Australian Travel During COVID

[jackspratt]

Some promising news that may/should be of interest to (vaccinated) Australians (and others) who may be contemplating a trip to Oz next year.

Federal government hopes to reopen international border by Christmas 'at the latest'

Dan Tehan said the government was getting its systems ready to allow people to leave the country and return without needing to go through hotel quarantine.

"We're doing that preparatory work to make sure that when those international borders open, hopefully at the latest by Christmas, Australians will be able to travel with a QR Code linked to their passport, which will be able to show a proof of vaccination," he said..........
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-22/ ... /100483178

I wait with great interest to see what details flow in the next few weeks, including travel to Oz and out again, and details about home quarantine.

Of course, this is only 50% of the picture, with plans by Thailand yet to be revealed.

[stattointhailand]

Assuming Australia stays the same amount of time behind the Thailand re-opening (with another 6 or 7 false starts predicted) did he mention WHICH CHRISTMAS?

[tamada]

I was told that the governments of WA, NT, SA and Qld are all from the 'opposing team' to the Federal government's and are very resistant to Federal mandates on domestic travel and quarantines. How can Australia open up for Christmas unless these QR Code thingmies are only accepted at Kingsford Smith and Tullamarine?

[parrot]

I thought 'international' travel was iffy:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... story.html

[GT93]

Good question Tamada. Scotty from Marketing, the Prime Minister of New South Wales, isn't a sharp pencil. I get the impression he's so focused on politics that he isn't as up to speed on Covid (and international relations) as he should be.

In NZ, and states in Oz such as Western Australia will be the same, people who breach travel restrictions are regarded as scum. I wish if convicted they were given some porridge. There needs to be a decent deterrent. Particularly to entitled well to do folks who would barely notice a fine.

[jackspratt]

I thought 'international' travel was iffy:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... story.html

It is at the moment. As is interstate travel, with a couple of states having significant levels of Delta transmission.

Hopefully, as the article describes, it will have opened up to some degree by Xmas, and further as 2022 proceeds.

ps I am always amused when reading articles from the Oz based correspondents of the WaPo and the NYT. The generalisations and stereotypes just ooze out - a bit as if they were writing scripts for an updated version of Crocodile Dundee.

[jackspratt]

I was told that the governments of WA, NT, SA and Qld are all from the 'opposing team' to the Federal government's and are very resistant to Federal mandates on domestic travel and quarantines. How can Australia open up for Christmas unless these QR Code thingmies are only accepted at Kingsford Smith and Tullamarine?

South Australia has a Liberal (sic) government (same as the Federal mob), and is currently trialling a scheme of home detention for international arrivals.

The federal government has power over what happens at international borders ie customs and quarantine. Responsibility for what happens once outside the airport has been handed to the respective states during the COVID emergency, although it seems to be a legal grey area.

[tamada]

I was told that the governments of WA, NT, SA and Qld are all from the 'opposing team' to the Federal government's and are very resistant to Federal mandates on domestic travel and quarantines. How can Australia open up for Christmas unless these QR Code thingmies are only accepted at Kingsford Smith and Tullamarine?

South Australia has a Liberal (sic) government (same as the Federal mob), and is currently trialling a scheme of home detention for international arrivals.

The federal government has power over what happens at international borders ie customs and quarantine. Responsibility for what happens once outside the airport has been handed to the respective states during the COVID emergency, although it seems to be a legal grey area.

Thanks for that. I did read that SA were trialing the home detention route. Didn't know if that was in cooperation with or in spite of the Federal mob.

So all airports can be 'reopened' but one may have to try and sneak across the parking lot at PER to actually get anywhere? Grey area indeed.

I am not sure if the individual states kicking the Delta can down the road is a great idea. NZ seem to have mostly nipped their Delta incident in the bud with the Auckland lock down. Maybe by having about 70% of the population living in on the edge of their bit of the flat earth, it could be doable but Australia still has 5 times the population of NZ.

[marjamlew]

Will be interesting to see what happens with the pommy cricketers. Will they just play the tests in the dirty states (NSW and Vic) and let the fully vaxxed poms go free range? Or will they play all the tests in the clean states (SA, WA, QLD and Tassie) and quarantine the poms on arrival, presumably in Perth? Apparently the poms are not too keen on quarantine which is a problem for the clean states as the UK is filthy with the virus. Maybe the compromise is to do a bit of quarantine in WA and play the first three tests in the clean states and then move onto the filth. Of course it could very much be the case that the whole country is drowning in the virus by the time the tour comes around. That's Scotty's plan anyway. Get jabbed Be safe