Australia to Reopen Borders
Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport is a major travel hub in Australia (Wikimedia Commons).
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on October 1 that the country’s 18 month-long travel ban will be lifted within the next month. This statement marks the first step toward easing Australia’s tight COVID-19 restrictions since the dramatic closure of its borders on March 20, 2020. The first phase of Morrison’s reopening plan hinges on allowing fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents to travel abroad. This initial step will go into effect once the national vaccination rate reaches 80 percent, a milestone expected to be achieved within the next month. “It’s time to give Australians their lives back. We’ve saved lives,” declared Morrison.
Residents and foreign leaders alike find Australia’s strict COVID-19 restrictions controversial. Though these policies successfully suppressed the spread of COVID-19, they also caused the displacement of more than 40,000 Australians living overseas, who were unable to secure flights home due to the border closures. Under restrictions established in 2020, citizens and residents were allowed to return from abroad, subject to tight quotas and a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine period at each traveler’s expense. Morrison expects seven-day home quarantines for travelers to Australia to begin in November, but each territory will establish its own implementation timeline based on regional vaccination rates. Delegating jurisdiction over border reopening to the eight individual states and territories in Australia will cause a staggered reopening of the entire country.
Following Morrison’s announcement, Australian officials expanded the list of authorized COVID-19 vaccines that it would accept for travel in or out of the country. In addition to vaccines administered within Australia—Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen—Australian border officials will now accept individuals vaccinated with China’s Sinovac vaccine and the Serum Institute of India’s Covishield vaccine, a version of AstraZeneca. Chinese students, the majority of whom received the Sinovac vaccine, account for nearly a third of Australia’s international education sector. Before the pandemic, this group had brought in $35 billion per year in revenue, a significant portion of Australia’s $2 trillion economy. That revenue’s absence has contributed significantly to the country’s economic losses due to COVID-19.
In anticipation of the reopening of Australia’s international borders, Qantas Airways announced the resumption of tri-weekly international flights from Sydney to London and Sydney to Los Angeles. Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce voiced his optimism for Australia’s long-awaited reopening: “We know Australians can’t wait to travel overseas and be reunited with their loved ones, and literally thousands are waiting to come back home, so this faster restart is fantastic news.” Despite this return to air travel, flights in and out of Australia will be limited due to continued home quarantine requirements. Flights will primarily be available for repatriating Australians, and flight services will operate at a fraction of their frequency prior to the pandemic. This situation is likely to hinder an efficient re-invigorating of the Australian economy since tourism is unlikely to resume quickly as long as any extended quarantine period remains. Still, Morrison’s plan to gradually reopen Australia’s international borders promises to restore much-anticipated opportunities to vaccinated citizens.