Vaccinated Aussies could be allowed to travel overseas next year

It’s been more than a year since Aussies were allowed to jet overseas for a holiday - but one group could soon be exempt from border restrictions.

Australians who secure two jabs of the vaccine could secure new exemptions from snap state border closures and lockdowns in an incentive plan that could provide a road map to lifting of international border bans next year.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned it’s not safe to lift international borders “right now” he’s proposing a staged relaxation of rules that may provide incentives to unlock new travel freedoms for the vaccinated.

“Now those border arrangements, it’s not one day the borders are open, one day the borders are closed,’’ the Prime Minister cautioned.

“That’s not how it works. There’s a sliding sort of scale here. And we’re working on the next steps. Now, it’s not safe to take those next steps right now. It’s not. But we’ll keep working on what those next steps are.”

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Australia is gradually vaccinating its population. Picture: Angela Weiss / AFP

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The Prime Minister said the first steps involved new travel freedoms for the fully vaccinated at home. This could mean fully vaccinated business travellers and tourists could still travel to states when they were locked down because of outbreaks.

“Those next steps are for Australians to be in a position when they’re fully vaccinated to be able to not be subject to any domestic restrictions that are put in place by state and territory governments,’’ Mr Morrison said.

However, in the future fully vaccinated Australians may also not have to go to hotel quarantine if they gain an exemption to travel overseas and could be offered the choice of quarantining at home - saving thousands of dollars.

“That they might be able to travel with different types of quarantine arrangements on their return,’’ Mr Morrison said.

“And also the step of, in a managed and safe way, starting to bring back those who we need to come into the country, whether it’s for international students or indeed for specialist occupations.

“There are some practical challenges that we are working on now and finding solutions to, and you’ll move incrementally. Not all in one day. But right now it is not safe to be flicking the switch on those.”

Mr Morrison said he was also “looking forward” to further discussions with the Singapore Government about them being the next potential country for a travel bubble.

“Now I still think that is some way off. Particularly as we’ve seen, and it’s a telling reminder, in Singapore, we are seeing lockdowns come back in, and that has been one of the more successful countries, like Australia,’’ he said.

“In Taiwan, I’d argue, probably the most successful country in the world, is now going through a challenging period and seeing restrictions come back in. That’s why in the Budget we talk about securing Australia’s recovery, because we understand you cannot take it for granted. We will be doing it cautiously, we will be working closely with states and territories on innovative ways to keep the borders safe.”

Police at Sydney Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also proposed the option of a phased start to relaxing international borders when 80 per cent of Australia is fully vaccinated - a target that will require 10 million doses to be administered in NSW alone. Currently the state has administered just one million doses.

But she’s also raised concerns that future supplies of vaccines are not completely locked in, urging anyone who can get vaccinated now to do so.

There are expectations that Australians will require regular booster shots, which is one of the reasons why the Morrison Government has signed a new deal with the Moderna vaccine manufacturers and is pursuing options to make the vaccine in Australia.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt yesterday said the vaccine exemptions could soon be in place for state outbreaks.

“Where there are outbreaks or issues regarding state borders, there is the potential for those who have been fully vaccinated to be exempt from some of those restrictions,” Mr Hunt said.

The health minister said the government would soon release a “road map” so Australians could have something to look forward to.

“It’s about progressive opening and I think that’s very important for hope and understanding in Australia,” he said.

“And that’s based on evidence and the science.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under pressure to establish a reopening timeline. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Australia slammed its international border shut on March 20 last year as coronavirus cases skyrocketed around the world.

Since then, any Australians returning home have gone into government-mandated quarantine for two weeks.

Pressure is mounting on the federal government to speed up its reopening timeline after last week’s federal budget revealed the international border would likely stay shut until mid-2022.

Speaking in Perth last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was working through a “plan” for vaccinated Australians - however it would be restricted to “essential” travel to begin with.

“What I’m working on right now, is that where an Australian is vaccinated under our program, when they will be able to travel overseas,” he said.

“I would think in the initial stages, particularly for essential purposes, business, things like that, medical reasons, friends and family, important events, funerals, so on.

“That could be done and return to Australia without the need for a hotel quarantine of 14-days and to be able to do that either at home or under some other less stringent environment than you have with hotel quarantine.

“Now that would require being vaccinated and I think that would be an important incentive for people to do that.”

But despite that optimistic rhetoric, the federal budget warned this week that the borders will remain largely closed until mid 2022.

“Inbound and outbound international travel is expected to remain low through to mid-2022, after which gradual recovery in international tourism is assumed to occur,” the budget papers read.

More than three million doses of vaccine have been given to Australians and the nation administered more than 436,000 jabs just last week.