'Tourism testing' not a zero-sum game

Because zero-sum games are about perceived self-interest, they foster a winner-take-all mindset and do nothing to encourage altruism or even the idea of co-operation for mutual advantage.

Australia's misfortune over the past two years, but especially now, is that too many state and territory leaders have treated the pandemic as a situation in which the only way they can benefit is at the expense of somebody else. The crisis with COVID-19 testing in the ACT, NSW and Victoria is a classic example of this.

The requirement by Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory for people wishing to cross what are supposedly open borders to produce a negative PCR test result within 72 hours before entry is causing immense frustration for hundreds of thousands of people, including many of their own citizens.

South Australia dropped its PCR test requirement for entry on Boxing Day, and now accepts a negative rapid antigen test result.

NSW, which has been testing up to 150,000 people a day, has been the hardest hit, with testing queues backed up for kilometres and waits of four or five days for test results. Getting tested for interstate travel in that jurisdiction is now a waste of time.

An emotional NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who confessed to being "fed up" with the Queensland Premier, has called on that state to immediately move to rapid antigen testing for travellers, instead of waiting until January 1.

"That may not seem a lot of days for her, but it is a lot of days here in NSW ... it's putting enormous pressure on the clinical needs of testing for people who really need it," he said.

While Queensland has belatedly dropped its requirement for travellers to have a PCR test five days after arrival, that will only relieve pressure on its own facilities.

In Canberra, centres at Garran and Mitchell were closed to travellers for four hours on Monday and Tuesday so close contacts - who are much more likely to test positive - could be screened.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the travel tests were "getting in the way of the public health tests that we really need to do". The ACT recorded 252 new cases on Tuesday, up from 189 on Monday. That figure is certain to keep on rising.

Ms Stephen-Smith has called for rapid antigen tests to replace PCR tests for those wishing to travel interstate. Canberra Airport's Stephen Byron has written to the Queensland government, warning COVID-19 cases were going undetected here because travellers were clogging up the testing system.

So, given a general consensus the PCR testing requirement in Queensland and elsewhere is doing far more harm than good, what is Ms Palaszczuk hoping to achieve? Is this a zero-sum game, or could there be no winners at all?

That seems likely, given the Omicron genie is definitely out of the bottle in the sunshine state, with 1158 COVID-19 cases being reported on Tuesday. That's 300 more than NSW had on December 13.

Queensland is going the way of the southern states, and keeping PCR travel test mandates in place until Saturday won't change that.

The only way for all the states and territories to win is to work together. The ACT, NSW and Victoria have all benefited economically, and in human terms, from keeping their borders open to each other.

Other states should follow that lead. This is, after all, supposed to be a federation.

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