The countdown to the borderless Big Lap is back on!
It has been announced that the WA hard border will come down at 12:01am on Thursday, March 3, meaning triple-dosed vaccinated arrivals from across the country can enter the state without quarantining.
Premier Mark McGowan made the announcement as he conceded “the virus is already here and we cannot stop its spread”, with the state set to reach a peak of 10,000 new cases a day by the end of March.
“March 3 will be a step forward for Western Australia, a safe step forward, taken at the right time, in the right way, for the right reasons,” Mr McGowan said. “There comes a point where the border is redundant, because we’ll already have the growth of cases here, having the border is no longer effective.”
He said the border controls were still necessary while the state gets its vaccination levels up but they would no longer be effective by March 3.
All interstate arrivals will be provided with a Rapid Antigen Test.
The ABC reports that Mr McGowan was asked how the public could trust the reopening date would not be changed again.
“This date is locked in, and I can’t foresee a situation where it would change,” he said. “It’s only 12 days away, it’s a lot closer than last time.”
The Premier went on to explain that the arrival of Omicron had been an unexpected “catastrophe”.
The latest announcement comes just one month after Mr McGowan delayed the border reopening, which had previously been set for February 5. The initial border opening date was set on December 13, linked to Delta variant-based modelling and a prediction of high double dose vaccination rates in WA. And then Omicron struck.
The news that the last hard border in Australia will come down will come as very welcome news to grey nomads who have now been facing ever-changing travel restrictions for much of the past two years.
Hoping to. I haven’t seen my mum in 3 yrs. I was kidnapped as a child of 5 yrs old and at the age of 18 yrs I had run away and found her living in Perth. I flew from NZ and was reconciled with her again. I live in Geelong Victoria. The locked boarders and vaccine mandates sent me in a spiral. I was so grieved at the possibility of never seeing her again was more than I could bare. Mum is now 81 and I’m 64 . Never to old to want your mum.
We will stay away a bit longer now their rona peak is on the up! Who knows, maybe others will now close the borders to WA?
Indeed we will. It’s been a long wait but l commend WA for looking after it’s own. I just hope it’s not too much of a challenge getting parks and camps. Woohoo WA. Jack & Sue
WA has burnt it’s bridges with us even with it;s borders open
Yeah. Too true not much to see do there anyway
Aww, come on you know you will want to come visit us in the “real Australia” and thank us for all the financial support we have sent over the border to keep your finances afloat for the last couple of years 🙂
It’s great to now have access to the other half of Australia.