Queensland's premier insists she is still following the national COVID-19 plan after revealing she may not open the state's borders once vaccination coverage hits 80 per cent.
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The state is close to suppressing a third multi-case outbreak of the Delta variant, recording no new locally acquired cases on Wednesday after 12,829 tests.
The news comes nine days after the first case emerged in a cluster involving workers at an aviation company, which swelled to nine cases.
"So we have zero community cases, this is unbelievable," Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Wednesday.
"This is great effort from everyone in Queensland doing the right thing."
The premier said there was ongoing risk of the Delta getting into the state so it was crucial for people to keep getting vaccinated.
She said vaccination coverage in parts of Brisbane was already above 70 per cent, but she was concerned about lagging vaccination rates in Ipswich, Beaudesert, Logan, the Sunshine Coast and central Queensland.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says she expects the virus will find a way into Queensland.
"We will see Delta variant come in and won't be able to be controlled, the only control will be the number of people who are vaccinated," she said.
Queensland still has among the lowest vaccination coverage in the country, vying with Western Australia to be the last state to reach 80 per cent coverage.
Creating further uncertainty for people unable to travel interstate, Ms Palaszczuk said the borders wouldn't necessarily open when the 80 per cent target was met.
The premier said booster shots, protecting children and dealing with hospital capacity issues were all part of the national reopening plan.
She strongly denied she was shifting the goalposts or deviating from the national plan.
"That's not correct, no, don't put words in my mouth. That's not exactly what I was saying, though, I said very clearly, we're in stage A of the national plan. We are following that national plan," the premier said.
"Part of that national plan is booster shots, so ask the prime minister the plan for the booster shots, because that's in the plan as well.
"So, you know, don't just cherry pick parts of the national plan, when you're not cherry picking other parts of the national plan."
She said national cabinet was still awaiting more research and modelling from the Doherty Institute and that was due back in coming weeks.
National cabinet should publicly release all the work it was doing for the sake of transparency, she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said her immediate priority was trying to lift vaccination coverage so rates were level in different geographical areas.
She said the target was 80 per cent, but the ACT had reached 93 per cent already, so 80 per cent shouldn't be the final goal.
"To protect Queenslanders I would like to see as many Queenslanders as possible vaccinated, which would reduce our risks if and when we get those outbreaks," she added.
The debate on reopening comes a day after the state government extended the Queensland public health emergency declaration to December 26.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath has announced a trial that will allow Queenslanders stuck interstate to return and quarantine at home.
It follows the successful use of home quarantine for boarding school students and unaccompanied minors.
The trial will begin with 1000 returning Queenslanders, who'll start arriving on Monday.
There are strict rules on who can participate. Those coming home must be fully vaccinated, have returned a negative PCR test within 72 hours of entry, and use a home quarantine check-in app.
They must also arrive by air, agree to testing on days one, five and 12 of their 14-day quarantine period, and have a suitable home with a direct entry.
Australian Associated Press
