Opening of international borders

[Poonam Sharma]

Any guesses about when Australia would open its borders to international visitors?

[LindaH27]

3 minutes ago, Poonam Sharma said:

Any guesses about when Australia would open its borders to international visitors?

Govt mentioned June 2022 but doubt that will happen! 

[Poonam Sharma]

Oh! Even later than that !

[Nemesis]

2 hours ago, Poonam Sharma said:

Oh! Even later than that !

Almost certainly later than  that. 

[Ausvisitor]

6 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Almost certainly later than  that. 

I think in reality it will open around Christmas this year, the next year thing is just a political statement to shore up support 

[LindaH27]

4 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

I think in reality it will open around Christmas this year, the next year thing is just a political statement to shore up support 

Given that Victoria has just gone into lockdown with a very virulent variant of Covid 19 and the abysmal take up of vaccination -because the Australian people don’t feel the need to be vaccinated because they are living a normal life with the borders closed - it’s highly unlikely they will open then by Xmas!! 
 

Plus returning Australians will take priority -quite rightly - over visitors etc 

Edited May 27, 2021 by LindaH27

[MacGyver]

Mr Morrison won’t rock the boat until after the federal election. If he wins, and vaccine uptake has improved significantly by that time, he may feel inclined to take a less cautious approach and start opening up the border under pressure from elements of the business community.

If he calls an early election, borders will possibly start opening in the first quarter of 2022. If he doesn’t call an early election, then I’d expect it will be mid 2022 earliest. Both dependant on vaccination levels in Australia 

[paulhand]

The fact they are still talking about starting to build new fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities suggests to me that we are in this for the long haul. 

[Parley]

11 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

I think in reality it will open around Christmas this year, the next year thing is just a political statement to shore up support 

God. I hope not.

We need another year of closed borders at least.

[Parley]

9 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Mr Morrison won’t rock the boat until after the federal election.

That is a very cynical view.

It will all come down to how other countries are doing as well as us. Based on what is currently happening overseas it is still a long way off.

[Ausvisitor]

7 hours ago, Parley said:

God. I hope not.

We need another year of closed borders at least.

Australia's world view as an open welcoming country will be shot to pieces if this happens.

We can open up quicker if we all just get off our backsides and get vaccinated - simple solution, certainly cheaper than continuing total lockdown

[JetBlast]

33 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

We can open up quicker if we all just get off our backsides and get vaccinated - simple solution, certainly cheaper than continuing total lockdown

I am waiting for them to give me the call. According to the news my priority group won't be far away.

[Marisawright]

19 minutes ago, JetBlast said:

I am waiting for them to give me the call. According to the news my priority group won't be far away.

If you're in Australia, they don't give you a call - it's up to you to contact them.  

[LindaH27]

My daughter in Australia apparently  “registered an interest” in getting her vaccination?? 

Australia really needs to get its vaccination rates going - especially as it was told it was going to be first in the queue for vaccines ! 

The virus will get in one way or another - a lot of people especially the younger ones  don’t show any symptoms and it’s already spreading quickly in Victoria. One case in a football stadium or cricket game has the potential to infect many thousands. Even countries who also closed their borders are now finding their cases are rising quickly too - I think possibly  Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan ??  

I do understand that people in Australia don’t feel the need as they feel the border closures protect them - but they’re not 100% protection and Australia  runs the risk of the economy dive bombing and people’s livelihoods lost and the subsequent cost to the Australia tax payer of supporting those  people and businesses. 

Big business can see this quite clearly!

The world will have to learn to live with the virus - it’s not going to go away- and the only way to deal with it is probably annual vaccination like the flu jab. Many many mistakes were made at the beginning before we really understood this virus and far, far too many lives were lost. Please Australia,  get vaccinated to try and stop any more losing their lives needlessly. We worry about our families over there,  we have seen the devastation around the rest of the world  - but we’ve also seen the willingness of people to get vaccinated to fight this virus and we are turning the corner and the economies are starting to move ahead quite quickly. We are not asking you to get vaccinated simply so that we can visit, tour or migrate, it’s to protect you all and also allow those who wish to leave Australia for many different reasons to do so , because you cannot avoid the virus,  especially the Indian variant which is spreading an awful lot faster than the UK Kent variant or the South African variant. 

[Jon the Hat]

I suspect the proposal for longer term quarantine facilities will be for countries who don't get their vaccination levels up sufficiently.  So you could imagine India, Brazil etc could require quarantine for years, but someone coming from a vaccinated country who is personally vaccinated could be allowed in with a simple test only.

[Jon the Hat]

44 minutes ago, LindaH27 said:

One case in a football stadium or cricket game has the potential to infect many thousands.

That isn't how it works, one case would only infect people they spend time right next to, maybe 4-8 people.  This has been prove in test events in the UK in the past couple of weeks - 10k people in a stadium, 2k in a club, etc with very few cases.

[LindaH27]

1 minute ago, Jon the Hat said:

That isn't how it works, one case would only infect people they spend time right next to, maybe 4-8 people.  This has been prove in test events in the UK in the past couple of weeks - 10k people in a stadium, 2k in a club, etc with very few cases.

But those 4-8 people then go on to infect others and so on etc. Being vaccinated protects you and also prevents you from transmitting it. Australian govt has  traced 10,000 contacts and are testing them all. 

[Jon the Hat]

5 minutes ago, LindaH27 said:

But those 4-8 people then go on to infect others and so on etc. Being vaccinated protects you and also prevents you from transmitting it. Australian govt has  traced 10,000 contacts and are testing them all. 

So it is no different to a bloke in the street, and the football stadium analogy is irrelevant. And this is why you have track and trace.

[LindaH27]

Just now, Jon the Hat said:

So it is no different to a bloke in the street, and the football stadium analogy is irrelevant. And this is why you have track and trace.

That bloke could be like the super spreader like in Whittlesey! 

[jimmyay1]

I think this Vic outbreak ( and i hope it spreads a little more tbh - dont care what people think of me for saying so ) is the kick up the backside the lazy , complacent Australian public and useless politicians need to realise they cannot hide from this thing,  and the only way out of it is through vaccination and staged reopening, which should happen as soon as possible. 

I am normally a liberal inclined voter but the federal governments woeful handling of this pandemic - the states have done most of the work  - is jaw dropping. 

Sco mo' s recent and continued pandering to the knuckle dragging parochial thick bogan element,  to grub for votes by  talking of keeping borders shut indefinitely whilst deflecting from the abject failures and mixed messaging around the vaccine are shockingly cynical. And grossly negligent. 

Hopefully the imperative to get the vaccine into people will now come to the fore.  Thousands of lives are at stake. This is a matter of national emergency.  Lockdowns cost jobs and billions per week. 

The public have been badly served , but many , in their comfortable complacency, are almost as much to blame as the pollies.   3.5 million have died worldwide from covid and they want to go vaccine shopping? in the face of infinitesimally small risks compared with the covid which they will, without a vaccine, inevitably catch.   

Stunning ignorance - people  simply don't know what they are talking about but now are all vaccine experts and getting their medical cues from random anti vaxxers on twitter rather than the health department.   i despair sometimes. Did these people learn a single thing at school?

PS I'm already jabbed. 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by jimmyay1

[Poonam Sharma]

6 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I suspect the proposal for longer term quarantine facilities will be for countries who don't get their vaccination levels up sufficiently.  So you could imagine India, Brazil etc could require quarantine for years, but someone coming from a vaccinated country who is personally vaccinated could be allowed in with a simple test only.

India is doing its bit. We are a highly populated country , and the sheer number defeats all the efforts being put. Over 200 million have already got vaccinated and by July, the vaccines produced in our country would be around 250 million every month. Hopefully by the end of this year, we would be able to vaccinate almost the entire country.

[Ausvisitor]

8 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

So it is no different to a bloke in the street, and the football stadium analogy is irrelevant. And this is why you have track and trace.

It's not that simple.

Your example works if I stay still in the stadium.

But if I mill around outside talking to 10 people, then go in to the toilet, bit of a queue so I'm close to about 15 people before finishing their.

Go get a burger, again a bit of a queue, so 8 more in close contact.

To get to my seat in the middle of the block I need to push past 20 people

 

And so on...

If I get early and stay put then yes probably only 4-5 people, but that isnt sport stadium mixing

[nomadiccarpenter]

My worry - hopefully just out of paranoia - is that the border closures go from being a medical necessity, to simply an anti-immigration policy. Australia cannot be robust without immigration yet there are a few people in power who have a fantasy of forever border closures who need to be voted out of office. Specifically pointing to Gerard Rennick's recent comments as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald by Latika Bourke, which makes me wonder how wide-spread his thinking is. I believe reality and common sense will prevail, as it usually does. However, this will be a teaching moment that Australians need to watch their freedoms closely. I'd gladly trade my spot in line with an Australian citizen stranded overseas.

Edited May 28, 2021 by nomadiccarpenter

[rammygirl]

6 hours ago, Poonam Sharma said:

India is doing its bit. We are a highly populated country , and the sheer number defeats all the efforts being put. Over 200 million have already got vaccinated and by July, the vaccines produced in our country would be around 250 million every month. Hopefully by the end of this year, we would be able to vaccinate almost the entire country.

I agree. Just wish Australia could manage to vaccinate as efficiently. Mind you seems to be making progress at last.
Having visited India (and loved every crazy minute) I cannot imagine being there now. The shanty towns on the edges of the big cities must be scary places to be right now. It is a resilient and resourceful nation but needs help to get through this.

[JetBlast]

15 hours ago, Marisawright said:

If you're in Australia, they don't give you a call - it's up to you to contact them.  

Flow this through and they will notify you when they are ready for you. 
 

https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/eligibility

Edited May 29, 2021 by JetBlast