The company’s managing director, Graham “Scroo” Turner,  said the states (Queensland, WA and Tasmania) had to reveal a plan and there was no excuse not to.

“They have to open at some stage so what is their plan? Is it 70 per cent or 80 per cent or is 100 per cent and is that reasonable?” Turner said.

“We don’t particularly want to take this action and we will only do it if there is not a reasonable plan by the states.”

His comments come on the eve of a National Cabinet meeting which is expected to discuss a reopening and his strategy has won support from senior Morrison Government Minister Peter Dutton.

Dutton said Turner’s position was “fair enough” because the premiers had signed up to a plan for easing restrictions at 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination coverage. 

“The premiers signed up to the 70 to 80 per cent changes, and they should honour their word, and if people are saying that the premiers should be kept to their deal, I absolutely support that,” Dutton said.

The State Government has so far refused to budge from its position claiming it needed to see more information from the Doherty Institute, particularly relating to the vaccination of children and what re-opening would look like at various levels of vaccination.

Turner said the Flight Centre case would be based on section 92 of the Constitution which guarantees movement between the states, which is similar to the case previously run and lost by Brisbane billionaire Clive Palmer.

“In the Palmer action … the judge found found there had to be unreasonableness of what the states were doing,” Turner said.

“We believe that after the vulnerable people have been vaccinated it’s really unreasonable to keep the doors shut.

“The reality was that when Palmer ran his case there was no vaccine so the whole scenario has changed.”

He said he said he doesn’t expect the Morrison Government to join the case because of the political damage that may come from that, particularly in WA and Queensland.

“It would be quite a brave move,” Turner told InQueensland.

“This is all about politics. There is a federal election coming up and there is still a significant number of people in WA and Queensland who are quite happy and don’t get affected by border closures so I can’t imagine they (the Federal Government) would want to get involved.”

But while he accepted there was a large number of people who supported the closed border policy, he said the vast majority of Flight Centre customers would back him.

“As an industry … these border closures are devastating,” he said.

The cost to Flight Centre is estimated at $100 million a month.

Turner’s strategy is likely to be supported by many of Queensland businesses, particularly in tourism.

There has also been pressure on the Goverment this week from business groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland and the Property Council who fear Queensland could be left behind NSW and Victoria when those states begin to open.