From the BBC:
“Australian border to reopen
for first time in pandemic”
Australia will reopen its
international border from November, giving long-awaited freedoms to vaccinated
citizens and their relatives. Since March 2020, Australia has had some of the
world's strictest border rules - even banning its own people from leaving the
country. The policy has been praised for helping to suppress Covid, but it has
also controversially separated families. "It's time to give Australians
their lives back," PM Scott Morrison said. People would be eligible to
travel when their state's vaccination rate hit 80%, Mr Morrison told a press
briefing on Friday. Travel would not immediately be open to foreigners, but the
government said it was working "towards welcoming tourists back to our
shores". Amy Hayes, who lives in the English town of Reading, Berkshire,
and has not been back to Queensland in nearly three years, said it was
"encouraging to see things moving in the right direction". "But
I'll believe the borders have reopened when I see it and hear the stories of
stranded Aussies being able to get home uninhibited," she told BBC News.
Henry Aldridge is excited to fly
back to the UK for Christmas to see his parents and five siblings in London.
His partner Shana, a nurse from Ireland who lives with him in Sydney, nearly
broke down when they heard the news. We're pretty excited," he told the
BBC. "The first year and a half [of the pandemic] we looked on at the UK
and thought, we're pretty happy here. But the last few months haven't been
ideal." He said as the lockdowns were extended and the country recorded
more and more cases, the travel ban started to feel "a bit absurd". "It
seemed silly - you still have to quarantine to come home to a country that's in
lockdown," he said. But David Mullahey in Western Australia - which has
restricted entry to Australians in other parts of the country - told the BBC he
was against changing the travel rules. "Covid has hardly touched us here
and we've had limited deaths. Why should we risk being put in the same scenario
as Victoria and New South Wales?" he said. "I don't see how we can
consider lifting international border controls when the government can't
control Covid in those states." At present, people can leave Australia -
which has recorded more than 107,000 cases of Covid-19 and just over 1,300
deaths - only for exceptional reasons such as essential work or visiting a
dying relative. Entry is permitted for citizens and others with exemptions, but
there are tight caps on arrival numbers. This has left tens of thousands
stranded overseas. Mr Morrison said Australia's mandatory 14-day hotel
quarantine - which costs each traveller A$3,000 (£1,600; $2,100) - would be
replaced by seven days of home quarantine for vaccinated Australians or
permanent residents .Unvaccinated travellers must still quarantine for 14 days
in hotels.
Australian carrier Qantas
responded by announcing it would restart its international flying a month
earlier. It had already put flights to major overseas destinations on sale from
18 December. Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are currently in lockdown due to
outbreaks of the virus. That has helped prompt a surge in the vaccine uptake in
recent months. New South Wales - which includes Sydney - is on track to be
first But states such as Queensland and Western
Australia have threatened to keep their borders closed until vaccine rates are
even higher. These states have managed to maintain Covid rates at or near zero,
after shutting their borders to states with infections.
Analysis box by Shaimaa
Khalil, Australia correspondent This is a hugely anticipated announcement
for thousands of Australians both here and overseas. No doubt it's an emotional
moment for many, after nearly two years of isolation. Australia's strict
border policy has been credited for its success especially early in the
pandemic, but the Delta variant has changed everything. Western
Australia and Queensland are still going for an elimination policy, meaning
they have been quickest to close their borders to other parts of Australia. It's
a very different picture in NSW, the most populous state, where the policy has
changed from elimination to vaccination. All of that is going to make
the practicalities of reopening international borders quite tricky. Airlines
have already said they're not ready for the ramping up of services this
reopening will require. And with so many details still vague in terms of
restrictions and proof of vaccination, this could be a potential headache for
border authorities too.
NSW or Victoria may allow their
fully vaccinated residents to travel abroad and come back to home quarantine
but Western Australia, for example, will most likely be reticent to do that and
take on increased risk. So you could have a scenario where it could be easier
for people in some states to travel to London for a vacation than it is to go
to Perth! Key vaccination thresholds are also part of Australia's broader plan
to emerge from lockdowns and "live with the virus". Sydney - site of
Australia's largest airport - is due to come out of a 13-week lockdown on 11
October. Tim Soutphommasane, an academic and former Australian race
discrimination commissioner, told AFP news agency Australia had become a
"fortress nation with the drawbridge pulled up to the rest of the
world". "What we're seeing now with this announcement of borders
being reopened is akin to Australia re-entering the world, and it's long
overdue," he added.
^ This is long over-due and only
a small step in the right direction. The next step (after letting Australian Citizens
to travel) is to let International Citizens travel. ^
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