Unemployment higher in states that have closed their borders to states with little, no COVID cases

Australia's unemployment hot spots are in states that have closed their border to other states or territories with very few or even no COVID-19 cases. Queensland's Wide Bay region north of Brisbane, covering the cities of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay near Fraser Island, has Australia's second highest jobless rate of 17 per cent - a surge from 8.8 per cent in just five months. Queensland dominates this list, with nine areas having particularly high unemployment, from the Gold Coast, Logan and Beaudesert in the state's south to the vast outback in the west - with a 10.9 per cent jobless rate. Queensland's Wide Bay region north of Brisbane, covering the cities of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay near Fraser Island, has Australia's second highest jobless rate of 17 per cent - a surge from 8.8 per cent in just five months 'Lives are really being disrupted and you've got to ask why when the medical advice is not saying that is what is needed,' he told the Today show. Australian state border restrictions Victoria: Completely open, but other states are banning residents from going there NSW: Border with Victoria is closed but others are open without restriction Queensland: Open to everywhere but Victoria, NSW, and the ACT Northern Territory: Open to everywhere but Victoria and Sydney, which must do hotel quarantine South Australia: Closed to Victoria, NSW arrivals must self-isolate, rest are open Tasmania: Closed to Victoria, everywhere else must do hotel quarantine Western Australia: Closed to everywhere without an exemption 'If we've got premiers who are pursuing an elimination process, the country will go broke.'