Coronavirus: Border closures removed in ACCI framework, replaced by local lockdowns

Border closures would be scrapped and states could only impose ‘targeted and time-restricted local lockdowns’, under a new plan.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson says targeted lockdowns have not been done effectively. Picture: AAP

Border closures would be scrapped and states could only impose “targeted­ and time-restricted local lockdowns” on areas with com­muni­ty transmission of corona­virus where the source was unknown, under a plan being worked on by business and the Morrison government.

In the first framework of its kind detailing how restrictions would be introduced and lifted, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has worked with federal government officials to create a “nimble” response to the pandemic rather than a blunt, one-size-fits-all approach.

The framework, obtained by The Australian, will be shared among business groups at a meeting on Thursday amid growing frustration with the states that there are no transparent and easily understood set of rules to co-ordin­ate border restrictions.

ACCI’s “COVID risk” system has six categories and is similar to how fire danger ratings work, outlining how Australians should act depending on how many cases of coronavirus are in their area.

When there are no cases, only baseline restrictions — such as handwashing, coughing into your elbow and staying at least 1.5m from others wherever possible — would be required. Where there are individual cases or a cluster appear­s, the only travel restrictions the framework suggests is for those infected people and their close contacts to self-isolate for 14 days or as required.

States would not introduce localised lockdowns, which would have clear end dates, on hotspots until there was community spread with no known origin.

“We need better directions when mystery cases begin to surface­: will my workplace be shut down next week or will my kid’s school move online and caring arrangements­ need to be made?” said ACCI chief executive James Pearson.

“An example of an effective and targeted lockdown could look like creating a bubble around a region, rather than a blanket over an entire­ state. If the infection sprang up in a border community, the bubble would need to straddle state lines, but not impact the wider regions of either. It would need to be informed by testing, data and strict travel measures.”

Scott Morrison warned on Wednesday that “Australia wasn’t built to have internal borders” and said people needed to be confident that any infringement on their liberties­ was a last resort.

Living in a “zero-risk society” with no coronavirus was not viable­, he said, pointing to NSW keeping its borders open throughout the pandemic — except to Victoria during its second wave — as being the best approach.

“Zero per cent (of coronavirus cases) is not a threshold for how borders should be managed,” the Prime Minister said. “Australians need to be confident … that all other measures have been pursued before those restrictions come in place because borders do cost. They cost people’s livelihoods. They cost people’s jobs.”

“You don’t enter into having those borders lightly and nor should you. And you should be seeking on all opportunities to … be in a position to lift them whenever you can. And that, of course, will always be directed by medical advice and that’s what should drive our decision-making.”

National cabinet will meet in a week to consider what constitutes a hotspot, in a bid to provide transparency on whether border closures were based on health advice.

Under the ACCI framework, governments would identify and connect “green zones”: postcodes or local government areas with well-resourced and operational public health systems and where the reproduction rate of infected individuals was low.

Where the virus was not under control, local populations would be in lockdown or in “red zones”.

Areas could transition from green zones to red zones and back again, based on certain criteria.

“Physical borders should be established around the defined lockdown zone to enable lockdown border permit checks and greater control of movement by authorities therefore negating the need for a border closure,” the proposal states.