Asked why a member of the state government had not clarified things in the days since the stories arose,Mr Miles said ministers had noted the state did not control testing arrangements in other jurisdictions but had always allowed such tests to be done for those travelling to other states.

He said they had urged the Commonwealth to clarify and ensure arrangements were in place for people to also get the tests in other states — which took the form of asking the federal government to roll the cost under a Medicare rebate.

Responding to comments from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcoming the federal “commitment” to fund PCR tests on Tuesday night,Mr Hunt claimed Queensland caused the confusion for “24 hours” by rejecting the longstanding acceptance of text-messaged results as proof of a negative test.

This is despite Queensland border directions stating text messages would be accepted,as the state opened air borders for hotspot travellers to home quarantine on November 15. Though one Queensland Health website outlining the criteria warns people “may” have to pay for the test.

Health directions for the road border reopening,due by December 17,have not been published.

Gold Coast-based federal Liberal MP Stuart Robert has repeatedly labelled the PCR requirement a $150 “test tax” since reports about the suggested cost emerged last Tuesday.

The stories followed a report in theAustralian Financial Reviewon November 15 about calls from business and tourism leaders for both the federal and state governments to shift to the cheaper rapid tests forboth international and domestic travel.

On Wednesday,Mr Miles defended the need for the domestic travel testing — also in place to enter jurisdictions such as Tasmania — as a tool to help reduce the risk of the virus seeding into the community before it reached the 90 per cent double-dose milestone,when the requirement will be removed.

Queensland authorities also confirmed the state had passed a milestone of having 85 per cent of its 16-plus population with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and reached its lowest active virus caseload all year.

The state reported one new case of the virus in hotel quarantine on Wednesday and reached 14 days since there had been an infectious case in the Gold Coast community after recent scares in the tourist region.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Lynne McKinlay said the three active cases now across the state was the lowest number for the entirety of 2021.

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