Young shrugs off death threats, will work with ‘government of the day’
Amid a heated debate over Queensland’s COVID-19 restrictions, Dr Jeannette Young is urging anyone who has concerns to talk them over with a friend or loved one.
Young has been the victim of online trolling for months and, due to the nature of her role, has been offered police protection when in public. With Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk repeatedly insisting Young is responsible for border restrictions, the Chief Health Officer has been exposed to intense criticism and claims of double standards in quarantine exemptions.
Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington today said she supported Young but not the Premier, who she accused of allowing inconsistencies to emerge and “making the borders into a political weapon” .
“The Chief Health Officer is making decisions and providing advice to the Premier,” Frecklington told reporters in Mackay.
“At the end of the day, the buck stops with the Premier. What the Premier has been doing is hiding behind the Chief Health Officer.”
After a weekend off, Young joined Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles at today’s COVID-19 update to announce a second consecutive day with no new cases in Queensland. It came after Australian Medical Association Queensland president, Chris Perry, revealed Young had received death threats.
Young conceded she had felt under pressure but said would continue to act on the evidence, and pursue the best possible health outcomes for Queensland, noting that “unfortunately there’s no rule book for this pandemic”.
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“It has taken an enormous toll on me but then this has taken an enormous toll on every single person in our community,” Young said, adding that she felt supported by the government.
Not being able to forecast an end to the pandemic only added to the frustrations, Young said, and people should be working through their frustrations together.
Frecklington wants more compassion to be shown to families separated by the border restrictions, particularly in times of crisis. She reiterated Young was only providing advice and “the buck stops with the Premier”.
With applications for postal votes opening today, Frecklington called on Queenslanders to vote against the Palaszczuk Labor government. If elected Premier, she promised to make the best decisions for Queensland.
“This is the most important election that has faced a generation,” Frecklington said.
This afternoon, Palaszczuk defended Young, saying the Chief Health Officer had kept Queensland safe.
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“I think it is not right that a public servant of her high standing – and she is regarded as one of the best in the nation – be attacked for giving her clear advice,” Palaszczuk said.
While she acknowledged there was a need to improve the handling of individual requests for border quarantine exemptions – “we are trying to do more, we are trying to do better” – she again accused the LNP of politicising a health issue.
“If it means losing the election, I will risk all that if it means keeping Queenslanders safe,” Palaszczuk said.
“I’m putting myself out there, I’m putting myself on the line.
Miles said Young was making tough decisions and with the spectre of the LNP trying to politicise the border restrictions ahead of the Queensland election.
“Dr Young has, I think, always done her best to make the right decisions for Queensland and that’s borne out in the results,” Miles said today.
With the caretaker period of the election campaign approaching, Young said she would continue to brief the LNP if and as requested. Asked if she could work with a Frecklington government, Young replied: “I’m a public servant – I will always work for the government of the day”. She has worked with both sides during her career.
Young said authorities were still concerned about COVID-19 clusters to the south and west of Brisbane, particularly around Ipswich, and the prospect of undetected community transmission. She encouraged people in Goodna, Redbank Plains and Redbank especially to get tested if they had any symptoms.
“We want to find the first case in a cluster, not the 40th case because at that stage its really, really hard to get on top of it,” Young said.
Fewer than 3,000 tests were conducted in Queensland in the previous 24 hours, prompting Young and Miles to foreshadow increased resources and campaigning in the Ipswich region to encourage more people to get checked.
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