News Forum - Australia reopens its borders to international travellers

[Thaiger]

Australia has reopened its border to foreign tourists for the very first time in over two years, after closing due to the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. More than 50 different flights are scheduled to arrive today. Fully vaccinated travellers can enter all states without undergoing a quarantine period except Western Australia, which is sealed till March 3 and will require a booster dose. An up to 14-day quarantine at a hotel is required for unvaccinated travellers. Australians and a few others have been allowed to come back since late 2021, but most tourists had to wait. With some of […]

The story Australia reopens its borders to international travellers as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[Travel101]

I loved Australia but now the government has ruined your freedoms. I can never visit again. Thanks for the invite. Several of my customers businesses have been ruined not helped by the sitting government. Sad indeed. 

[Fundok]

So Aussie is open again for tourists. Vaccination suffices, no PCR test required.

Any lessons to be learned here for Thailand?

[Jayce]

Waaaaay overdue. 

There was no sensible reason why this was delayed for as long as it has...

[AussieBob]

1 hour ago, Fundok said:

So Aussie is open again for tourists. Vaccination suffices, no PCR test required.

Any lessons to be learned here for Thailand?

Sorry - not the case.  The States make the rules about Covid tests/quarantine and most of them require you to get a COVID-19 test within 1 day after arriving in Australia. If you test positive then you must isolate and quarantine yourself (wherever you are staying) for about 7 days - the details vary State to State.  No mandatory 'special hotels' or anything - but you must isolate yourself if you test positive - and the same rules apply to all arrivals - citizens or tourists. 

[Graham]

3 hours ago, Jayce said:

Waaaaay overdue. 

There was no sensible reason why this was delayed for as long as it has...

Idiots in charge maybe ?

[Cabra]

Any (risk of having to submit to) testing on arrival is a deal breaker. On a positive note, at least they don't have a useless insurance requirement.

[Artemis080]

Great that another country moves the needle towards marching onward.

But, returning? No thanks, Australia. It's not you; it's me.

The political shift to the right, stance on climate, refugee policy, authoritarian creep, and the way Aussies turned on citizens overseas was more than a little frightening.  

I believe this decade will be Asia's, and it's too vibrant and exciting an opportunity to miss.

[Tim_Melb]

6 hours ago, Fundok said:

So Aussie is open again for tourists. Vaccination suffices, no PCR test required.

Any lessons to be learned here for Thailand?

Australia has an over 95% double vaccinated population and over 40% boosted when the Thai population reach similar numbers maybe they will follow suit. But right now the Thai government is right to be cautious. Getting rid of the day 5 test is sensible but further steps should be taken slowly based on vaccination rates. Australia achieved the high vaccination rates by setting goals and offering reduced restrictions for achieving them. This gave the population motivation to get vaccinated and achieve the goals. Maybe Thailand would be better to learn from that. 

[Tim_Melb]

5 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Sorry - not the case.  The States make the rules about Covid tests/quarantine and most of them require you to get a COVID-19 test within 1 day after arriving in Australia. If you test positive then you must isolate and quarantine yourself (wherever you are staying) for about 7 days - the details vary State to State.  No mandatory 'special hotels' or anything - but you must isolate yourself if you test positive - and the same rules apply to all arrivals - citizens or tourists. 

Rubbish no PCR tests are required to enter Australia with the exception of Western Australia which has a closed border until the 3rd of March. You ar required to do an ATK within 24 hours of arriving but nothing before departure and no forced hospitalisation of you test positive just a requirement to self isolate for 7 days and a government officer will check up on you to make sure you are doing the right thing and to make sure that you are not suffering from serious disease. 

[Tim_Melb]

5 hours ago, Jayce said:

Waaaaay overdue. 

There was no sensible reason why this was delayed for as long as it has...

They had to clear the back log of Australians returning home from overseas efore they threw open the border to international travellers. That was the reason. That has happened now so the border is open. 

[AussieBob]

11 minutes ago, Tim_Melb said:

Rubbish no PCR tests are required to enter Australia with the exception of Western Australia which has a closed border until the 3rd of March. You ar required to do an ATK within 24 hours of arriving but nothing before departure and no forced hospitalisation of you test positive just a requirement to self isolate for 7 days and a government officer will check up on you to make sure you are doing the right thing and to make sure that you are not suffering from serious disease. 

You need to carefully read my words again. You have just restated most of them. Try again mate. I will see it tomorrow - 11pm here in QLD where you must take a covid test after arriving from overseas, and same in NSW and VIC - and probably all the others. The Federal Govt controls arrival into the country - the States control entering each State. 

[Fundok]

16 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Sorry - not the case.  The States make the rules about Covid tests/quarantine and most of them require you to get a COVID-19 test within 1 day after arriving in Australia. If you test positive then you must isolate and quarantine yourself (wherever you are staying) for about 7 days - the details vary State to State.  No mandatory 'special hotels' or anything - but you must isolate yourself if you test positive - and the same rules apply to all arrivals - citizens or tourists. 

Always something new to be learned... thanks for the clarification/correction.

[Thommo]

18 hours ago, Travel101 said:

I loved Australia but now the government has ruined your freedoms. I can never visit again. Thanks for the invite. Several of my customers businesses have been ruined not helped by the sitting government. Sad indeed. 

i am sure we will not miss you

[Thommo]

16 hours ago, Jayce said:

Waaaaay overdue. 

There was no sensible reason why this was delayed for as long as it has...

Tell that to Mark McGowan

[Thommo]

16 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Sorry - not the case.  The States make the rules about Covid tests/quarantine and most of them require you to get a COVID-19 test within 1 day after arriving in Australia. If you test positive then you must isolate and quarantine yourself (wherever you are staying) for about 7 days - the details vary State to State.  No mandatory 'special hotels' or anything - but you must isolate yourself if you test positive - and the same rules apply to all arrivals - citizens or tourists. 

It was only a self RAT that was required when arriving into Melbourne last month 

[Fundok]

11 hours ago, Tim_Melb said:

Australia has an over 95% double vaccinated population and over 40% boosted when the Thai population reach similar numbers maybe they will follow suit. But right now the Thai government is right to be cautious. Getting rid of the day 5 test is sensible but further steps should be taken slowly based on vaccination rates. Australia achieved the high vaccination rates by setting goals and offering reduced restrictions for achieving them. This gave the population motivation to get vaccinated and achieve the goals. Maybe Thailand would be better to learn from that. 

I don't want to repeat myself, but in a previous post I presented figures that show 79,5% being double vaccinated in Australia - not 95%. However, close to 80% is still an impressive achievement.

[Thommo]

13 hours ago, Graham said:

Idiots in charge maybe ?

delete maybe

[HiuMak]

16 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Sorry - not the case.  The States make the rules about Covid tests/quarantine and most of them require you to get a COVID-19 test within 1 day after arriving in Australia. If you test positive then you must isolate and quarantine yourself (wherever you are staying) for about 7 days - the details vary State to State.  No mandatory 'special hotels' or anything - but you must isolate yourself if you test positive - and the same rules apply to all arrivals - citizens or tourists. 

Travellers will be confused. The Premiers have more say than the PM. Ask Morrison go dig a hole and bury his head.

[AussieBob]

50 minutes ago, Thommo said:

It was only a self RAT that was required when arriving into Melbourne last month 

Yep - a PCR or an ATK - all good either one. I believe that is the same when entering QLD and NSW - not sure about the others. 

To enter Australia you must be vaccinated and test negative prior to boarding the plane (72 hours?.

But what to do to then enter the State where you arrive - is managed by each State - but most are about the same I believe.

 

[AussieBob]

48 minutes ago, HiuMak said:

Travellers will be confused. The Premiers have more say than the PM. Ask Morrison go dig a hole and bury his head.

Clearly they are.  I have checked to make sure of my facts, but although the Federal requirements are clearly laid out, those of each State are not. The Federal website gives all the info and then provides links to the 'Covid Info' website of each State.  You then have to dig through each State's website (all different) to find the section covering international arrivals. 

Why there is no inter-Governmental website covering them all, which is then updated as and when things change - Politics - The Federal and most States are different (and opposing Parties). 

We Australians tend to have one Party in power Federally, and vote in the opposite in each State - basically it is a 2 Party system like US UK etc.  Sometimes they are in power in both places, but whenever that occurs they always take advantage. We have learned that they are all liars and bast**s and it is better to have them fighting each other for your votes at the next election.  Australians dont 'die on a hill' over politics - each election is very peaceful and easy going - aside from the 20% of die-hards on each side of course. The Federal Govt is right wing, but most States are left wing - those States that are the same Party as that in Federally know if they dont 'protect' their State from Federal over-reach, they will be out at the next election.  It works well overall - the 'nutter' places like TAS and ACT and WA speak for themselves. 

[Jayce]

13 hours ago, Tim_Melb said:

They had to clear the back log of Australians returning home from overseas efore they threw open the border to international travellers. That was the reason. That has happened now so the border is open. 

They resumed for anyone except non-immediate family members and tourists at the start of November so clearly by the end of the year that backlog had long since gone...

Why the procrastination? Why wait another 2 months while allowing entire sports teams, students and skilled migrants to walk in?? 

[Thommo]

5 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Yep - a PCR or an ATK - all good either one. I believe that is the same when entering QLD and NSW - not sure about the others. 

To enter Australia you must be vaccinated and test negative prior to boarding the plane (72 hours?.

But what to do to then enter the State where you arrive - is managed by each State - but most are about the same I believe.

48 hrs for the PCR test prior  if travel via Singapore these days

[AussieBob]

3 hours ago, Jayce said:

They resumed for anyone except non-immediate family members and tourists at the start of November so clearly by the end of the year that backlog had long since gone...

Why the procrastination? Why wait another 2 months while allowing entire sports teams, students and skilled migrants to walk in?? 

I could say many things, but the obvious answer is Politics.  The Federal Govt has wanted to open up for some time. But Health Services are managed by the States - they have been against it until enough people were vaccinated - first it was 70% then 80% etc.  The Feds had to wait until the big 3 agreed - QLD, NSW and VIC. No point letting people in, if they cannot leave the airport. 

[Jayce]

26 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

I could say many things, but the obvious answer is Politics.  The Federal Govt has wanted to open up for some time. But Health Services are managed by the States - they have been against it until enough people were vaccinated - first it was 70% then 80% etc.  The Feds had to wait until the big 3 agreed - QLD, NSW and VIC. No point letting people in, if they cannot leave the airport. 

True but NSW and VIC hit those targets way earlier.  Given there were interstate travel restrictions/conditions anyway and given that the national approach had long since been abandoned (looking at you Qld and WA especially), there was no reason why the Feds couldn't have said "we're letting tourists in" so that the individual states could then manage in whatever way they chose.

Some states could've imposed quarantines if they felt that tourists were somehow a greater threat than returning Aussies, students, skilled migrants and sports stars who were already being let into the country (which would have been beyond stupid but at least they had the option to dissuade tourists from coming)  but at least states like Vic and Nsw could've already gotten ahead of the game waaay earlier that way.