WA Premier Mark McGowan will allow arrivals with a Covid-19 jab
Anyone hoping to enter WA from NSW will now be required to show they have received at least one vaccine dose.
Western Australia will allow only vaccinated people from NSW to enter the state as it further tightened its border controls.
WA is already allowing only travellers who meet a limited set of criteria to enter from NSW, and Premier Mark McGowan on Friday said the rules would be restricted further from next week.
In addition to being granted an exemption, anyone hoping to enter WA from NSW will now also be required to show they have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
It makes WA the first state to make vaccines a requirement for crossing state borders.
Mr McGowan said the new rules would allow West Australians stuck in NSW to find a way back into their home state.
“It’s tough but it’s fair,” he said.
“If you are a West Australian in NSW and you’re despairing about coming home, it gives you a pathway to come back provided you are vaccinated.”
Should the NSW outbreak continue to grow, the state may be classified as an “extreme” risk state under WA’s Covid-19 risk assessment regime. Those conditions, which will be introduced in the event NSW records more than 500 cases a day, would also require all arrivals from NSW to spend 14 days in state-run quarantine. Mr McGowan said WA’s response had to evolve with the pandemic.
“What is happening in NSW continues to be a growing concern for their own citizens and the entire country, given it is continually seeding the virus into other states,” he said.
“Given what is happening in NSW, there’s no sign of the situation improving in the coming weeks.”
While WA introduced tighter border controls for NSW arrivals early in this outbreak, there has been a steady stream of people entering WA from Sydney. Some 61 approved travellers arrived in the past two days, and 43 were due to have arrived on Friday.
The vaccination requirement may well see those numbers actually increase. WA police commissioner Chris Dawson – whose officers are responsible for deciding whether entry applications should be granted – said the new system may make officers more inclined to grant entry if applicants have been vaccinated.
“I expect that if people meet those criteria, those approvals should be easier to process,” Mr Dawson said.
Mr McGowan has repeatedly described his government’s policy of having a hard border as a vital part of the state’s success in avoiding outbreaks.
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