“The Premier understands that that’s a decision for the Commonwealth government not for the state governments. And when we believe that’s the right decision to make, we will make it in that time.”
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Mr Morrison also confirmed the new arrangements meant all Australians, no matter where they lived in the country, would be allowed to travel overseas once again from November 1. However, if they wanted to return to a state other than NSW, they would still be subject to the arrival caps and quarantine arrangements of those states.
People who transit through Sydney would still be subject to domestic border rules and restrictions.
The rules for who counts as “immediate family” will change on November 1 to include overseas-based parents of Australian citizens and residents, meaning they will also be able to travel into NSW freely if they are fully vaccinated.
The change comes after a long campaign from people desperate to get their parents here for health, family and compassionate reasons but who were repeatedly denied travel exemptions.
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One of the campaign’s co-ordinators, Valeria Greenfield, said the announcement had taken her by surprise.
“After 18 months of waiting, you kind of lose hope, so my immediate reaction was I started crying,” she said. “After the excitement, now I have a thousand questions – when, how is it going to work, what about people in Queensland who can’t even travel to Sydney at the moment?”
Her parents are in Peru and are yet to meet Ms Greenfield’s daughter, their first grandchild, who was born just before Australia slammed its borders shut in March 2020.
Ms Greenfield said other developed countries had acknowledged parents were immediate families as early as May last year.
“I want to acknowledge that many thousands of people will never have the chance that I have now because they already lost their parents and they will never see them again,” she said.
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The Therapeutic Goods Administration has told the government that people who received doses of China’s Sinovac and India’s Covishield vaccines overseas would be regarded as appropriately vaccinated under Australia’s travel rules, as well as those who received any COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in Australia – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Qantas announced it would bring forward its plan to restart international flights by two weeks, to November 1, in response to the NSW announcement.
In a statement, the airline said it would operate up to five return flights a week from Sydney to London and up to four return flights a week from Sydney to Los Angeles, with more added to meet demand if needed.
“In just a little over two weeks, Australians around the world can fly into Sydney and people from around Australia can leave on trips they’ve been waiting almost two years to take. We hope other states will do the same once they reach the 80 per cent target,” chief executive Alan Joyce said.
