Although each state and territory will move forward at its own pace, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has given grey nomads a far clearer idea of when they might be able to get back on the open road.
Speaking after this morning’s national cabinet meeting, the PM announced a three-step plan for the country, outlining when and which restrictions will be lifted.
The plan will be put into effect over the next three months, with the government ensuring certain criteria is met before moving onto the next step.
Step One will see restrictions eased on gatherings both at home and outside, and it also envisages the resumption of intrastate travel to local and regional areas. This will likely happen this month.
By Step Two, expected to be sometime in June, the government has flagged ‘some interstate travel’ could resume. Step Two swill also see caravan parks and camping grounds opened once again.
In Step Three, it is hoped all interstate travel will resume.
“In Step Three, we are hopeful that there will be more travel around the country and we might start to get some domestic tourism again,” Australia’s Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy said.
Prime Minister Morrison said he hoped the country will have moved through all three steps by July.
“On the interstate travel and the border issues that are there, they have never been part of the national baselines … that has never been the recommendation,” he said. “They have been decisions that have been taken unilaterally by those states, I’m not making judgements about them one way or the other.”
Mr Morrison said the pace at which states and territories move through the steps will ultimately be a matter for each individual jurisdiction.
“They will be responsible for setting their own timetable and communicating that to their citizens and residents in their own states and territories,” he said.
There are no current plans to relax international border restrictions, and Mr Morrison said that was unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
