Long wait over as Mark McGowan announces Western Australia can rejoin Australia

After 616 days, Mark McGowan says Western Australia is ready to abandon travel restrictions.

Mark McGowan says ‘we have to move on, we can’t stay in our position on international and interstate borders forever’. Picture: Jackson Flindell

Western Australia will rejoin the rest of the country on February 5, when the state finally abolishes the border restrictions that have kept families and friends separated for almost two years.

Some 616 days after he first brought in border controls to combat the spread of the virus, WA Premier Mark McGowan on Monday said the state was ready to permanently abandon the travel restrictions that have succeeded in keeping Covid out of the state for almost the entirety of the pandemic.

The announcement, which came on the same day Queensland formally dismantled its own border controls and the federal government announced the looming resumption of international student arrivals, will still leave WA as the only state not fully open to interstate travel in time for Christmas but will provide the certainty families, businesses and tourism operators have been calling for.

“We have to move on, we can’t stay in our position on international and interstate borders forever,” Mr McGowan said. “We’re just going to transition on our terms, with high vaccination levels and the right measures in place.”

WA broke from the nationally agreed plan to dismantle borders at an 80 per cent over-16s vaccination rate by waiting until it reached 80 per cent of over-12s before it set a date. The vaccination rate among over 12s should be about 90 per cent when the border restrictions finally lift.

Scott Morrison said the border change would be welcome news for thousands of West Australians who were looking forward to reuniting with family and friends.

“The people of WA have kept up their end of the deal to get vaccinated and governments are upholding their end by uniting the country again,” the Prime Minister said. “Covid has meant missing so many special moments from births to weddings and funerals. Our national plan is bringing people together again.”

WA has ruled out broadscale lockdowns beyond February 5, and has avoided reintroducing any capacity restrictions. Proof of vaccination will be required for entering the state or attending large-scale events, while those arriving from interstate will need to be tested both before and after landing in WA.

Despite ongoing uncertainty around the new Omicron variant, Mr McGowan said the February 5 date would not change and said WA had the contact-tracing teams and additional hospital bed capacity it needed to cope with the arrival of the virus.

He said WA was the “envy of the world” and would learn from how the reopening of other states fared in the coming months.

“One of the advantages of transitioning after Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania is we can watch and see what happens and what measures work and are appropriate,” he said.

The federal government will ease international border restrictions from Wednesday, allowing more than 200,000 visa holders including economic migrants, refugees and international students into the country.

Reopening international travel to eligible visa holders and tourists from New Zealand, Singapore, Korea and Japan was temporarily paused following the emergence of the Omicron variant, but Mr Morrison said students and skilled workers could return to Australia after health advice was presented to the national and federal cabinets.

Business leaders and lobby groups welcomed the news of WA’s border dismantling, with Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott saying the set date should help encourage further vaccinations in WA.

“We welcome the opportunity for Western Australia to re-engage with the broader nation which will alleviate a number of operational challenges for national businesses, and allow families to reconnect,” he said.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Chris Rodwell said the date would “begin to ease the uncertainty, supply chain delays, higher costs and chronic worker shortages experienced by WA businesses and the economy during this pandemic”, while the Chamber of Minerals and Energy said the changes would allow resources companies to access to wider labour pools and markets.

Sophie McNeill, Australian researcher for Human Rights Watch, said WA families had been forced apart for too long. “Thousands of people have suffered the trauma of being locked out of the state and away from their loved ones, unable to return even if they are fully vaccinated and willing to quarantine,” she said.

Additional reporting: Paige Taylor, Eli Greenblat