Qantas says thousands of Aussies back its petition to open state borders
Qantas says thousands are backing its position to call for an end to state border closures to regions with little to no cases of COVID-19.
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Qantas says thousands of Australians have backed its petition calling for an end to border closures between states with few or no cases of coronavirus.
The country’s major airline has confirmed 58,000 people have signed its petition to reopen borders between regions where there is minimal community transmission of COVID-19.
Qantas aims to have 60,000 people sign its Safely Open Our Borders petition, which may put public pressure on state governments to relax hard border closures.
Western Australia and Tasmania’s borders remain completely closed to the rest of the country, while South Australia and Queensland are shut to New South Wales and Victoria.
Queensland’s border with NSW remains closed despite only one new locally-acquired case in Sydney on Monday. The northern state also recorded one new case of COVID-19 in the past 24-hours.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says nobody has an issue with the Victorian or international borders remaining closed, however there is a lack of guidelines around what will prompt states and territories to reopen.
“We have a situation where there are large numbers of states and territories that have had zero cases and they’re not even open to each other,” he said.
“We’ve got closure there still with very low cases, no cases and it’s been like that for a while and we don’t have any determination of when the borders will open.”
Qantas says there have been numerous instances it is aware of where doctors have been unable to see patients, family members unable to visit terminally ill relatives or FIFO workers not being able to return home.
Mr Joyce added the economy depended on the reopening of the domestic tourism market, with some states such as Tasmania and Queensland having nearly 30 per cent of jobs reliant on travellers spending money.
Qantas and the entire Australian aviation industry has been one of the hardest hit from the ongoing lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with flight numbers falling by more than 95 per cent compared to the prior year.
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have been forced to axe more than 12,000 jobs due to the virus-induced recession.
“We need to have the framework for what will allow them to open to give certainty to the tourism industry, to our company, to our employees,” Mr Joyce said.
“Eventually at some stage, we know that we have to start that tourism industry again - the economy is depending on it.”
Qantas said internal state travel during border lockdowns had increased, with Perth flights to Broome and Karratha being two of the top performing routes across the company.
Brisbane flights to Cairns, Townsville and Hamilton Island have also been popular destinations for Queenslanders who are unable to cross state borders.
The airline has also increased the number of flights between Canberra and Brisbane, and also Adelaide and Brisbane.
Originally published as Qantas says thousands of Aussies back its petition to open state borders