Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dropped a big hint that Australia would soon open its international borders, saying it was not “far away”.
Mr Morrison said Australia was preparing to open back up to the world, having in recent months lifted restrictions on skilled migrants, backpackers and students.
“As many of our states are now moving through and past their peaks, the key issue that we have been examining – and I’ve asked for advice from our health officials – is how that decision could impact on our hospitals, which has been our primary consideration,” Mr Morrison said in Sydney on Sunday.
“The previous opening up of the borders has gone very well.
“And we are looking forward to be able to make that decision to open up our borders and welcome visitors back to Australia again, as soon as we safely and possibly can.
He suggested that the easing of travel restrictions might not be far off, noting: “I really do not believe that is far away.”
It came as Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews on Sunday said that the opening of international borders was “close”.
Ms Andrews appeared on ABC’s program on Sunday after embattled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce pulled out.
She was quizzed about the international border ahead of a national security committee meeting, where a reopening date is expected to be mapped out.
Ms Andrews said she has been working with Mr Morrison to ensure the country could open its international borders as “soon as it is safe to do so”.
The Minister said the pair did not have “all of the information” needed to make the decision, but added “we are very close”.
“We have been speaking with health professionals, we are getting ready to open as soon as we can,” she said.
Ms Andrews said reopening the border to international tourist was a top priority.
However, she said Australia was not at a point of being safe enough to open.
“We went through a process and we are delivering exactly on the process we said we would undertake,” Ms Andrews said.
“We opened for families, we opened various pathways including from Singapore, Japan, South Korea.
“We’ve opened to economic cohorts, we’ve opened to international students, the next phase is to open for tourists.”
Ms Andrews said the decision was up to health professionals.
As soon as they give the green light, Ms Andrews and Mr Morrison will “work with the states and territories” to open the international borders to tourists.
Following on from the Novak Djokovic scandal where he was ultimately booted from Australia due to his vaccination status, Ms Andrews said it was possible tourists would be turned away if they were not vaccinated.
“When people come to Australia, they have to have a valid visa, but they also need to meet the entry requirements to come into the country,” she said.
“At this point in time, to be able to enter Australia if you are a non-Australian, you need to have a valid visa and you need to be able to demonstrate that you are fully vaccinated or you have acceptable medical evidence to say that you cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.”
After two years of Australia being essentially cut off from the rest of the world with closed borders, Ms Andrews could not give a definitive answer on whether the borders would remain open.
She said she was “very keen” to have opened the borders to economic cohorts and international students on December 1.
“We were hit with Omicron which meant we had to pause so I’m not going to sit here and say absolutely guarantee, because we don’t know what might be coming our way,” she said.
“No government does. No country does. We are prepared to deal with what comes our way, and hopefully once the borders are open, they remain open.”
Mr Joyce was scheduled to appear on the ABC program but bailed on Saturday after he confessed to calling Mr Morrison a “hypocrite and a liar” in leaked text messages.
The messages – sent in March last year – came when he was still a backbencher, before he overthrew Michael McCormack and returned to the National Party leadership.
Mr Joyce has admitted it was “common knowledge that in the past the Prime Minister and I had not always seen eye-to-eye” but said his relationship with Mr Morrison had improved since he returned to the role of Deputy Prime Minister.
