Palaszczuk defends plans for trip to Tokyo Olympics

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will push ahead with a trip to the Tokyo Olympics, despite mounting opposition.
Only another Queensland lockdown will stop the stateās Premier from travelling to Japan to pitch for the Olympics as tens of thousands sign a petition demanding her trip be refused.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates had made it āvery clearā it would be a ādisaster if the head of Queensland did not goā.
āIf weāre in a situation where weāre in a lockdown I wonāt be able to attend, but the delegation is the federal Sports Minister, the Premier and the Lord Mayor,ā she said on Tuesday.
Ms Palaszczuk said the trip to Toyko would be exclusively to make the pitch for Queensland to host the 2032 Games before she returned for 14 days in hotel quarantine.
One of the strongest pillars of the stateās bid is the āenormous co-operationā between three levels of government, she said.
It comes as a petition calling for Ms Palaszczuk to be denied the right to leave Australia attracts more than to 29,000 signatures.
The change.org petition said the Queensland Premier had āsuccessfully advocated for a brutal and heartless halving of Australian quarantine spacesā.
āAnnastacia Palaszczuk should not be allowed to steal a precious hotel quarantine space for a more deserving stranded Australia trying to return home,ā it said.
National cabinet agreed last week to cut overseas arrivals Australia-wide in response to growing concern over hotelsā ability to contain the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the Commonwealth would support Brisbaneās 2032 Olympic Games bid, including āfacilitating exemptions for travel on official Olympic businessā.
The Minister has no role in considering exemption requests, which is a decision made by the Australian Border Force commissioner or his delegate.
Ms Palaszczuk said she understood the views in the petition, but called the 2032 Olympics āthe biggest opportunity that Queenslandās ever seenā.
The state will learn if its Olympic bid has been successful in just over two weeks.
āThis is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have the 2032 Olympics here in Queensland, weāre never going to get that opportunity again, and Iād hate to see it fall at the final hurdle,ā Ms Palaszczuk said.
-AAP
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