Come one, come all! Vic residents can enter SA from December 1

South Australia’s hard border arrangement with Victoria will be no longer. The state will reopen as of midnight on December 1

SA will remove its hard border with Victoria next month. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

All Victorian residents will soon be able to enter South Australia as the state’s border restrictions end on December 1.

The rule change means any resident from the state can enter, abolishing previous restrictions where only people who had been granted an exemption were allowed to enter and quarantine in a hotel.

It comes after news from the National Cabinet meeting where all states — except for Western Australia — pledged to reopen their borders by Christmas.

Premier Steven Marshall made the announcement after the state’s Transition Committee meeting which was held on Friday morning.

Premier Steven Marshall announced the state will remove its hard border with Victoria as of December 1. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

He said Victorians would not need to self-isolate or quarantine upon arrival, as of midnight on December 1, as long as there were no mystery COVID-19 cases.

Victoria has gone two weeks without recording a new coronavirus case.

“This will be a huge relief to people as we head into December,” Mr Marshall said.

“We’ve always said we don’t want to keep restrictions in place for one day longer than they need to be … but it has been our first line of defence which has kept us safe and strong.

“We will always need to be vigilant until a vaccine is discovered, developed (and) deployed but we’re in a significantly better situation and we know we have to get as many people back to work as possible.

“There are perverse health outcomes when you have restitutions in place and you have to get the balance right.”

The border between SA and Victoria has been closed for more than four months.

Western Australia will also open its border to South Australia on Saturday.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the changes to the border initially won’t impact SA Police’s current arrangements and checkpoints will remain in place.

“We still need to provide reassurance that people entering SA have not been overseas in the past 14 days or have COVID-19 symptoms,” he said.

Mr Marshall also said the safe check-in technology, or QR codes, will be available around November 20 which was “crucial” for authorities to allow standing alcohol consumption.

“We’re hopeful around the 20th we’ll be able to deploy that technology and that technology will enable stand up consumption and I know a lot of people are really looking forward to that.

“It’s important we roll out this technology in a way that's understood by venues. It won't just apply to licensed venues but other high risk activities in SA.”

More to come.