Technically
the QLD Premier was right.
Graeme Orr, professor of law at the University of Queensland, says it's clear the law provides that only a public health officer can let someone out of quarantine to go to a funeral. "Also, under the crime and corruption law it would be highly inappropriate for a minister to intervene."
Regardless of where the formal power rested, the affair has been damaging for the Premier and the CHO, and shows that if Queensland is to keep its border closed, more flexibility is needed in the system to deal better with compassionate cases.