State border closures illegal under the highest law in the country?

[bigbadbyrnes]

Everything is arguable in law, doubly so in constitutional law. This is a matter for the high court.

But here's my opening argument;

Section 92 of the highest law in the country sets out "On the imposition of uniform duties of customs, trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States, whether by means of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely free. "

Per Cole vs Whitfield 1988 "The notions of absolutely free trade and commerce and absolutely free intercourse are quite distinct". Sec92 clearly sets out the law for interstate trade, but also 'intercourse'.

And on the matter of what intercourse means, per Gratwick v Johnson 1945 it's the ability "to pass to and fro among the States without burden, hindrance or restriction".

Border closures, (and arguably although less certainly isolation requirements), are therefore inconsistent with the highest law in the country and should be set aside.

No one is talking about it, any legal eagles here explain? There's no room on the news for this at the moment, but if people start to fed up with the restrictions, it's worth getting them tested in the high court.

edit:

I think this analysis will answer all your questions: States are shutting their borders to stop coronavirus. Is that actually allowed?

Short version: if there are good public health grounds (for example states of emergency), those laws are likely to be held valid.

Could be worth testing if an individual could be proven to be not a thread to public health, but that would be the exception. Thanks MEL_Traveller for sharing the article.

/thread

 

[p--and--t]

As it often did, that "Yes Prime Minister/Minister" clip precisely hits the mark.

At one of the places I used to work, pretty sure there was a "Yes, Minister" moment 4 out of 5 days per week. All the young'ens were probably wondering what the smirk on my face was about at a multitude of meeting s and interviews etc.

 

[Brissy1]

Peter Beattie softening up the Queensland community for what's coming (and giving cover to AP to make the change):


"Mr Beattie told the ABC he was "not being critical of what's happened in the past, but we're now at a junction where we've got to be Australians".

"Frankly, if we don't open up, then Australia is going to go broke. It's a fact. It's not a political comment."

Asked whether a former Labor leader telling a current one to follow the lead of a Liberal government could ever not be political, Mr Beattie doubled down saying "whoever wins the Queensland election" will be "faced with an economic tsunami".

"The reality is that the method adopted by the NSW government, and I couldn't care about the political persuasion, that contact tracing works."

As it happened: Home visits for Victorians allowed as zero cases recorded again; two new cases in NSW; NSW free to travel to Tasmania without quarantine; Australian death toll stands at 905

Melbourne's gruelling 15 weeks of lockdown ends, with no new cases for second day in a row and Premier announces home visits are back on. NSW records two more cases and Tasmanian premier announces people from NSW can travel to the state without quarantining.

www.smh.com.au

Nice, it's going to be hard for AP to denigrate Saint Peter!

 

[antycbr]

And Tasmania is opening to NSW from next week as predicted. WA looking very isolated.

 

[drron]

interesting reading the Roy morgan Poll on QLD border closure.53% want it to stay closed.The demographic with the highest numbers wanting the border to remain closed are young women who vote Greens.

"A majority of 53% of Queensland electors say they don’t want the NSW border opened now compared to 47% that do want the border opened now.


A narrow majority of 51% of men do want the NSW border open now compared to only 43% of women.


Slim majorities of Queenslanders aged 50-64 (51%) and 65+ (52%) want the NSW border opened now while only 43% of 35-49yr old’s and just 39% of people aged under 35 want the border open now.


The issue is highly partisan with majorities of LNP supporters (72%), One Nation supporters (63%) and a small majority of Katter’s Australian Party supporters (52%) wanting the NSW border open now.


However, on the other side, large majorities of both ALP supporters (77%) and an even larger majority of Greens supporters (81%) do not want the NSW border open now."

ALP Government leads with a slim majority in Queensland; small majority of Queenslanders don’t want NSW border open now - Roy Morgan Research

www.roymorgan.com

More people should read the unemployment figures as the States with the highest unemployment figure are the 3 with the closed borders as of the beginning of October.
Although unemployment decreased in other States those with the toughest border restrictions – Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania all have unemployment rates of at least 15% in September. Encouragingly, in recent days there have been signs that the border closures in these three States are set to be reduced as Federal Government economic support is tapered. Queensland is set to fully re-open to New South Wales at the end of October, Western Australia is set to allow visitors from Victoria to complete two weeks of self-quarantine, and Tasmania is set to re-open its borders to most of Australia in three weeks’ time.”

 

[p--and--t]

However, on the other side, large majorities of both ALP supporters (77%) and an even larger majority of Greens supporters (81%) do not want the NSW border open now."

Well that is sort of expected, the party heeding the perceived will of the most votes and the faithful tending to follow the party.

What would be interesting to see more in depth is a cross section based on business owners versus stay at homes and retirees, country versus urban, employed versus unemployed.

 

[Seat0B]

I wonder how much effect the sudden imposition of these borders, and the lingering threat of them suddenly coming back, will affect peoples' plans. I certainly wouldn't want to be touring with the van, only to find a checkpoint in front of me (or behind me for that matter). Even if you fly, you'd have no guarantee of a return journey.

The repeated short notice changes are certainly making me very reluctant to go anywhere at the moment other than in places that have demonstrated reasonableness. So really that just leaves me NSW, and maybe now SA and Tas.

I won't be going to Qld anytime soon - the hypocrisy in letting people from Qld visit Northern NSW and mingle with the "unclean" of the rest of NSW and ACT and then go home as mentioned in post #2177 by @N860CR, but at the same time denying people from NSW and ACT the chance to say a final farewell to dying relatives or get proper medical care will not be forgotten by me for a very long time. And I have a lot of relatives on the Gold Coast that I would like to see - I guess they will have to come south if they want to see me (and won't that be a test of family relationships!). In fact three have already made the long trek to the COVID hotspot of ACT just recently.

 

[jakeseven7]

EX-QUEENSLAND PREMIER CALLS FOR BORDER OPENING


Former Labor Queensland premier Peter Beattie has called on the state to open its borders ahead of Saturday’s election.

While Beattie was keen to insist he backed Queensland’s hard border previously, his intervention will put even more pressure on incumbent Annastacia Palaszczuk to finally open to NSW.

“Queensland has to have an economy to grow,” Beattie told the Today program. “Some people are leaving Brisbane and going into the regions. That’s great. Same is happening in NSW. But there is a loss in the major cities and that’s largely where our population is.

“So, if Queensland wants to have a lot of people out of Sydney coming to put jobs in the Gold Coast, Cairns, Townsville, now is the time to change the strategy.

“This is not about Western Australia or Queensland. It is about Australia. We need a debate that says ‘Come on Australia, we have found out how to manage this’. The best way is by contact tracing. We have largely got the virus under control. Let’s talk about the future.”

There is speculation Premier Palaszczuk will announce a date to open on Friday – the eve of the election. She had previously said she would only open to NSW if the state recorded 28 days without any ‘mysterious’ cases where no source can be traced, something that is very unlikely to happen.

Ex-Queensland premier calls for border opening

Former Labor Queensland premier Peter Beattie has called on the state to open its borders ahead of Saturday’s election.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Tasmania opening borders to NSW Friday November 6, with VIC to follow in December


Tasmania will open its borders to New South Wales from Friday next week, meaning the state will be closed only to Victorians.

Premier Peter Gutwein said the Government would classify New South Wales as a low-risk area and relax the border restrictions from November 6

"What we want to see in a jurisdiction that we open up to is less than five cases of unknown transmission in the last 28 days," said Mr Gutwein.

"New South Wales in the last 28 days has had six only in a population of nearly 8 million people, so they are on top of this."

In terms of Victoria, Mr Gutwein said it was "pleasing to see them driving their numbers so low" and "We're still targeting December 1, for reopening to Victoria."

On Monday, Tasmania threw the doors open to low-risk jurisdictions.

Travellers from Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand no longer need to quarantine.

Mr Gutwein said about 600 people arrived by air across seven flights yesterday and more than 80 cars disembarked from the Spirit of Tasmania this morning.

"It was very heart warming last night to see the pictures on the media of those families being reunited," he said.

NSW travellers welcome from end of next week as Tasmania opens borders

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein says that from Friday November 6, New South Wales will be considered a low-risk area, allowing travellers to enter the state without quarantining.

www.abc.net.au

"Albeit not a lot of social di

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Tasmania opening borders to NSW Friday November 6, with VIC to follow in December


Tasmania will open its borders to New South Wales from Friday next week, meaning the state will be closed only to Victorians.

Premier Peter Gutwein said the Government would classify New South Wales as a low-risk area and relax the border restrictions from November 6

"What we want to see in a jurisdiction that we open up to is less than five cases of unknown transmission in the last 28 days," said Mr Gutwein.

"New South Wales in the last 28 days has had six only in a population of nearly 8 million people, so they are on top of this."

In terms of Victoria, Mr Gutwein said it was "pleasing to see them driving their numbers so low" and "We're still targeting December 1, for reopening to Victoria."

On Monday, Tasmania threw the doors open to low-risk jurisdictions.

Travellers from Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand no longer need to quarantine.

Mr Gutwein said about 600 people arrived by air across seven flights yesterday and more than 80 cars disembarked from the Spirit of Tasmania this morning.

"It was very heart warming last night to see the pictures on the media of those families being reunited," he said.

NSW travellers welcome from end of next week as Tasmania opens borders

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein says that from Friday November 6, New South Wales will be considered a low-risk area, allowing travellers to enter the state without quarantining.

www.abc.net.au

Interesting perspective, 6 mystery cases in the last 28 days says Tas - yet NSW Health says 3 mystery cases in the last 28 days.

I gravely doubt the other 3 are accounted for by being linked much later (say 3 days).

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Interesting outcome...

Jamie Whincup kicked out of Queensland in border controversy

Jamie Whincup has been evicted from his home state of Queensland.

au.yahoo.com

 

[drron]

Just when you thought QLD couldn't get any sillier.

 

[jakeseven7]

Sigh. Face palm. Embarassed yet again to be a QLDer when it comes to this disaster..... Hopefully soon no stupid permit will be needed.

 

[jakeseven7]

Gladys Berejiklian wants QLD border 'games' to end


NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she wants to "take the games out of" the discussion around the borders with Queensland.

She said she heard stories about people unable to visit loved ones sometimes just a few kilometres away or struggling to run businesses across the border.

"It's a very difficult time for people in NSW with that border closure, especially when the border closer is completely unnecessary," she said in Port Macquarie.

"We demonstrated in New South Wales our capacity to get on top of the virus. Of course we're going to have cases and breakouts, ... and whilst every day is a battle, every day is about making sure we're on top of it. We're confident in our system and confident in our people.

"People in New South Wales, where there's been very few cases, are still doing the right thing because we know with so many tourists from other places moving around, all of us have to be on guard.

"We have demonstrated our capacity to run a strong economy, but also to protect and keep the community safe. And I hope the Queensland Government accepts that. They should."

NSW Health concerned there could be active cases of COVID-19 in south-western Sydney

NSW Health urges south-western Sydney residents to get tested for COVID-19 after fragments of the virus are detected in wastewater.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Interesting perspective, 6 mystery cases in the last 28 days says Tas - yet NSW Health says 3 mystery cases in the last 28 days.

I gravely doubt the other 3 are accounted for by being linked much later (say 3 days).

I wonder if QF will reinstate direct LST-SYD flights now.....? (from Nov 6 I mean)

 

[Gremlin]

I wonder if QF will reinstate direct LST-SYD flights now.....? (from Nov 6 I mean)

Yes. From Dec 4

 

[nutwood]

I wonder if QF will reinstate direct LST-SYD flights now.....? (from Nov 6 I mean)

When have QF done direct LST-SYD? In my experience it's always been Qantas Link and a Dash 8 to MEL.
Jetstar have a direct LST-SYD, as they did pre-Covid. I took that flight last week as a roundabout way of getting to Adelaide.

 

[drron]

When working in Lonnie I would fly MCY-SYD-LST on VA.QF didn't have a SYD-LST flight.

 

[DC3]

Over 2200 posts.

And none of has any influence over the outcome.

 

[DC3]

Interesting outcome...

Jamie Whincup kicked out of Queensland in border controversy

Jamie Whincup has been evicted from his home state of Queensland.

au.yahoo.com

Might turn into a Jamie Whine-cup now.

 

[jakeseven7]

When have QF done direct LST-SYD? In my experience it's always been Qantas Link and a Dash 8 to MEL.
Jetstar have a direct LST-SYD, as they did pre-Covid. I took that flight last week as a roundabout way of getting to Adelaide.

QFlink used to fly SYD-LST pre Jetstar with 717s. Used it frequently as a kid!

This is great for Tassie and locks in more well heeled tourists.

Qantas announce new Sydney to Launceston service following easing of restrictions