Furious Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has publicly questioned why at least 30,000 foreigners have been permitted to fly into Australia during the pandemic - before demanding an urgent reduction in returning travellers.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning, Miles said the state has no way of knowing the extent of the risk posed by almost 200 international travellers who entered the Sunshine State on Wednesday.
'We don't know how many of them were vaccinated, nor do we know if some have Covid-19,' Miles said.
'We also have little information about why they were permitted to travel.
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles (pictured) is worried about overseas travellers to Australia, stating 'we don't know if they have been vaccinated, nor do we know if they have Covid-19' in an explosive press conference
A fruious Miles voiced his concerns about the number of return travellers in Australia during the pandemic (pictured travellers heading to hotel quarantine after a flight from Qatar)
'As we said, there are 189 people now in hotel quarantine [after being overseas] from Wednesday.
'We have also put over 100 domestic arrivals into hotel quarantine, including 51 from Darwin, 43 from Perth and 41 identified close contacts of existing positive cases.
'Within our existing hotel quarantine at capacity, we now only have 140 rooms available today [Thursday].
'It just further reiterates the need for an urgent reduction on returning travellers, as we can't ensure they all have been vaccinated.'
On Wednesday, Miles and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk blamed the federal government for letting an unvaccinated traveller go back and forth from Australia to Indonesia, saying the country is 'not genuinely closed' to foreigners.
Miles said it was 'farcical' for Canberra to claim borders were closed when the Morrison government let in 20,000 'non-Australians' last
