As Virgin Australia scrambles to stave off collapse, NSW and Queensland have entered a bidding war over which state will secure the airline's headquarters.
Queensland has vowed to "stop at nothing" to keep Virgin's headquarters in Brisbane and has warned the NSW government to "back right off".
Virgin Australia planes sit idle at Brisbane Airport during the pandemic.
Photo: Darren England - AAPThe NSW government has put forward a Virgin Australia rescue package - with the condition of relocating the airline's headquarters to Sydney.
On Saturday, the Queensland government offered a $200 million rescue package for the country's second national carrier - as long as its headquarters remained in Bowen Hills in Brisbane.
Queensland State Development Minister Cameron Dick said he would "fight any attempt by New South Wales to steal Virgin Australia from Queensland to Sydney".
"Back right off. Just don’t go there,” Mr Dick said.
"If the world knows one thing, it knows this: there is nothing more dangerous than Queenslanders with their backs to the wall.
"New South Wales might want to bring a pea-shooter to the fight, we will bring a bazooka and we're not afraid to use it.
“At a time when their jobs hang in the balance, the 1200 Queensland families who depend on those head office jobs should not have to face the threat of being forced to move to Sydney."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her government was "considering all the options we have moving forward".
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"If that means encouraging businesses to set up shop in NSW, if it means bringing jobs to our state, we will, of course, consider all those things," she said.
"At the end of the day, my government is responsible for NSW, I don't apologise for that."
Mr Dick has not ruled out pouring more money in to keep the ailing airline in Queensland.
The escalation in the bidding war comes as Queensland reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday for the first time since March 9.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was an “absolutely tremendous” result and said if numbers continued to stay down for weeks, she would consider lifting restrictions.
More than 1000 Queenslanders have been infected with the virus since the state recorded its first case in late January.
About half of those people have since recovered and of those still infected, 20 patients remain in hospital, with seven of those in intensive care on ventilators.