Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has confirmed Prime Minister Scott Morrison will have to go into hotel quarantine like everybody else if he wants to go on the hustings during the state election.
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Mr Morrison says it's unlikely he will campaign alongside opposition Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington ahead of the October 31 poll, but he's prepared to quarantine if he does.
All travellers from NSW, the ACT and Victoria must go into quarantine upon arrival in the state under the government's strict COVID-19 rules.
Dr Miles says the prospect of the prime minister spending 14 days cooped up in a hotel room is real.
"Scott Morrison has been pretty clear that he doesn't want anyone to get special treatment, he's said that over and over again, so I'm very sure that he would understand, he would not himself ask for special treatment," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Morrison said he might not have time to campaign for the LNP, with the federal budget due on October 6 and a parliamentary sitting.
"I should be subject to the same rules like everybody else. I don't think there should be double standards about these things. I think the same rules should apply," the prime minister told Seven's Sunrise program on Thursday.
Mr Morrison again called on the Queensland government to implement a fairer system for compassionate quarantine exemptions, an issue that has become potent in the run-up to the state election.
Ms Frecklington has almost daily highlighted individuals who have been denied compassionate exemptions to criticise the government's border rules.
The LNP and federal politicians have branded Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk "heartless", while the state government has accused the opposition of using family tragedies for political gain.
Dr Miles accused the prime minister's office of masterminding a campaign to boost the LNP's chances at the state election.
"Why is Scott Morrison is so fixated on Queensland, so determined tear down our premier? You'll have to ask him that but I understand from the reports that it was a deliberate strategy concocted in the prime minister's office," Dr Miles said.
"A strategy developed by him and by them, and one that was then directed to Deb Frecklington, and one that she's been carrying out along with Scott Morrison and (Home Affairs Minister) Peter Dutton."
Australian Associated Press
