Labor has blasted comments by Liberal senator Amanda Stoker that the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, was the “knee on the throat” and “absolutely choking” the state’s economy.
Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy has labelled the comments, apparently invoking the final words of George Floyd while being choked under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, “abhorrent and insensitive”.
In question time on Monday, the government leader in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, said he had not seen the comments and would discuss them with Stoker, but did not to commit to take action against the senator.
Stoker told Guardian Australia she “didn’t meant to offend anyone” but reiterated her stance that the Queensland border ban is “choking the economy”.
The stoush comes as the commonwealth attorney general, Christian Porter, has formally intervened in the three high court cases challenging the Queensland and Western Australian bans on interstate travel, moving to help Clive Palmer and tourist operators’ push for borders to be reopened.
On Thursday, Stoker told Sky News that Palaszczuk “knows she is absolutely choking our economy by having these borders shut – she is the knee on the throat of businesses of Queensland, stopping them from breathing”.
The Queensland border ban has been fiercely attacked by the federal government, which argues restrictions are hurting tourism and costing jobs. The Queensland ban is due to lift from 10 July, with South Australia to follow on 20 July but no date is set for Western Australia to lift its ban.
Labor senator Murray Watt described Stoker’s comments as “new lows for [the Liberal National party]” because the senator had used “the words of a dying man to score a political point”.
New lows for LNP - Senator Amanda Stoker accuses Qld Premier of being “the knee on the throat of the businesses of Qld, stopping them from breathing.” Who uses the words of a dying man to score a political point? pic.twitter.com/Dxdr0dvD2P
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) June 15, 2020
In question time on Monday, McCarthy asked if the comments were inappropriate, but Cormann deferred his answer on the basis he hadn’t seen them.
Does Scott Morrison endorse Senator @stoker_aj's abhorent, insensitive and inappropriate comments on @SkyNewsAust using the words of a dying man to make a political point? And if not, what he’s going to do about it? #auspol pic.twitter.com/mQPeDzUaHE
— malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) June 15, 2020
McCarthy linked the comments to a preselection contest between Stoker and Liberal senator James McGrath and asked if Stoker had the prime minister’s full support.
Cormann replied that Scott Morrison “supports all his colleagues”.
Stoker said Labor’s attacks were a “shallow attempt to use outrage to distract” from allegations made against former Victorian minister Adem Somyurek.
“It’s the Queensland premier who should apologise to the many business owners who’ve lost their livelihoods and the thousands of staff who’ve lost their jobs in circumstances where those borders closures have gone on way too long,” she said.
“It’s choking the Queensland economy, and it has to stop.
“Of course, I didn’t meant to offend anyone, that was not my intention.”
On Friday, Porter intervened on behalf of the commonwealth in the three high court challenges brought by Palmer, his company Mineralogy and a group of Queensland tourism operators backed by One Nation.
The cases argue that the border bans breach section 92 of the constitution, that “trade, commerce and intercourse among the states ... shall be absolutely free”.
Porter told Guardian Australia the government had intervened “to make constitutional arguments in support of the reopening of the borders”.
“These are cases launched by tourism operators, businesses and individuals affected by the border closures,” he said.
“These matters raise significant questions of constitutional law concerning the constitutional freedom to cross state borders.”
“The Morrison government’s view on border closures is clear that; borders should be open, which view is consistent with our constitutional assessment of the present situation.”
