Catch up on SBS On Demand. Treasury is assuming Australia's borders will reopen in January, but don't book your international flights just yet Herd Immunity makes it hard for infectious disease to spread Source: AAP Treasury modelling released on Thursday is based on Australia’s international borders reopening from January. Travel to Australia is only available if you are exempt or you have been granted an individual exemption. People are still really worried and while it's like that, people are going to want to keep the borders closed. How will that affect stranded citizens and permanent residents? JANE HALTON: So in the US we're seeing a significant reduction in infection numbers. Opinion. In New Jersey they're offering free beer for a vaccine. That has exasperated the caution about vaccines here with negative stories about global outbreaks outweighing the stories about the huge positive impact that vaccines have had in countries that have been doing badly until now. WAYNE SWAN: And in short, you don't feel the bullets you dodge and of course, we dodged a huge bullet. She thinks the quarantine system also needs to change as the risk factors of the virus change. Australia closed its international borders in March 2020, mostly to non-citizens and permanent residents, helping keep its COVID-19 numbers relatively low at … It’s clear the Government won’t be reopening international borders until they feel the health risk is reduced and it’s safe to do so. Here's how you can help those affected by the conflict, Government's NDIS independent assessments approach overwhelmingly slammed in parliamentary submissions. However, Australia shows no signs of opening its international borders. Australia is slashing international arrivals by half. "I would welcome if by Christmas it were possible, but I think it’s unlikely that we [will be] able to move back to a restriction-free society [by then]," he said. Temporary visa holders have been unable to enter the country since foreign nationals were barred by the nation's international travel ban implemented on 20 March. LAURA TINGLE: Two state election results, as well as opinion polls, show Australians have liked feeling safe as the pandemic has spread around the world and they don't want the borders reopened. Simon Birmingham said the decision to shut the border was one of the main reasons for Australia's success in suppressing Covid-19 and it would not be lifted for general travel any time soon. The truth is our borders aren't completely shut. Mauritius to Reopen Borders in Three Phases The prime minister of Mauritius has announced a three-phase reopening of the country’s borders for international travel. … Deloitte economist Chris Richardson has estimated the steep fall in migration could strip as much as $50 billion from national income this year and next. The tourism industry is giving up hope of a pre-Christmas revival, asking the government to extend JobKeeper until international borders reopen and expand the … As state borders re-open, we need a plan to re-open Australia to the world. “Future migration levels remain highly uncertain, due to the path of the pandemic and the nature and duration of measures taken to contain its spread at home and abroad,” its economic outlook says. However this doesn’t mean you should start planning travel in or out of Australia just yet. Home Affairs Minister reveals how government is preparing to reopen international border I think that's the wrong framing of the question. JANE HALTON: So we need our quarantine system not just to keep up with the virus but preferably to be in front of where the virus is. SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER: This is the plan for a COVID-safe Australia; three steps. SCOTT MORRISON (May 2020): We need to restart our economy, we need to restart our society. Scott Morrison has warned it is “not safe” for Australia to turn the switch on its international border closure. This is a situation I think Australia might find itself in going forward. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told SBS News the hit to migration has certainly had an impact on the nation's bottom line. Updated 23/07/2020 The real question is how long do we maintain COVID zero? LAURA TINGLE, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The great lament of Labor when it was last in office was that few voters gave it credit for saving Australia from the global financial crisis because of the very success of its measures in staving off its worst effects. The border reopening is a key assumption underpinning figures in the federal government’s economic update, released on Thursday, which revealed the nation is facing its worst budget deficit since World War II. So if you're coming from a high-risk country, then the rules are very much like Australia but countries with very little disease, you can come straight in to Singapore with only a test. It said net overseas migration is being significantly affected by international travel restrictions and constraints on the ability of applicants to meet visa application requirements. Business leaders and some medical experts point out that when that happens, Australia will not stay at zero community transmission and with that will come illness, and undoubtedly some death. Can we get a vaccine, can we get it out fast enough or the medication that helps us fight off the virus.". All foreign travelers were banned from entering Australia since 20 th March 2020. I think it is a proof of the pudding situation. Jane Halton, a former head of the Department of Health, was tasked last year with reviewing the hotel quarantine system. So I think it will be a different world. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg addresses the media during a federal budget update. We will continue to need hotels and we're in the ACT where home quarantine has been run very effectively right since the beginning of the pandemic. LAURA TINGLE: Professor Dale Fisher has been closely involved with the public health response in Singapore where rapid testing and social distancing have helped stem the rapid spread of COVID through the city's migrant worker dorms. Nearly eight months after the Australian Government closed its international borders to non-Australian citizens and residents to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Minister Tudge today indicated that the country is working towards getting the borders reopened “slowly, but safely." Australia’s net migration intake is expected to fall 85 per cent this financial year as the full impact of the international travel ban is felt. “We’re all beneficiaries of Australia’s strong multicultural diverse environments and long may that continue.”. (Montage of news reports about the financial crash of 2008). Deloitte's Chris Richardson says the hit to migration is putting a hole in the economy. As per the Australian Treasury estimates, released in the Budget 2020-21, it is estimated that Australia’s international borders could reopen in later parts of 2021. We're seeing a fantastic improvement in the number of people being admitted to hospital and, of course, a significant reduction in the number of people who have died. This isn't, to use the term, binary. LAURA TINGLE: Countries that were until recently doing about as well as Australia, such as Thailand and Taiwan, are now experiencing significant waves of infection. The border has been closed to non-residents for more than one year, with strict limits in place for returning Australians which has resulted in tens of thousands stuck abroad. JANE HALTON, GOVERNMENT HEALTH ADVISOR: I worry people think that we can just continue our lives like this, that there is no risk that we will have an outbreak and I really worry that is delaying people going and getting what are safe vaccines. But some countries are starting to crack their borders open. He said borders need to remain closed right now for health reasons, but when the health risk passes, Australia should return to a “strong migration intake”. So we know that 32 per cent of people won't get severe disease. “It’s sadly very unlikely that our health crisis is likely to facilitate an opening to international travel this year,” he was … Treasury has predicted these numbers will fall from 232,000 in 2018-19 to 154,000 in 2019-20 and 31,000 in 2020-21. So same-sex marriage, climate change but on this one I think the political leaders are going to have to lead and they're going to have to probably just do it in bite-size pieces. Sep 08, 2020 4:19am. How does Australia reopen international borders safely. The EU is allowing travelers in from 14 countries from this week. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the border closure has protected the island nation from the severity of the pandemic seen in other countries. “We would like to see migration levels come back … but obviously that has to be based on the medical advice,” he said. Australia is spending $600 million on a new gas plant, The Trump Organisation is now being investigated in a 'criminal capacity' in New York probe, A record number of Australians have received their COVID jabs over the past 24 hours, 93 per cent of international students suffering poor mental health due to no on-campus study, survey finds, This Palestinian family is facing eviction after 65 years in their Jerusalem home, A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. We're seeing the Indian mutation at the moment which is much more infectious. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. We can't keep Australia under the doona. LAURA TINGLE: But the argument in both medical and economic circles is that vaccination rates aren't the only thing that need to start changing. I worry that in winter we could have another outbreak. Australia is unlikely to reopen its international borders until 2021, according to Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham. “That's a hole in the Australian economy,” he told SBS News. Australia’s borders are currently closed and entry to Australia remains strictly controlled to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. So I think we have learned to do a lot. DALE FISHER: There's several systems in place in Singapore to make the borders a little looser, if you like, a traffic light system. Reopening borders to temporary and permanent migrants will provide a boost to Australia’s economy so it’s understandable that the Treasury will look to plan for this as early as they can. Now people might go shock horror over this. Let's try some people who have got family overseas, let's try those first. Though the national immunisation drive missed its initial dosage targets, officials have ramped up the vaccination programme administering one million doses in the last 17 days. How do we maintain COVID zero while still allowing Australia to open up more and more? JANE HALTON: Well, my hope is that our population is vaccinated to the extent of 70 or 80 per cent and if we speed up our rollout we could get there earlier. BRENDAN CRABB, BURNET INSTITUTE: At the moment, the big debate seems to be how long are we Fortress Australia versus an Open Australia. So for example Howard Springs, fantastic service and it's good that it's scaling up but we probably can and probably will need more of that kind of quarantine. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Australia will be reopening its international borders for tourism anytime in the near future, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other government officials have announced multiple times. Australia went in early and went in hard when it came to border closures. The Hon Peter Dutton MP “You need to set a sensible date for modelling - the start of next year is as sensible as anything else - but it remains to be seen,” he said. Let's try some overseas students who are fully vaccinated. You've got AstraZeneca and blood clots, you've got just this vagueness around the efficacy of it. During a media briefing today, Morrison suggested that reopening Australia and Australians to international travel was shaping up to be a 2021 proposition. TONY MITCHELMORE: Sometimes the public and voters are well out ahead of politicians. "Everything now depends not just on the virus, but also on a defence against it. SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. Travel restrictions are subject to change in response to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19. These are Treasury's forecasts and as you can understand, it's a very dynamic environment.". news.com.au has all the latest changes and updates to Australian border laws. “In terms of the borders, the assumptions are that it very gradually starts to come back that the quarantine is applied, that you start bringing in some international students – that is work that we have been undertaking," he said. Business leaders and some medical experts point out that when that happens, Australia will not stay at … Australia was no exception. LAURA TINGLE: Overcoming vaccine hesitancy and COVID complacency will require both a change in messages and probably some small steps to give a nervous community greater confidence. People feel safe and secure, so they're not running out to get it at the moment. The federal government has recorded a deficit of $85.8 billion in 2019-20, which is projected to blow out to $184.5 billion in 2020-2021 as a result of record spending. Follow SBS News to join in the conversation and never miss the latest live updates. Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia chief executive Peter Strong said support for full reopening plans was building. By Jonah Waterhouse. Debate has raged about when Australia's borders will open. With the Western Australian government reopening it's borders, make sure you're in the know with who's eligable and what to expect. LAURA TINGLE: Political messaging is important, of course, and we have seen different messages over the past year about staying closed and opening up. Simpson Desert, Northern Territory (iStock.com/TonyFeder) Meanwhile, it is expected that Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner will name 20 July as the territory’s domestic border reopening date, off the back of Queensland and South Australia’s announcements. Debate has raged about when Australia's borders will open. deficit of $85.8 billion in 2019-20, which is projected to blow out to $184.5 billion in 2020-2021 as a result of record spending. (AAP). On top of the so-called vaccine hesitancy associated with stories about blood clots. TONY MITCHELMORE: More than anything what has to change is belief and the imperative around the vaccine. Please select the editions you would like to sign up to. JANE HALTON: I think that's one of the problems we've got. South Korea was the site of an outbreak early on in the pandemic, with its citizens seeing international borders including Australia's shut to them over fears of COVID-19. DALE FISHER, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, SINGAPORE: The Changi Airport cluster is the largest cluster obviously. Treasury assumes the travel ban will be lifted on 1 January allowing the resumption of arrivals by temporary and permanent migrants, providing a much-needed economic boost. There are people coming in and going out - not very many. "I do sadly think that in terms of open tourist-related travel in or out of Australia, that remains quite some distance off," Senator Birmingham told the National Press Club. We also I think need to anticipate where people are widely vaccinated and where there's different levels of risk. In Australia, wrote the researchers, “border control” collects … Download our free app on the App Store or Google Play for the latest headlines and breaking news alerts. Senior Australian Government officials are saying they don’t expect Australia’s international borders to re-open until the end of 2021. TONY MITCHELMORE, VISIBILITY: Well, it's not universal but the figures in Newspoll said 73 per cent of people don't and certainly that reflects what we see with voters and swinging voters in focus groups. We won't know where this virus will have gone in terms of mutation. So decisions haven’t been taken about start dates for that. It's not seen as a silver bullet to people. While New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), have remained open to domestic travel since Australia’s international borders were closed in … Australian airport operators are calling for a phased reopening of international borders to kick-start the pandemic-stricken aviation sector. So we don't know what the virus will be doing but if we are protected it gives us a much stronger position to think about our borders, to think about our economy and also, to think about being able to welcome again students, some of the workers we need in our economy as well. It's not off or on. But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has downplayed the predictions saying no decision on when Australia’s travel ban will be lifted has been made. Zoom is no substitute for human contact. Treasurer announces $184.5 billion deficit forecast, the largest since World War II, Australia's temporary visa holders remain locked out of JobKeeper and JobSeeker. Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox. And now the Morrison Government, and for that matter state governments, face a similar problem. Treasury modelling released on Thursday is based on Australia’s international borders reopening from January. There’s bad news if you are contemplating a trip to or out of Australia over the next twelve months. Current COVID situation in Australia The Australian Government announced changes to international travel restrictions with quarantine-free travel possible from New Zealand to New South Wales and the Northern Territory from Friday 16 October 2020. A third Australian has died in India after contracting coronavirus, Penny Wong says Scott Morrison's 'frenzied' approach to China is sabotaging the relationship, A landmark report called for an end to fossil fuel projects. You know, it needs things like that to get people moving on it. With Australia and much of the world currently in various levels of lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, society's dependence on air travel has been placed on an indefinite hiatus. ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QUEENSLAND PREMIER: These border wars have got to stop. So there have to be benefits from being vaccinated and if unrestricted travel in Australia is the first part of what we can get from being vaccinated, that's fantastic. When you can expect our state and international borders to reopen. You can do the quarantine at home, but you will be wearing a bracelet. TONY MITCHELMORE: There needs to be a few carrots to drive that demand for it. Then there's the middle people, the quarantine is for a week only. As chief political correspondent Laura Tingle points out, the calculation is made more complicated with a new survey showing a third of Australians plan to refuse a vaccine. Once you get up to those vaccination levels, what will be your risk assessment? They would have gone shock horror a year ago over mandated masks and lockdowns. So that means we have contact with the outside world. Australia’s borders are anticipated to reopen to international travellers from January next year with arrivals forced to undertake two-week quarantine periods, according to Treasury modelling. news.com.au - Jade Gailberger • 5h. We love feedback: help us improve by rating the app and sharing your suggestions at apps@sbs.com.au. Ahead of travel it's important to check state border status. SCOTT MORRISON (June 2020): There will be outbreaks, there will be hotspots and you can't just shut Australia up every time there's an outbreak. Bad news for Australia’s international border reopening date. Treasury figures show temporary visa holders are being disproportionately hurt by coronavirus lay-offs. The very success in largely keeping COVID out of Australia has helped breed what health experts, economists and political analysts say is a dangerous complacency about both vaccination and closed borders. How to reopen Australia's international borders. Herd Immunity makes it hard for infectious disease to spread Source: AAP. Education Minister Dan Tehan: Listen to … That timeline ties in with current advice concerning the development and availability of any COVID-19 vaccine. That's a huge achievement. “Come the end of 2021, there will probably be a quarter of a million fewer people in Australia than we've been expecting before the virus.”. LAURA TINGLE: There has been a shift in the message from politicians in the past week. DALE FISHER: In Singapore at the moment, we have got about 32 per cent of the country vaccinated. Australian PM Morrison stands firm on border closure due to Covid-19, as industries plea for reopening May 18, 2021 SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday (May 18) said it was still not safe to allow residents fully vaccinated for Covid-19 to travel overseas, as industries hit hard by the pandemic press for a faster reopening of international borders.