International travel bans could be a matter of weeks away from lifting as NSW and Victoria edge closer to reaching their vaccination targets.
One of the most hated bans on freedom imposed on Australians since the pandemic began will be lifted with the Prime Minister set to announce an end to international border closures as some states move towards a seven-day home quarantine plan for international travellers.
The international arrival caps agreed to by the national cabinet are also likely to be scrapped in states embracing the seven-day home quarantine option as soon as the 80 per cent double dosed milestone is reached.
NSW is likely to be first cab off the rank with flights overseas and the Victorian premier is also in talks with the PM over international travel bans lifting.
It’s a move that is expected to trigger a dramatic increase of Qantas flights to and from Australia before Christmas and it could hold the key to helping thousands of stranded Australians get home to their families over the summer holidays.
But the states that are refusing to budge on reopening state borders including Western Australia and Queensland will be locked out of international travel bonanza and citizens returning to those states could be forced to pay for thousands of dollars for hotel quarantine unless they can find a friend in the states offering home quarantine.
The Prime Minister first announced the border closure on March 20, 2020 to all non-citizens and nonresidents. Even Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family needed to apply for an exemption to travel and to quarantine at a hotel for 14 days on arrival at a cost of over $3,000.
In August, the Morrison government quietly introduced a ban on outbound travel with Australian citizens leaving the country and even told people who live overseas they may not be allowed to leave Australia.
The changes will follow the road map outlined by the Doherty Institute but the international travel bans are set to be lifted on a much faster trajectory than previously imagined.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the hotel quarantine system was an idea that was “past its use by date”.
“If you’re fully vaccinated with a vaccine our authorities deem to be effective and safe, you’ll be able to quarantine at home. We’re going through the pilot as we speak. But the hotel quarantine system for returning Australians is past its use by date. If you’re fully vaccinated, you should be able to quarantine at home,” she told ABC Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
“I would welcome that,” she said. “I think every state needs to do their bit for the country. “Our contribution in New South Wales will be to welcome home Australians. If other state premiers aren’t inclined to do that. I’m more than happy to welcome home Australians. Australians have been separated from their loved ones for too long.”
“I would be more than happy to welcome home Australians, fully vaccinated Australians will be able to quarantine at home in New South Wales. And obviously every other state premier will have their decisions around what they’ll do. We make sure they get safely on a flight back to their home state. What happens after that is a matter for their state premier.”
The Doherty Institute outlined a plan to remove the caps on expats returning home to Australia and restrictions on outbound travel for the vaccinated as soon as 80 per cent of Australians are vaccinated.
Initial road map re-evaluated
As recently as August that wasn’t expected to happen until 2022. The road map predicted international travel would start slowly with travel bubbles proposed to Singapore and the Pacific next year.
Even the federal budget forecast that borders would remain largely closed until July, 2022.
But with NSW and Victoria now on track to hit 80 per cent double doses within weeks, Australia can open up much faster and talks are under way between the Prime Minister and premiers on how to achieve that as soon as possible.
“We never anticipated the speed with which that would occur and the demand that was there,” the NSW Premier said.
“So by the end of October, our citizens will be able to move freely throughout New South Wales and the one proviso we add to that, if there’s a localised surge in cases, the Doherty report advises, as will our health experts, you have some restrictions or targeted restrictions in a particular locality. Once you open up, we’ll see a surge in cases.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said his own state would hit the important milestone of 80 per cent of the community single dosed with a Covid vaccine today.
“We’ll pass 80 per cent single dose. That’s an amazing achievement and all Victorians who have been vaccinated or booked an appointment should be very proud of that,” he said.
“We’ll get this done and we’ll get it done properly. I’m very positive and optimistic about the future because we can see past this now.”
Speaking in Washington earlier this week, the Prime Minister confirmed an announcement was imminent.
“We will see our international borders, particularly for Australians to leave and return and Australians who are overseas and have been vaccinated to return, and that will occur before the end of the year,” he said.
“It could happen well before that. I mean, right now we have reached a point where half of our adult population, aged over 16, has been double vaccinated. Three quarters of them have had their first vaccination. In our older population, those rates are already much higher, over ninety per cent. And, so, with the vaccines, that is improving our resilience, and we’ll be able to open up those borders.
“But, I’ll tell you what shutting those borders did, it saved over 30,000 lives in Australia. We also took action to save livelihoods. And our economy has come back strongly, even with the restrictions we have in place now. As they lift, then we will see our economy come back strongly. There’s nothing wrong with our economy. The only thing that’s holding back is obviously restrictions that are helping save lives.”
