Aussies want borders open despite Covid-19 case threat

Australians want an end to interstate travel bans and say they would back the use of vaccine passports in order to travel.

Most Australians want state borders thrown open during the pandemic despite the threat of Covid-19 infections, with vaccination the key to freedom.

As closed borders cause business chaos and leave families fractured, a sweeping new survey of Australians’ attitudes towards Covid-19 lockdowns shows overwhelming support to end interstate travel bans.

Only 8 per cent of people want permanent border closures once everyone has had a chance to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Nearly two-thirds back border blocks against the unvaccinated, with only those who roll up their sleeves for a Covid-19 jab allowed to travel interstate.

However, 30 per cent of Australians want borders reopened for everyone to travel interstate, even without a vaccination.

The exclusive YouGov poll of 3114 Australians shows strong public support for French-style “vaccine passports’’.

Two out of three Australians believe evidence of Covid-19 immunisation should be required to access sporting venues, cinemas, museums, nightclubs and festivals.

Young Australians are less keen on pandemic passports, with only 58 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds wanting them, compared to 68 per cent of over-50s.

Australians have shown strong support for vaccine passports. Picture: iStock

Support is high in Victoria and NSW, where residents have endured months of lockdowns after Covid-19 outbreaks, as well as in Tasmania, and lowest in Queensland, which has been relatively free of the virus.

Nearly half of Australians want fully vaccinated people exempted from future lockdowns, and nearly a third think people should be paid as an incentive to get the jab.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday a national plan to reopen Australia once 70 to 80 per cent of adults are vaccinated “is essential and it’s safe’’.

“I get that it’s a bit of a scary step, but we can’t live in fear of this thing,’’ Mr Morrison said.

“We’ve got to live with it.’’

Declaring that “shutting everything down … does more harm than good’’, he said the best incentive for Australians to get vaccinated is to let them travel.

“Families will be able to be reunited, businesses will be able to get the workers they need,’’ he said.

“The economy will be able to move forward.’’

Nine out of 10 Australians support overseas travel once everyone has had a chance to be vaccinated, the YouGov survey shows.

But two-thirds believe that only the vaccinated should be allowed to travel internationally.

Long vaccination lines at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley

Public pressure to reopen “Fortress Australia’’ comes as a new study shows a generation of young Australians is being left “scarred’’ by lockdowns.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) study of 5000 20-year-old “Gen Zs” found that 28 per cent had to move back home with their parents in 2020, while 5 per cent had put university study on hold, and one-third had lost some work.

Alarmingly, one in four 20-year-olds were likely to have a serious mental illness in 2020.

They were three times more likely to have a serious mental health illness during the pandemic than Australians who were aged 20 in 2014.

NCVER managing director Simon Walker warned that significant disruptions to young people’s working lives “can have a scarring effect’’.

“Job losses and financial hardship hit casual workers hardest and the longer they are out of meaningful work, the more likely their happiness and mental health will suffer,’’ he said.

The YouGov survey, conducted exclusively for News Corp Australia, shows that two out of three Australians view vaccination as the pathway to ending lockdowns and getting life “back to normal’’.

But 22 per cent want lockdowns to continue until the virus is “completely eliminated’’.

They are at loggerheads with the 14 per cent who want lockdowns lifted immediately, despite the risks of Covid-19.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott called for borders to reopen to protect jobs.

“The longer we stay a fortress country, the shallower and longer our recovery will be,’’ she said.

Originally published as Aussies want borders open despite Covid-19 case threat