend the Tokyo Olympics. The Queensland Premier has insisted she needed to be in Japan to convince the International Olympic Committee that Brisbane should host the games in 2032.
‘We are at capacity. We’re stretched, and we need an immediate reduction by 50 per cent,’ she said ahead of that meeting.
National Cabinet on Friday agreed to halve the weekly number of Australians arriving from overseas to 3,035 from 6,070, making returning home even harder for more than 34,000 Australians stranded overseas.
Upon her return from Japan, Ms Palaszczuk said she would quarantine in a hotel instead of opting for home quarantine, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison did at The Lodge in Canberra after last month travelling to the UK for the G7 summit of world leaders.
‘I have absolutely said that I will come and do the 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine in Brisbane,’ she told the ABC’s Q&A program last week.
‘I will not be doing home quarantine.’
Ms Palaszczuk argued having the Olympic Games in Brisbane would create more than 100,000 jobs and she needed to be there in person to boost the Queensland capital’s chances.
‘This is a very important meeting,’ she said.
‘And it is expected by the International Olympic Committee that a federal representative, the Premier and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane attend to present in front of the International Olympic Committee. It is envisaged it would be a very short trip.’
Australian Force Border decides on individual cases, and is allowing Ms Palaszczuk to travel to Japan, even though many Australians are missing out on seeing dying loved ones overseas.
Upon her return from Japan, Ms Palaszczuk said she would quarantine in a hotel instead of opting for home quarantine, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison did at The Lodge in Canberra after travelling to the UK for the G7. Pictured is Brazilian soccer great Zico holding the Olympic torch at Kashima, north-east of Tokyo
Homes Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, who hails from the Gold Coast, declined to criticise the Queensland Premier’s trip to Japan.
‘The Commonwealth will support Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic Games bid, including facilitating exemptions for travel on official Olympic business,’ a spokesman said.
Brisbane’s Liberal National Party Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner will also be attending the Tokyo Olympics, alongside Queensland’s Labor Premier.
‘I am eager to be in Tokyo for the final push for Brisbane’s Olympic bid, alongside the Queensland Premier and representatives of the federal government,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Brisbane’s Liberal National Party Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner will also be attending the Tokyo Olympics, alongside Queensland’s Labor Premier
Ms Palaszczuk in early June controversially opted for the Pfizer vaccine, arguing it enabled her to have her second dose within three weeks so she could fly to Tokyo, where the Olympics begin on July 23.
The AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has a 12-week gap between first and second doses.
Australian Associated Press has confirmed it will not be sending journalists to cover the Tokyo Olympics, the first time it has made that decision in its 75-year history.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic has presented insurmountable hurdles for our people travelling from Australia,’ editor Andrew Drummond told Telum, a daily media industry trade newsletter.
Daily Mail Australia also contacted federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck but did not receive a reply.
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