Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington is still calling on the government to adopt her plan to allow people to leave quarantine to attend funerals, despite the deputy premier lambasting the proposal.
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The Liberal National Party leader pledged on Tuesday to direct the chief health officer to create COVID-safe arrangements for people in mandatory quarantine to attend funerals or visit dying relatives.
Compassionate quarantine exemptions have become a potent issue in the run-up to the October 31 state election.
The opposition has been calling Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk "heartless", while the government is accusing the LNP of using families' tragedies for political gain.
Ms Frecklington's funeral plan hasn't been endorsed by Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young, but she insists that the government of the day has the final call on quarantine rules.
"That is exactly why I am calling on Annastacia Palaszczuk to show some compassion, some consistency in decision-making and some common sense," Ms Frecklington said on Wednesday.
"I am calling on the premier today to adopt the LNP's plan around funerals, having COVID-safe plans for funerals."
The LNP leader will be briefed on the quarantine rules by Dr Young on Wednesday afternoon, but Deputy Premier Steven Miles slammed her funeral plan.
He said the chief health officer had already assessed the LNP proposal and determined that it was too risky to put into practice.
Dr Miles accused the opposition leader of threatening to give orders to the chief health officer and warned she would have to change the Public Health Act to implement the funeral plan.
"Do we really want a premier who would be willing to use the parliament to override the powers of our chief health officer to make important decisions based on health risk?" Dr Miles said.
"They are the questions that people should be asking of Deb Frecklington."
The opposition leader stood beside another quarantine exemption applicant, Gold Coast resident Nathan Lowe, while demanding the government adopt her plan.
Mr Lowe has been trying to secure exemptions for his northern NSW uncle and Canberra-based brother to attend his father's funeral.
Last week, a case involving a Canberra woman being denied permission to attend her father's funeral rose to national prominence after Prime Minister Scott Morrison tried to intervene and spoke about the case on radio.
The woman was eventually allowed to view her father's body privately while dressed in full PPE.
The woman's step sister later wrote an open letter criticising Mr Morrison's involvement, saying he had attracted a "media storm" to further his "political agenda".
Australian Associated Press
