In Queensland supporting that state’s Liberal National party leader, Deb Frecklington, in her election campaigning yesterday, Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, confirmed that the country will move “very cautiously” to re-open our borders to international travel and, initially, only with a possible ‘handful’ of countries that could, in addition to New Zealand, include Pacific nations, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
During a doorstop in Redbank, a suburb of Ipswich, Morrison told reporters, “There are countries that have performed well on the health front and Australia and those countries are one of a handful that have had the same level of success.
“But we have to go cautiously on this, very, very cautiously. COVID-19 hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s still there – it’s no less aggressive today than it was six months ago. We need to keep the habit of COVID-safe behaviours.”
The Prime Minister’s comments came on the back of an interview, that appeared in the Sun Herald yesterday, with the Federal Tourism Minister, Simon Birmingham.
“The prospects of opening up widespread travel with higher risk countries will remain very reliant on effective vaccination or other major breakthroughs in the management of COVID,” Birmingham said.
