An angry heckler has gatecrashed Annastacia Palaszczuk’s press conference, accusing her of locking him out of the state and “failing” his dying father.
The tirade came after the state reported another 14 Covid-19 deaths overnight, 10 of which were in aged care.
Ms Palaszczuk was on the Gold Coast announcing a $200 million package to secure more direct international flights into Queensland when the man angrily interrupted the press conference.
The man, shouting from the bottom floor of the North Kirra Surf Club, blasted the Premier for not letting him into the state when his father was dying.
“He was dying, you failed me … your government failed me,” the man shouted.
“I did all the right things and your government locked me out of my home state.
“I did everything right and I hold you accountable for that.”
The man ended his tirade by saying he would “never forgive” the Premier.
Ms Palaszczuk acknowledged it had been “tough” for everybody with not being able to see their loved ones.
“I feel that just as everyone else does … I can understand why that gentleman is very upset and very distressed,” she said.
“All I can do is apologise to people who haven’t been able to see their loved ones during this pandemic.”
Some 5977 new cases were recorded by health authorities in the past 24 hours but Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland had already reached the peak of its Omicron outbreak.
Of the new deaths, one person was in their 60s, five were in their 70s, five were in their 80s and three were in their 90s.
Ten were in aged care.
Three were not vaccinated while five were double-dosed and four had received three doses of the vaccine.
Chief health officer John Gerrard said hospitalisations had declined to 535 patients but 43 were in intensive care.
Of those, 27 people were on ventilators.
Asked about the government’s response into aged care, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it was “not unique” seeing staff shortages and outbreaks in the centres.
It comes after a southside nursing home was placed under scrutiny where a severe Covid outbreak infected dozens of staff and patients and killed 10 people.
“We are seeing outbreaks and shortage of staff right across the state in aged care,” xjmtzywMs D’Ath said.
“I know there are a dozen on a watchlist right now because of the outbreaks.
“All of this will be reviewed at some point in the future … whether it should be done at a national level or by individual states is an option.”
Ms D’Ath said the Commonwealth should regulate and fund the examination as they were responsible for the vaccine rollout in aged care.
On Thursday, Ms Palaszczuk declared the state’s outbreak of the Omicron variant had peaked.
The announcement came as the state recorded 5854 new cases and eight deaths – down from 6902 new cases and 24 deaths the day before.
“New modelling shows Queensland’s Omicron wave has peaked and is trending down,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“At the height of the wave, Queensland recorded 928 hospitalisations and 71 ICU admissions – instead of the worst case scenario of 5000 hospital beds at the start of the peak, and up to 500 ICU beds.”
