Last week, NSW premier Dominic Perrottet announced that NSW would begin welcoming back vaccinated international arrivals from November 1, who would not only be allowed to re-enter the country but would also not be required to quarantine upon arrival. Airlines and tourist businesses quickly scrambled to put plans into place to accommodate the coming tourist boom, but there was just one catch: Perrottet didn’t have the authority to reopen international borders. Within hours, the prime minister, who is the only person in control of Australia’s international borders and visas, slapped down Perrottet’s pledge, saying that only Australian citizens, residents and their families would be allowed to travel freely overseas from November 1.
Perrottet and his cabinet have since lobbied Canberra hard to try and persuade Scott Morrison to follow the ambitiously speedy timetable originally promised, but at a press briefing on October 22 from Sydney airport, the prime minister made it clear that Australia would be taking its time reopening to the world.
Morrison pointed to examples from overseas, which he suggested had been too fast and without enough caution. “Our first cautious step at 70%, and then a strong and bold step at 80%, but with still low level controls being in place, even at that point, to ensure that we live with the virus safely. So that’s the approach we’re taking. That is very different to the approach we saw in the United Kingdom when I was there when they were going through their process of Freedom Day, they opened up fully, fully, when there were 10s of 1000s of cases a day, and a 67% double vaccination rate. Now that’s not what we’ve done,” he said.
However, there are green shoots emerging that should be some consolation to the tourist businesses that have been desperate for international arrivals to return Down Under. Morrison said that a travel bubble allowing Singaporian citizens to enter Australia was about to be finalised and that talks with Indonesia about establishing a similar entry model were also forthcoming.
Australians hoping to travel overseas will be able to do so imminently. People from NSW who are fully vaccinated are permitted to travel international and return without having to quarantine from November 1, and Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland are expected to announce similar plans within days.