Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will today urge national cabinet to respect the states’ right to restrict borders and for health to be put before the economy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is leading calls for a national approach to borders – Queensland is not the only state to have restrictions – and wants more movement to boost the nation’s economic recovery.

Queensland has become the focal point of the debate and Morrison’s colleagues in the state, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, have been increasingly outspoken about the Palaszczuk government’s approach.

This morning, Dutton told Nine’s Today show that border restrictions were being used as part of an elimination strategy that was not backed by health advice and would send the nation “broke”.

But Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young was adamant that her health advice, reiterated to Palaszczuk today, was to keep the border restrictions. She said if Queensland was to pursue an elimination strategy the border would have been closed altogether, however she did not rule out further restrictions.

Young said the essential workers and people given exemptions to cross the border were a risk that Queensland so far could manage. However, she urged people in the “border bubble” to still limit their movement, particularly health workers who might carry the risk between health or aged care facilities.

“I don’t want police crossing the border who can actually manage their lives where they are,” Young said.

While NSW recorded only one new case overnight, the lowest since July 2, there have still been cases of unknown origin in recent days. Young said she was mindful of the number of flights from Sydney to Ballina, and the lack of restrictions on people driving north; community transmission could still occur across the border.

“I’m concerned about the amount of movement out of Sydney into northern New South Wales, that definitely concerns me,” Young said.

“It is good to see that New South Wales is looking at their risks in Tweed because I know that were the virus to get out into the Tweed area (inside the border bubble) that would be a very big concern for us in Queensland.”

Only one new case was recorded in Queensland overnight, however it was historic and from a known cluster. Testing at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre has yet to uncover any other cases linked to the 77-year-old supervisor who worked five shifts while infectious. She had a second test to confirm her infection however the source is still unknown.

Young said the Ipswich woman is believed to have spent most of her time at home or working at Wacol however Queensland Health would detail any public places if such a risk was identified.

Dutton, who was himself infected early in the pandemic, claimed the Queensland border restrictions were political and not based on health advice. He suggested Labor was looking to the October 31 election.

“They don’t have a plan, it’s driven by their polling and research and not in our best interests,” Dutton said.

“That I think is regrettable because we want to make sure that we can deal with the threat but there’s no threat in northern NSW.”

Young said she did not consider the politics when advising the Government. Deputy Premier Steven Miles questioned whether Dutton was himself motivated by politics.

“He is one of the few people to have actually, personally, brought COVID-19 into Queensland,” Miles said.

“He knows personally how terrible this disease is. He should know, better than anyone, how important it is that we keep the virus out of our state. “We will continue doing our job, which is keeping Queenslanders safe.

“Peter Dutton has one job and that’s keeping our borders safe and he has consistently failed. He’s failed on cruise ships, he has failed on hotel quarantine.”

Miles, a Labor MP, and Dutton, a Liberal, have electorates in Brisbane’s north. Miles suggested they go to local shopping centres to ask their constituents whether the Queensland border restrictions should remain.

Labor will use the Liberal National Party’s earlier calls for the border restrictions to be lifted in its campaign for re-election.