Western Australia plans to keep border closed until April 2021

Details buried within the federal budget apparently reveal a quiet plot to keep one Australian state’s borders closed for six more months.

If you’re hoping to spend a summer cruising along the coastline from Perth to the Margaret River, you might want to put that dream on ice until, well, April 2021.

The West Australian has claimed the state’s controversial hard border closure will remain in place for six more months.

According to the publication, figures within Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s newly-announced Federal Budget show an assumption that WA’s borders will be closed until April 1 – after the state’s March 13 election.

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Earlier this week, WA’s tourism Minister Paul Papalia raised eyebrows when he claimed the state was already full of local tourists and that it could not fit any more from other states.

However, Premier Mark McGowan has claimed a reopening date has not yet been decided, instead claiming the government “will continue to monitor the situation.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan may not open his state until April 2021. Picture Trevor Collens

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will not budge on the 28 days of no community transmission target for NSW. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images.

Last week, a leading epidemiologist from the University of NSW slammed Western Australia’s threshold for lifting the state’s hard border of 28 days without community transmission as “unreasonably stringent”.

Following the announcement by the state’s Chief Health Officer on the transmission target, Prof McLaws argued there are better targets to meet and that the 28-days is a difficult milestone to meet.

“I am a very cautious outbreak epidemiologist, and I think that the 28 days is beyond caution,” Prof McLaws told the ABC of the state’s border lifting target.

“It’s admirable, but it’s looking for total eradication, or close to [it]. And I don’t that think we can get to that.”

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A more realistic target, Prof McLaws advised, could be a two-week rolling average in all jurisdictions of fewer than five cases.

Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reiterated that her state will not open to NSW until at least November 1, providing her southern neighbours can go 28 days without a community transmission case.

South Australia opened their borders to ACT and NSW last month, and have announced further easing of the border buffer zone into Victoria. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

When questioned on ABC Breakfast, Ms Palaszczuk said they would not budge on the target.

“The 28 days is nothing new,” she said on Wednesday.

“This was actually the advice that, my understanding is, that the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) had given the Federal Government. And it was not followed through by National Cabinet. It never came to National Cabinet. So I’m not being inconsistent with what all of the health officers actually agreed on.”

NSW has gone 11 days with no local cases of coronavirus however testing rates have dropped off steeply.

“I look forward to the day when there is no community transmission across Australia and everyone can open and move freely once again,” Ms Palaszczuk added.

South Australia’s Premier Steven Marshall has continued to reopen his state, by confirming that the buffer zone into Victoria would be extended from 40km to 70km from midnight tonight.

Airline bosses say the ongoing border closures are destroying the industry. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Mr Marshall said South Australians had been taking advantage of eased restrictions – including standing up outside at bars – and the state was in a good position to relax other rules.

“The first of those is to change the buffer zone on the South Australian-Victoria border from 40 kilometres to 70 kilometres,” he said.

“This will come into effect as of midnight tomorrow night, so for those people who are coming in from Thursday morning onwards.”

Mr Marshall said it would “provide huge relief” to people within the 40km – 70km area.

Travellers from other states, including NSW, are also permitted to come into South Australia via Mildura, as long as they are in Victoria only in transit.

The change avoids the lengthy drive through Broken Hill.

“A lot of people have made the very common sense suggestion that we provide this relief and it has been taken up by the transition committee,” Mr Marshall said.

– with Natalie Wolfe