Since the later part of 2021, Australian states have slowly started to open borders and lift quarantine and testing requirements for those wanting to travel interstate. While all domestic borders were set to be open by early February, premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan has decided to keep WA shut tight as Australia deals with Omicron.
The premier is reluctant to open borders until the Western Australian population has had their third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. While the East Coast is moving around freely, with no incoming flight caps and no quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, Western Australia will implement a hard border from 5 February which will include a flight cap of 530 travellers and quarantine requirements.
Who can travel into Western Australia?
The WA border will be opened to approved interstate travellers. Approved travellers must adhere to quarantine and testing requirements.
Approved Travellers
Approved travellers will be able to enter Western Australia under expanded exemption criteria. Exemption criteria includes:
– Returning Western Australians with strong, recent connections
– Those with direct legitimate family connections in Western Australia
– Students enrolled in WA educational institutions
– Those entering on compassionate grounds such as funerals, palliative care, or terminally ill visitation
– Members of the family of an approved traveller
– Those entering for urgent essential medical care
– Those travelling in the interests of national and state security
– Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament and diplomats
– Workers providing specialist skills not available in WA such as health and emergency service workers
– People required to attend court matters, judicial officers and staff of court, tribunals, and commissions
– Those under special consideration and extraordinary circumstances determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or Chief Health officer
Approved interstate travellers must meet the following requirements:
– They have an approved G2G Pass under the new exemption criteria
– Be fully vaccinated (three doses if eligible or two dose if not yet eligible for the third)
– Provide proof of negative Rapid Antigen Test within 24 hours of departure
– Self-quarantine for seven days at a suitable premises. The same quarantine requirements apply for household members at self-quarantine premises
– Approved travellers are required to take a PCR test or Rapid Antigen Test on day 1. They must then return a negative Rapid Antigen Test on day 7. Household members are also required return a negative Rapid Antigen Test on the traveller’s day 7 of quarantine.
– Be subject to mandatory use of the G2G Now app and in-person checks by WA police as required.
Additional requirements are in place for domestic road travel. These include:
– Approved domestic travellers to limit travel to 1,500km from road borders. This will enable people to travel to a suitable quarantine premises in Perth
– Entry at the Kununurra border is only permitted for transport, freight and logistics and border community residents
– Restricted travel into remote Aboriginal communities.
International Travel
International travel into Western Australia is permitted with the following requirements:
– Commonwealth requirements to enter Australia under the arrival cap is met
– Travellers have an approved G2G Pass
– Undertake seven days of self-quarantine at a suitable premises upon arrival if they are vaccinated. 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine applies to travellers who are unvaccinated
– Travellers are required to take a PCR test or Rapid Antigen Test on Day 1; they must then return a negative Rapid Antigen Tests on day 7.
– Be subject to mandatory use of the G2G Now app and in-person checks by WA police as required.
– Indirect international arrivals – anyone who arrived on an international flight into a state other than Western Australia is subject to the same quarantine requirements as approved travellers.
What are the impacts of the hard border?
For those living in Western Australia who don’t have family interstate or have no desire yet to travel to the other states, they won’t be bothered by the hard border. For families who haven’t seen loved ones since the start of the pandemic, it’s frustrating. But what about tourism and business?
Not only has Mark McGowan kept the Western Australia border closed but he has at times closed off the regions. As a large state, travel between the regions is crucial and with each region requiring different exemptions to enter when they are closed it adds another layer of difficulty.
Closed borders whether between WA and the rest of the country or within the regions of Western Australian has big ramifications for businesses needing to do business in WA. Businesses are at a loss as to how to proceed with some high-profile executives claiming it’s become impossible to run a major business from Western Australia. Many other businesses have also suffered because of the back flip on the WA border with many having to cancel sales trips to the East Coast resulting in large monetary losses.
When it comes to the Western Australia tourism industry the ramifications are dire. Many tourism operators have had to issue refunds, and many are on the verge of having to close their businesses all together. It begs the question, how long can Western Australians live with not knowing when they will open up again?
It’s one thing to keep your state safe but do the gains outweigh the losses whether personally for residents or at a business level?
If you would like to learn more about any aspect of migration, contact the Visa Solutions team on 1800 828 008 or send us an email.
