Phase C will also allow for vaccinated Australians to head overseas without having to isolate on return unless there is a sudden outbreak in the country they visited.
According to the Doherty report, during phase C Australia can “lift all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated people”, with only “proportionate quarantine” measures required. This is presumably a nod to home quarantine.
South Australia is leading that charge, conducting a pilot program for home quarantine.
Phase D involves re-opening international borders, at which point quarantine will only be required for travellers from “high-risk countries”.
So the border could remain closed until 2022?
Yes, but the situation is improving gradually despite the current lockdown. The New Zealand-Australia travel bubble was paused for at least eight weeks from July 23 to give time for NSW to significantly lower its new infection rate, and for the situation in other states to stabilise.
To recap, Australia closed its borders to non-citizens and permanent residents on March 20, 2020. Since then, authorities have only allowed very limited international travel exemptions.
About 36,000 short-term trips were recorded in May 2021, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That’s a 94.6 per cent drop from May 2019.
The New Zealand travel bubble was halted in July.
But it’s an improvement on monthly travel figures before the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble in mid-April 2021.
The trans-Tasman travel bubble meant New Zealand was the largest source country for travellers, accounting for 78.8 per cent of all visitor arrivals in May.
Border security
Still, if you are planning on leaving the country any time soon, expect increased scrutiny at the border.
Until now, Australian citizens who reside in other countries (such as expats), have been allowed to leave Australia without an exemption – even though they did require an exemption and quarantine time to enter.
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Turtle Island…