Scott Morrison accuses Queensland Premier of Annastacia Palaszczuk 'extortion'

The Prime Minister has accused the Queensland Premier of 'extortion' after she demanded more cash for hospitals before she allows international travel.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the federal government needed to 'inject' a large sum of funding into state hospitals before borders with Victoria and NSW could open.

The state's hospitals are already at 'breaking point', turning away dozens of patients before a Covid crisis has even begun, she said.

Senior doctors have warned that a crisis is looming and the healthcare system wouldn't be able to cope if there is an outbreak.

However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison hit back on Tuesday morning, arguing that it is Queensland's responsibility to run their own health system.

'Since we came to government we've increased funding for public hospitals in Queensland by almost 100 per cent, 99 per cent. The Queensland government have increased it by just over 50 per cent,' Mr Morrison told the Today Show.

'So they need to get on and run their public hospital system, and not seek to make excuses about it.'

Mr Morrison also claimed Ms Palaszczuk was holding the government to 'ransom' as she would refuse to open the borders without extra funding.

'I mean, to go down this point and say, ''Well, you know, I'm going to hold the Federal Government to ransom and seek to extort from them money on the basis of Covid'', I just don't think is the right way to go,' Mr Morrison said.

The premier's request comes as data gathered by The Australian revealed 31 hospitals had been declared as 'code yellow' over the last month due to bed shortages and extreme demand levels in Queensland facilities.

Regional hospitals suffered most of the code yellow declarations, with a threat of an outbreak more likely to happen in those facilities due to the lower vaccination rates.

Code yellow had been declared over 12 times north of Brisbane in Wide Bay during September, while in Brisbane's northwest, the code yellow occurred six times, and ICU beds were all filled.