Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called out Prime Minister Scott Morrison as students prepare to head back to school – as the Sunshine State records 20,466 new Covid-19 cases.
Ms Palaszczuk rejected Mr Morrison’s comments that delaying the return to the classroom would only delay the peak of the Omicron strain.
She denied that his comments were correct and declared she ‘acted on health advice’ when she pushed back the starting date of the school term.
Her comments come as one Queenslander with the virus died. The man was aged in his 70s and had other medical complications.
There are 502 people in hospitals around the state and 27 in ICU.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called out Prime Minister Scott Morrison as Queensland records 20,466 new Covid-19 cases
Ms Palaszczuk defended the decision to push back the school start date by two weeks
Queensland students will now return to the classroom on February 7, two weeks after the planned January 24 date.
The decision was made to allow more time for those aged between five and 11 to get vaccinated.
‘As we see the omicron wave rise, I mean, sometimes you do things which just pushes the wave further out,’ Mr Morrison said.
The Queensland premier remained firm and said her decision was made to keep children safer as cases continue to skyrocket.
‘We don’t want children to miss out on learning, which is why that extra week has been added,’ she said on Monday.
‘But we also want to make sure that our children get vaccinated.’
More to come
