- Exclusive
- Politics
- Federal
- Coronavirus pandemic
This was published 3 years ago
Travel bubble with Singapore delayed until end of 2021: Tehan
Australia’s travel bubble with Singapore that was to have started in the next few weeks will now not begin until the end of 2021, as the national rollout of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine program lags and Sydney grapples with a worsening outbreak of the disease.
Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan will leave on Sunday for a two-week mission that will take him to Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and the United States. A planned stop in Indonesia – which has been hit by a huge surge in cases and deaths – has been put on hold by mutual agreement.
Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan in his office at Parliament House in Canberra, before departing Australia on Sunday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Ahead of this departure, Mr Tehan told The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald that the plan for a Singapore-Australia travel bubble by July or August – revealed in March – remained a priority but had, by necessity, been delayed.
A travel bubble would have allowed citizens from both countries to travel freely between the two nations without strict quarantine requirements.
At the same time, South Australia is set to start a trial of 14-day home quarantine for Australians who have been fully vaccinated in Australia and who are returning from low-risk countries.
Down the track, the home quarantine period could be reduced to seven days and people vaccinated overseas with Australian-approved vaccines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – could be allowed to quarantine at home.
Mr Tehan suggested that when Australians are eventually able to freely leave the country once again, vaccine passports will be a reality for years to come.
“When it comes to when we were looking at a bubble, it has been put back due to the third wave of the virus,” he said.
“This is something that we want to continue to progress and it’ll be part of discussions, so that when the time comes and we can get the medical experts to tick off on it, Singapore still remains a potential next step when it comes to future travel bubbles.
“It’s very difficult to put a time frame on it but when you look at the plan that Singapore have put in place and you put it alongside the plan that the Prime Minister has announced, the hope might be towards the end of the year that you could look at a travel bubble with Singapore.”
The Morrison government is now targeting the end of 2021 for a Singapore-Australia travel bubble.
As national governments and international bodies such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) work through how to safely ramp up international travel, Mr Tehan was reluctant to put an exact length of time on how long vaccine passports would be needed for international travel.
“If we are able to open up next year, you would expect that you’re probably looking at 12 months or two years where this is going to be part of what you’re doing, it could be like the little yellow booklet for yellow fever”.
“This is where I think we can do some really ground-breaking work with Singapore, to make sure you’re getting that inter-operability to start with and then make sure that it is consistent with within what you’re trying to do globally.”
The Singaporean government announced a detailed road map in June to effectively allow the city-state to live with the virus. Over time, the reporting of cases will shift from total numbers to people in intensive care – much like the flu – lockdowns will end and international travel will resume, quarantine-free.
More than 35 per cent of Singaporeans are fully vaccinated compared to just over 10 per cent in Australia, while more than 60 per cent of people have had their first jab, compared to just over 30 per cent in Australia.
The Morrison government subsequently outlined a four stage plan to end lockdowns and begin re-opening Australia to the world, subject to sufficiently widespread vaccination.
Growing and strengthening Australia’s trade relationships in the region – at a time when China has hit Australian exports of barley, beef, wine and other exports with punitive measures – will also be a key focus of the trip.
“The US is second, Japan is third, South Korea is fourth, Singapore is sixth, and Vietnam 13th in terms of destinations for our exports. These are key trade economies for us,” Mr Tehan said.
“They’re also keys when it comes to a free and open Indo-Pacific. They’re the key countries for us to engage in, making sure that we can pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific at this time of geo-strategic complexity in the Indo-Pacific, and obviously strategic competition between the US and China.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.