“Of course it is our priority to bring Australians home,” Tehan told Sky News Australia on Monday. “But in my opinion we can start letting in everyone else – including international tourists – before Christmas.”
The prerequisite, however, is that at least 80 percent of the population over the age of 16 has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. By the weekend, about 68 percent of the adult population in Australia had double protection. Almost 85 percent had received a first dose of vaccine.
Last week, the regional premiere of the state of New South Wales with the metropolis of Sydney announced that it would reopen the region’s international borders from November 1st. The 14-day hotel quarantine will then no longer apply to those who have been completely vaccinated, said Dominic Perrottet. In New South Wales, more than 80 percent of the population have already been vaccinated twice.
However, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison specified a few hours later that the new rules would initially only apply to Australian citizens and people residing in Australia. The country will be opened up gradually.
The authorities had closed the borders around a year and a half ago and largely cut off Australia from the rest of the world. Since then, many Australians have not been able to travel home because the costs for flights and quarantine were extremely high and permits were difficult to come by. Conversely, the approximately 25 million inhabitants of Australia are largely stuck in the country.