During much of the pandemic Australia was closed off to the world. Citizens couldn’t leave, except for a period of time to fly to New Zealand (and were threatened with prosecution if they used New Zealand as a gateway to other countries). Tens of thousands of Australians were stranded abroad, until they could schedule quarantine in state facilities. Australians were only permitted to leave – and return – starting this past fall.
The country started to see cases of Covid-19 they couldn’t stop with the Delta variant, and the arrival of Omicron meant over 100,000 cases a day earlier this month – in a country with a population the size of Texas. They’re heavily vaccinated, and ICU levels are similar to when the country faced 1/50 the number of cases just a few months ago.
Now, with substantial background immunity in additional to vaccination, the country is preparing to re-open its borders to tourists. The nation’s Prime Minister has announced a February 21 re-opening to tourism:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed back into the country from February 21.
A high-level meeting of the federal national security committee met on Monday to discuss when the border could reopen to international tourists. …But two years after he first shuttered the borders, Mr Morrison declared double vaccinated arrivals would be welcomed back.
There’s not yet clarity on whether arriving tourists would need to test in advance or travel, or on arrival as well, and whether there would be any quarantine rules. It appears unvaccinated travelers would likely be able to apply for exemption with proof they “cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.” (Don’t expect an exemption for personal beliefs contrary to vaccination.)
Here the Prime Minister is correct, the country is no longer ‘trying to keep the virus out’ after having had over 100,000 cases per day in a country whose population is roughly the size of Texas’. And vaccinated travelers aren’t riskier than those people already in the country:
“The fact is here in Australia, the variant is here in Australia. And for those who are coming in who are double vaccinated, they don’t present any greater risk than those who are already here in Australia,” he said.
“It’s a sensible and I think very important move for us to make as we sort of, as best as we possibly can this year drive Australia back to a position of as much normality as we can achieve.”
After two years of being closed there will be some who doubt the re-opening plan, the country isn’t open until it’s open, and there was a recent well-publicized case of rejecting entry to someone with
a visa (with vaccination exception). So there’s still some risk. Nonetheless, I continue to book award travel to see family – and a target of February 21 is far more hopeful than what I’ve been working towards.
I don’t care about those clowns in Australia anymore. Never going back.
You want to trust them not to lock you in their country?
If you don’t care than please don’t respond to a post about something you don’t care about
By all means come, but understand that overseas visitors are wanted by the government for economic reasons, but over 80% of Australians remain opposed to international travel in mid-Pandemic for either Australians or visitors.
Foreign visitors will receive a frosty welcome, and in the states – not NSW – which aggressively police mask use you will be treated with outright hostility if you are in public without a mask.
I visited Hawaii from Australia until yesterday and was shocked to see US Mainlanders defying the mask mandate. People like that shouldn’t attempt to visit Australia – I fear that they will face actual violence from the public if they do.
In addition, Sydney is the only place you will get into a restaurant, theatre or store without an electronic vaccine certificate issued in Australia. American paper vaccination certificates are not recognised except for border entry.
It’s going to be a weird time for international visitors, who will have to understand that they are welcomed by the government but not the public.
@DavidF – I expect to spend time at my uncle’s home in Sydney, my cousin’s home outside Gold Coast, and perhaps dine with a group of family at a restaurant in the Sydney suburbs and am fully prepared to follow whatever rules are in place at the time – which, of course, may be different than they are today.
I haven’t been in nearly three years. I’ve had family members born since then that I’ve never met. So understand that I really couldn’t give a rat’s arse by the way whether the median voter has an opinion on my presence once I’m allowed in.
DavidF,
Ah yes the joys of Australian’s showing off their strong xenophobic tendencies. What else is new?
Oww, he said arse!
Not on my bucket list anymore…as you said many were stranded abroad and this kind of nonsense within government should not be rewarded. I value freedom far above anything a country has to offer in terms of travel and tourism. I certainly would not trust them in any way as I’ve seen pure politics and unchecked power on display in Australia that was unnecessary and punitive. The PM’s comments referencing the ridiculous treatment of athletes recently reveal the core of their principles.
Australia is no longer eligible for my tourism dollars. Their Covid actions were reprehensible. Can no longer trust Australia.
I am Australian and I am NEVER returning to live in that penal colony.
I suspect this is the trend of the world. Slow opening as countries realize: 1) they can’t stop the virus at a border, and 2) it really hurts their economy to keep up a wall. Eventually it will likely settled down at a lower endemic level everywhere and we will get back to business. From what I’ve read parts of southern Africa (Malawi in particular) seem to be getting there as the majority of citizens have either been infected or had their shots. And it will be interesting to see when China gets to this point; I have doubts that their “Olympic Bubble” will work–and even if it does, what then? Now if people would just get the facts and then the darn vaccine we’d be through this period faster. Meanwhile the CDC keeps labeling this or that country as being in condition 4 or whatever…they may be right but hasn’t anyone there heard the story about the boy who cried “Wolf”? Soon enough everybody stopped listening.
Gary, thanks for NOT lowering yourself to the level of many other bloggers by using coarse language. I know what all the words mean, and I’ve used them myself, but it’s refreshing being able to read something without all the vulgarity so commonly in use these days. I’d bet your mother is very appreciative of your superior vocabulary, also. Thanks for your continuing efforts in producing quality material.
A big part of the problem for American visitors to Australia will be the almost universal contempt for what is viewed as the USA’s Covid failure.
Australia has 25 million people and 3,700 Covid deaths.
Texas has 29 million people and 80,000 Covid deaths.
Florida has 21 million people and 65,000 Covid deaths.
Canada has 38 million people and 34,000 Covid deaths.
Australians have generally been bemused and angered by the far-right American media’s assaults on Australia’s Covid Safe policies and practices. We almost all – well over 80% of us – feel we have done the right thing sacrificing small amounts of personal freedom to protect the vulnerable.
So there is anger towards what many Australians perceive as a close ally which has turned on us for behaving honourably and selflessly when they have chosen to be selfish and reckless and have the coffins to prove it.
Americans who come and who follow our mask mandates and vaccination mandates will still be welcome. But any visitors – as Novak Djokovic discovered – who feel entitled to defy or dispute our rules will simply not be tolerated.
It’s unfortunate, but we are closer to the start than the end of this Pandemic, and the rules here in Australia will remain strict and inflexible.
Let’s be honest – much of this is about Australia not being an economically-dependent nation.
The two most closed states – even to domestic travel – had the world’s numbers 1 and 3 state economies as of last Easter. Life expectancy actually increased during the Pandemic (New Zealand and Denmark were the only other success stories) while the suicide rate went down 6.2% during the pandemic.
So Australia has boomed and flourished during the pandemic and most people feel no need to reopen international travel and jeopardise this.
A right-wing federal government is seeking to reopen international travel before the upcoming election. The electorate is far from convinced.
International visitors who are humble and respectful will as always be welcome. But visitors from places like the US and UK whose Covid failures are viewed with contempt here will find that if they defy our rules or challenge our decisions they will not be treated as valued guests.
And anyone who comes from a low vaccination / high death toll nation like the USA and tries to lecture us about our Covid Safe policies will not get a friendly reception.
@Mark Rascio
Australia’s closed borders were a policy decision we took to minimise deaths and to maximise normality in everyday life. And in my state – Queensland – life WAS normal until we regrettably reopened.
It involved a lot of sacrifices – I have not seen my elderly parents in the UK for almost 3 years now.
But it was the right decision and it worked. And ironically, strict borders are a right-wing policy which all sides of politics enthusiastically accepted.
It was NEVER an assault on personal freedom. It was the sort of national sacrifice that honourable and decent people willingly make in wartime or a pandemic.
And it was never government overreach – all mainstream political parties supported it, and public opinion never fell below 82% support for it.
@DavidF. Your political bias drips from each word you write. Good luck with your tyranny. Glad I don’t have family to visit there. I did enjoy my travels to Australia before the CCP virus. Never to return especially with attitudes like yours welcoming visitors with open fangs.
Must be something going right down under. I had a boss 14 years ago who came to Austin because she couldn’t find a boyfriend there who wasn’t a drunkard. I asked her how she so easily got into the USA and she said the “slots” for immigration into the USA from there were never filled. So there…..
@Jorge Paez
Any Australian who has a university degree and a job offer – even to work 1 hour per week at Walmart – is entitled to an E3 visa to the USA, allowing them, their spouse or partner and their children to also move to the US and work – even if they are not Australian themselves!
There is a cap of 10,500 E3 visas per year for Australians, and there have never been more than 5,000 applications in a year. You can’t persuade Australians to give up universal free healthcare, 4+ weeks paid vacation per year etc etc to move to the USA.
We love visiting the US. But very few of us want to live there.
That’s ok – it’s a proper relationship of equals because we aren’t economically dependent on US trade or visitors and we have a relationship based on shared interests and values.
But it’s why on the issue of Covid and borders we didn’t just accidentally succumb to our evil Communist government. Our right-wing party is in power and we happen to almost unanimously agree that the sacrifices we have made to control Covid deaths were worthwhile.
Strict borders are not a left-wing policy. They are a right-wing policy which almost all of us support in a pandemic.
I know, she left out of personal unhappiness and she spread that here!
@Jorge Perez. You are correct. It is easy for an Australian to work and live indefinitely in the USA on an “E3” visa. The “E3” visa is excusive for Australian citizens only. You just need a job offer and a degree. I was issued a visa in less than 48 hours out of the Sydney consulate. Each year, the quota for Australian immgrants to the USA is never met.
Love the Americans commenting like they have any clue about Australia or anything foreign.
Go tip a doorman.
Um, what am I missing here? This comment thread is getting a little political, but the reality is that I have USA-AUS tickets coming up in 3 weeks and will be seeing my wife’s family, masked whenever told. I cannot WAIT to get to Oz and see the family without (lengthy) quarantine. All we have to do is show vaccination records at border and test upon arrival and quarantine until I receive results, typically 1-2 days. All very reasonable asks during this crazy time. See you soon (way before Easter)!
@DavidF – nobody gives a shit. I’ll come to Australia if I please, and I’ll do what I want when I’m there. Plenty of places willing to take my money. I work with several Australians (multi-national company) and they’re thrilled that they’re not stuck in that totalitarian hellhole during all of this.
@OzBound (and Gary)
I hope you have a great trip to Australia, but be very careful about what you have to do!
The Federal Government requires you to:
1. Show proof of vaccination at checkin and in the Arrivals Hall at Passport Control.
2. Complete an Australian Travel Declaration on a smartphone between 7 days and 3 days prior to departure.
You can use American paper vaccination certificates at both those points, but not to get into shops, restaurants and bars in Australia.
Entry into those venues is controlled by State governments. All apart from New South Wales (Sydney) – which is led by an unusual man – have very strong Mask Mandates, QR code check-in apps for entry into all shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, hotels etc and Vaccination Mandates requiring that you show proof of vaccination with a QR barcode in that state’s checkin app to get access to any public place.
Gary is visiting my hometown – the Gold Coast. Each store at Pacific Fair mall, and each restaurant in Surfers Paradise (or anywhere else) is required by State Law to check his vaccination status. His Texas paper certificate will presumably not include a barcode, so it won’t get him in.
All this has worked incredibly well in keeping hospitalisations and deaths low even since we opened up, because our fully-vaccinated rate of 90% is around 12% more than the UK and over 20% more than the USA.
But just as I spent hours getting sorted out with Safe Travels Hawaii and the Azova app, Americans visiting Australia will need to figure out how to prove their vaccination status at individual stores and restaurants and hotels or they will not have a great vacation!
@DavidF
Try understanding environmental factors before using a comparison.
Australia has very high UV relative to skin color….other factors as well.
there’s more than just masks, lockdowns, and vaccines.
In terms of proof of vaccination for foreign visitors, I hope Australia does something like Israel: Issue a “green pass” upon arrival good for 1 or 6 months.
Who gives a shit. I’d trust the Chinese more than them right now. They wanted a sealed-off economy….let them have it.
@DavidF’s comments are certainly interesting as we have all learned of the contempt he and his fellow countrymen have for many of the rest of us. So sad you visit to Hawaii includes the shock and horror of the faces of other humans without masks. Clearly our definitions of freedom and individual liberty are quite different and it is clear to me that we share far less Aussies than I ever thought. What can be worse than freedom being taken from fellow human beings…perhaps those who willingly give up that freedom and then support the very tyranny freedom itself by definition opposes calling it good and honorable. What’s worse, you view with contempt those who have maintained for the most part their freedoms and individual liberties which by the way are hard fought. The mere idea that somehow government can assure your safety through rules makes a mockery of both freedom and safety.
The one thing we may agree on is that the pandemic is not over…the damage that the so called treatments have done to the innate immune systems of many us only beginning to be realized. I can also agree that in many ways other countries have not handled the pandemic well either. The measure however, is not in the cases, hospitalizations or deaths as we have seen governments manipulate data to achieve its own ends…perhaps some of that is happening with the guaranteed opening if your own country to foreign visitors soon despite the way the ‘numbers’ keep trending. The measure should be how well did the country weather the storm without loosing its core values and principles. When freedom and liberty are sacrificed on the alter of safety, much more is lost than ever can be measured. I believe considering this all important factor many of our home countries have failed but there are shining examples of those whose measured approach while keeping freedom and liberty as the highest priority and should have been examples to us all.
@Mark Rascio
Two things.
I am communicating the opinions of my Australian compatriots. The fact that I visited the USA as recently as yesterday surely shows both my fondness for the USA and that I am less insular than most Australians.
Then again, the sort of stuff you write about freedom and tyranny and the damage caused by Covid vaccination effectively self-excludes people from consideration.
In Australia 90%+ of people accept vaccines and masking. Even in the USA it’s almost 70%.
It’s undemocratic to allow the 10-30% of feeble-minded, ignorant, self-centred simpletons in any society to hold the responsible and decent majority hostage by their refusal to do these things.
Masks ultimately are first and foremost a protection for others from the wearer, and in most parts of Australia there is zero tolerance for those who refuse to wear them.
A month has passed since Queensland opened its doors to visitors from other states, and the Gold Coast where I live struggles each day with idiots from Sydney who refuse to follow our laws and wear a mask. We have 60% of their population but 10% of their deaths, and we are not going to dilute our standards to their level, let alone down to the level of the UK or USA.
Real science is clear. Vaccines prevent serious illness and death but not transmission, so mask wearing is essential. There is no serious debate within medicine because all the evidence is overwhelming.
Like with Singapore, international visitors who follow our laws will be very welcome. Visitors who don’t will not be welcome, whether you are Novak Djokovic or anybody else.
Texas = 80,000 more people died than usual. Undercounting the true number.
Looks like Australia does not need more people, it’s Texas that does. Shameful.
@Mark Rascio
Agree. The lack of freedom and liberty in the USA is reprehensible. You cannot go out without fear that someone will pass an infection to you because they’re self centered weaklings who whine at wearing a mask to protect others. It’s absolutely bonkers; like living in a third world country where everything around you is falling apart.
@DavidF You’re kind a self-aggrandizing idiot.
1. Many states and recognizable healthcare networks in the US provide QR coded proof of vaccination. Even the federally administered CDC ‘V Safe’ program provides a QR coded vaccine record. I can’t speak to the universal interoperability of these systems worldwide, but to assume that Americans are all walking around with paper cards issued by their state government (“His Texas paper certificate”) shows how little you know about this topic.
2. 75% of Americans are vaccinated. 85% of Australians are vaccinated.
Your numbers are all off base. To say things like “our fully-vaccinated rate of 90% is around 12% more than the UK and over 20% more than the USA” and “In Australia 90%+ of people accept vaccines and masking. Even in the USA it’s almost 70%.” is either lazy, delusional or intentionally misleading.
Before pulling holier than thou on us here mate, I’d like to point out that in recent trends Gary’s home state has 127 cases per 100,000 while you’re sitting pretty at 304 per 100,000.
For much of the pandemic, the US out-tested Australia at a rate of almost 2 to 1.
You heard it here, folks — be careful of blokes from Queensland. They’re untested, highly infectious and not very good at math.
And don’t rush to plan a trip in May either, there’s a federal election coming up. Here in Australia we have a neocon govt forcing open the borders against the will of the majority in order to satisfy the needs of the govt’s corporate sponsors: firstly a plentiful supply cheap migrant workers, and secondly a good supply of property-buying Chinese migrants masquerading as international students. But the election is due by May and polls suggests the neocons will be thrown out. The new govt is expected to reintroduce quarantine and other measures to control international visitors.
[Thanks to cheap offshore labour, Australian real wages were lower in 2018 than 1970. And Australian universities are funded by a bizarre policy effectively selling off Australian residence-visas – a residence permit is awarded to anyone who has completed a paid 3-year tertiary course. This clogs up the unis leaving fewer study-places for young Australians and the lucky handful who get in to uni find themselves taking part in group-assignments where each group must carry some of the uninterested or non-English-speaking international “students” so that these “students” can be given a pass mark and continue to pay.]
If Aussies can only eradicate the Huntsman spider as well a they did preventing Covid deaths I would be more than happy to go back. Frankly, forget freedoms, Covid, etc…how the heck can you people live with those massive furry nightmares?
“@Gary is visiting my hometown – the Gold Coast. Each store at Pacific Fair mall, and each restaurant in Surfers Paradise (or anywhere else) is required by State Law to check his vaccination status.”
In fact I wrote that I’d be near Gold Coast, but across the border in New South Wales
In the early stages of the pandemic disaster I envied the Australians. Since I’ve been fully vaccinated and the boosted, I don’t. Some restrictions on freedoms are OK and perhaps necessary when a virus is ravaging the whole population. When it is easy to protect yourself (even at the height of the current wave a fully boosted person is 2.5 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident on any given day and we don’t ban cars), severe restrictions are unacceptable. Those who are still in serious danger from the virus have chosen to put themselves in that condition. It’s truly sad that the unvaccinated are dying in such high numbers, but I’m no longer willing to live a restricted life to protect those who refuse to protect themselves. Clearly Australia has the right to set its own tourism policies. But if they believe vaccines work – and they do – they should demand full vaccination/boosters and allow people in with proof of same. I think that will soon be the case in most of the world, except for a few despotic countries like China.
@DavidF,
You might want to look out the window of your Covid Cave. So, you’re saying that Australians like these, are going to be giving international visitors the beat down?
“On Saturday, thousands of activists gathered in Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) in Australia ahead of a planned “camp-out” protest outside State Parliament next week denouncing the state’s contentious pandemic bill. It is the third weekend in a row of civil unrest marked by the protests in the state against new pandemic laws.”
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/australia/australia-thousands-protest-in-melbourne-against-new-pandemic-laws-vaccine-mandate.html
I doubt it – they sound a lot like the rest of the sane, free people on the planet. Only the covid cultist clowns want everyone triple masked, quatro jabbed, locked down and oppressed.
I’ve visited Australia pre-COVID. The thing is, in order to plan an international trip, you need a reasonable amount of certainty there will not be draconian restrictions. We do not have that with Australia. I don’t have any problem with a country setting its own restrictions, whether I think they are helpful or just delaying the inevitable. So Australia may “reopen” – whatever is meant by that – but it may prove to be a much longer time before many people decide to travel there again.
Interesting comments. Alas, full of misrepresentations and mistakes on both sides.
To start with, some Americans assumed Aussies share similar values. No way! Most Aussies love the public Medicare system, support vaccine and mask mandates, and realize that guns are dangerous. Americans run scared of masks but demand semi automatic weapons to “protect” themselves from their own government. (Gee, I wonder who would win in a battle between a local militia and a nuclear armed battalion?) And Aussies are not silly enough to see Putin as a friend either.
What both countries share is a common history and similar values when it comes to minorities. Both suppress their natives and marginalize non-whites. (See the above Aussie tropes about Asians buying real estate and ruining Oz education when it’s the locals who are benefiting by gleefully lining their pockets or enjoying greatly reduced education costs because only foreigners pay full fees.) Both countries are in denial of this shameful attitude and that’s not something history will regard benevolently.
@DavidF: For all your prattling about the USA, perhaps I might remind you that without President Trump’s operation warp speed, you most certainly wouldn’t have the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that your government somewhat latterly decided might be good idea.
That said, Australia is somewhere I have visited in the past, have family connections to and found a pleasant place to go. But for a few years, until I have forgotten what a bunch of fascist a-holes the government has turned into, I will spent my travel dollars elsewhere.
And yes, I’m one of those sad folks who is jabbed, boosted and wears a mask.
The thing is, in order to plan an international trip, you need a reasonable amount of certainty there will not be draconian restrictions.
I’d add that you need reasonable certainty that if there are restrictions, and you have complied and gotten permission to travel, that permission won’t be dropped on arrival. Since Australia has recently made it very public that they don’t consider themselves bound by their own laws and procedures, and can kick someone who entered with permission for a limited time out at any time for entirely-political reasons with no non-political process, I would consider them a lawless state.
I am very sad what I have seen happen in Australia. Been there multiple times and have thoroughly enjoyed all the country has to offer. Since we seem to be addressing this situation in a political fashion, let me tell you what I have seen happen in the U.S. in the last 5 1/2 years. Over 70 million individuals in this country refuse to believe anything about that a pandemic is going on let alone how they could act responsibly to help significantly reduce its deadly effects.
In this blog, there is a lot of criticism and downright hatred toward Australia and it’s citizens. Not sure how many people in the U.S. have also noticed in the last 5 1/2 years what is going on in their country. Americans now feel more entitled and more irresponsible with their freedoms that were given to them and protected by the hundreds of thousands of men and women who lost their lives protecting those freedoms. Americans have been well know world wide for years now, as an ungrateful and arrogant group of individuals who are better then anyone else in this world. And now more then ever, there is an unprecedented attack on democracy by the very people who love and expect all the freedoms that democracy gives them. However, they want to be able to say and do anything they want to do while not taking any responsibility for the destructive consequences of their words and actions. SO please don’t lecture me about the Australians and what they are doing. Unlike the U.S., over half the country is not out to destroy their government and their Constituion given rights to do as they wish. The overwhelming percentage of Australians support what their government is trying to do to put a world pandemic at bay. Wow and imagine you have to follow rules to get that accomplished. What an irresponsible way to act.
I am hoping Gary is able to get back to Australia to see his family and enjoy sharing with them what all families share with their loved ones. What I fear far more, is what Gary might find and experience when he returns to the U.S.
Will there still be a democracy for all or an autocracy in power ruling with an iron hand with rights for only a given few. Want an example, think WWII Nazi Germany.
Gary have a great trip and please relay to us firsthand what really is going on in Australia.
@Kevin
The protestors against Covid Safety in Australia are a lunatic fringe with roughly 2-3% support.
They are loud but they are a real fringe minority.
What has been truly extraordinary is that the political left and the centre have enthusiastically joined forces with the right to embrace strict border closures which one would normally associate only with the right.
And the numbers tell a story that cannot be disputed. A booming economy and a far lower death toll than in the USA.
From our point of view there is no argument. On indicators of economic strength, health and mental health, Australia’s Covid response has massively outperformed our peer countries in the form of the USA, Canada and the UK. We don’t see any merit in giving people the “freedom” to infect their compatriots and to exhaust the health workforce.
We are too polite to go out of our way to gloat to our friends about our success and their failure, but we don’t suffer fools gladly and when underperforming allies from the US and UK feel entitled to criticise our successes in spite of their disgraceful death tolls we just have no tolerance for that.
We don’t hate our friends and allies. Quite the opposite – we pity them for the mess they have made of this Pandemic.
@Woofie
You refer to Operation Warp Speed.
Less than 5% of Australians are vaccinated with Moderna and 0% with Johnson and Johnson, which are the two Operation Warp Speed vaccines.
50% of vaccinated Australians had Pfizer, which did not participate in Operation Warp Speed, and 45% had AstraZeneca which was developed at Oxford University.
I respect the rapid development of Moderna and J&J under Operation Warp Speed, and President Trump’s leadership of that process. But neither of those factors affect us here in Australia.
Part of the delicious irony of this thread is Americans assuming that Australians who advocate strong vaccination and mask mandates and border security must be “liberals”.
The reality is that Australia is under a right-wing government and that the entire mainstream political spectrum supports the strong measures that we have taken!
@ SamChevre
If your rant is referring to one rich and spoilt brat tennis player, you are utterly misguided in your opinion. Novax needed to be vaccinated to enter the country according to the federal (national) restrictions for entry, a certificate of recent recovery from COVID is not sufficient.
All spectators and players and support staff were required to be vaxed for the Australian Open. Tennis Australia set up an exemption system for players and support staff, which solicited less than 1% response (20 odd out of around 3,500 players / officials) of which only a few were granted. But that is an entirely different matter. Many people stupidly confused the exemption to play in the competition with an exemption to enter the country.
You are very confused by the whole concept of a travel visa. It is a permission to enter the country, subject to the satisfaction of an immigration officer upon arrival. The visa itself does not guarantee entry.
That said, legally the good folk in immigration need to follow due process. Novax squirmed his way out by legal recourse, but, subsequently, his repeated bad behavior as a role model for the novax covidiots made it easy for the Immigration Minister to send the arrogant twit back home – wherever that might be – some suggest Monte Carlo, although there’ s a suggestion he would claim Spain as a residence to avoid breaking a other set of rules for entry.
Novax went to court and miraculously three full bench of the federal courtwere dragged out of their weekend slumbers to hear his case – all three agreed that from a legal perspective, the Immigration Minister had acted within his powers and made a reasonable decision. Bye bye Novax and piss off for 3 years) although exceptions can be applied for).
The government’s decisions were tested in court – so much for stupid comments abut lawless states.
As @ DavidF has indicated, Australians have embraced community responsibility, mostly got vaxed and respected mask mandates – their tolerance is tested when those with the cash, or fame, get a free pass – Aussies wanted Novax gone.
Ironically, Novax may have broken more laws by not following health regulations in Serbia and Spain in the couple of weeks before arriving in Australia.
So more the case of a rogue and lawless privileged twat than a lawless state.
Also, very ironically for all of those from the US that spout a load of BS about freedoms and rights – when Australians apply for a Visa Waiver (ESTA) so they can have their Hawaiian vacation, etc., they forego their rights to appeal a determination as to admissibility and if found to have violated the terms of admission, also have no rights to review or appeal, other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any removal action arising from an application for admission under the Visa Waiver Program.
In the Australian system, Novax had access to the full bench of the federal court when found to have lied on his visa documents (he omitted to reveal that he had travelled from Serbia to Spain before arriving in Melbourne via Dubai).
Of course he had the cash to do it – most don’t.
@ Jorge Paez
Absolutely, expect to be locked up, if you refuse to accept the local laws of the nation and states.
@ Gary Leff
A lot has happened since you were last in Australia, including now over 900,000 Americans reported dead from COVID, and a near implosion in your democracy. I would imagine that many Australians would find your own efforts in stoking and encouraging anti-Australian sentiment, almost entirely misguided in fact, and sometimes vile in content, to be very unfortunate, in the event that they were made aware of the content of your posts on Australia and much of the (unmoderated / unchallenged) commentary it solicits.
Many Australians would be aware that your right-wing media commentators have stirred up anti-Australian sentiment amongst the ignorant and uncritical in an attempt to wallpaper your country’s failures in managing COVID.
Unlike @DavidF, however, I doubt that would translate to any discernible negativity. I would expect you to be made to feel most welcome and it’s fantastic you will soon be able to see your family again.
@ A
In case you didn’t get the memo – this blog is dripping with anti-Australian racist comments – @DavidF is doing a great job at exposing the hypocrisy, stupidity, ignorance and bad attitude of many herein.
@ Mark Rascio
When I travel to the USA I have to waiver my legal rights as part of the visa waiver process. How ironic that Novax got a hearing by the full bench of the Australian federal court.
Your concept of freedom (and liberty?) is utterly delusional – everything you do in life is regulated by government to some degree or another. Australians accepted a change to certain “freedoms” in order to control the pandemic, whilst vaccination rates were accelerated. In the meantime, we wear seat belts, don’t drink and drive, wash our hands before working in a restaurant kitchen, etc.
Your understanding of the (legal) checks and balances in place for the exceptional powers of state governments to implement controls during the pandemic is utterly lacking. If you such, you wouldn’t make stupid references to tyranny.
(I would agree with you if you were referring to the use of government powers to detain refugees indefinitely, but not in the case covidiot tennis stars).
But you could line up your 900,000 COVID dead head to toe along I95 and then march beside them, all the way from NY to Miami, chanting nonsense about tyranny and liberty and spouting your anti-vax stupidity.
In Australia, we’ll be enjoying a cold beer with those who otherwise would be our dead, thankful for the attention, care and respect that each had bestowed upon the other. Thankful that our kids won’t get shot up at school. Thankful that our democracy isn’t under attack from within. Thankful for our universal health care system. And shaking our heads when we hear that there are STILL folk bleating about freedoms despite the overwhelming and ever accruing evidence a to the stupidity of their position.
@ Ty
You’ll need to comply with the local QR check in / proof of vaccination system when and if you visit Australia.
To correct your own display of idiocy – you need to compare vaccination rates either per eligible population (which differs between countries) or relative to total population: I’m seeing Australia at 79% (total population) and USA at 64%.
To correct your ignorance over testing rates – Australian states formerly quoted just PCR-based tests: Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) have only recently been accepted for use and states now add these to the dataset and mandate reporting of positive test results, thus doubling or tripling the quoted statistics for case rates and trending to more of a focus on hospitalization rates. One could reasonably assume that true case rates for the dominant Omicron variant are grossly underestimated in all jurisdictions.
Now a word of caution about the dataset – the data represent the numbers of positive test results and not numbers of actual cases – this is now especially true with access to and reporting of positive RATs. My wife is taking a RAT every two days as required by her employer. If she was positive (she’s not), she would have submitted four positive test results and that would have been reported as four cases, not one.
Be careful of over hysterical commentators, folks, they presume much and offer little. From an untested, possibly infectious (despite having booster shots) and mathematically numerate Queenslander. Omicron has ripped through our local community, but most here are fully vaxed, many with boosters, and our state hospitals have lower numbers of COVID patients than the best case scenarios generated by the models.
@ Rjb
Fortunately, most Australians disagree with you. They are happy not to have 900,000 dead people on their collective conscience.
@ Mark
Why do you see this as political bias? In Australia, that it is not. State governments from both sides of our political divide adopted broadly similar COVID management strategies.
Yes, in the USA, the whole COVID debate became utterly political. Maybe that’s where you got the idea.
In Australia the measures adopted were largely by state governments under existing health legislation. The check and balance lies within legal challenge (separation of government and judiciary) to application of those laws, which has been tested – so no tyranny 😉
@ Joe
No, mate, you’ll come to Australia at the discretion of the government applying prevailing legal powers to issue you with an appropriate visa and subject to satisfying immigration officers upon arrival. And no, you won’t get to what you want when you’re here – you are subject to the ambient rules and legislation. If you adopt a smart-arse attitude, expect to be “sledged” (Aussie for taking the piss) – all great fun, especially over a few bevvies (drinks).
@ nobody
But masks and social distancing are highly effective.
@ DaveS
Australia is currently confronted with a wave of Omicron which is putting many who work in hospitality into isolation. Supply of Rapid Antigen tests is limited and one key to evolve to “endemic” state and fully opening the borders. Thankfully national vaccination rates are relatively very high. Be patient for a couple of weeks: we seem to be on the downward slope of the Omicron wave.
@ Kevin
Try not to become fooled by the very vocal and very small minority. Consider vaccination rates for the over 16s are at 93% in the state of Victoria (since you mention Melbourne) – in other words, the vast majority of Australians are right behind the local health policy.
@ Arthur
What draconian restrictions do you believe are currently being used in Australia? The country has attained relatively high vaccination rates, booster rates are going well, most states no longer impose domestic travel restrictions, most states are opening up to international travel (subject to vaccination) without quarantine on arrival, Omicron cases appear to be on the downward trend.
@ Woofie
Pfizer did not accept funding to develop its vaccine as part of tRump’s Operation Warp Speed – it did get an advance purchase agreement so was involved as potential supplier.
Australian scientists developed a local vaccine, so we would have had a local one if needed.
Our current federal government is a right wing with the typical racism that comes with that side of politics, but falling dismally in the polls with an election in a couple of months’ time. It may be safe to visit, especially since you’re boosted and not a whingeing man baby (like many herein) about wearing a mask if and when required.
So, let’s look at the process Australia used to try and keep deaths to a minimum:
Close all borders, including internal ones.
Initiate lock-downs to further restrict movement during “outbreaks”. (The definition of an outbreak was set at a VERY low level of detected cases.)
Both these worked quite well, and for most of Australia, domestic life continued pretty much as normal for the last few years. (Respects to Melbourne though).
Obviously keeping people from moving (particularly in a nation so full of immigrants) is a hard ask, but most Australians understood the dynamic between; travel, virus spread and death rates. (Reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode, where someone is given a box and told if they open it they will get a million dollars, but someone they don’t know will die… Well, obviously the national psyche of Australians is to not open that box!)
So Australia awaited and watched (after effectively eradicating the virus from its shores), and saw many places in the rest of the world falter and death rates rage, so it understood that this pandemic would become endemic, and un-eradicable elsewhere. But they had the solution to deal with that and reopening its borders, population-wide high quality vaccination, but it would take time to get everyone jabbed.
Once a certain high population vaccination rate was reached, the virus was always gong to be let into the country…. and it certainly squeaked through the border earlier than many hoped! Many other restrictions were loosened: masks, contact tracing, venue limits, social distancing. Some have come back to try and temper the spread a little, but overall the death rate (thanks to vaccination) is around 1/50th of that during the original Alpha/Beta stages of the pandemic (although those numbers were comparatively very small).
So I would expect that by the time international borders reopen, things like; QR code check-in, mask mandates, vaccination status checks… etc, are likely to be dropped in most locations.
By that stage, Covid will be managed more like endemic Influenza (with seasonal change ) than a pandemic. Which Australia can do, given its universal heath care system, high quality medical facilities, and other extensive social services.
As an Australian, I hope no-one is put off by David F’s rubbish. The vast majority of Australians are eagerly awaiting the arrival of international tourists – certainly in the main tourist areas of Sydney, the Gold Coast and North Queensland. Our economy has been hit hard by the closures here – thousands of people lost their jobs and a huge number of businesses went broke. We can’t wait to welcome you all back. But sure – you’ll need to follow whatever Covid rules may be in place, just as we Australians do when we are visiting other countries. There is nothing to fear here – except not wanting to leave!
OzBound and Gary,
Please don’t be concerned by DavidF. Very few places here actually ask for proof of vaccination, and for those that do, your US paperwork will be quite sufficient. There is no requirement that your vax prof be attached to the state Covid app.
Technically, most states require people to check-in to shops and restaurants by using each state’s Covid app – but hardly anyone actually does this in practice. Feel free to download the app and check-in if you want, but it’s quite pointless since they stopped doing contact tracing.
I also live on the Gold Coast and I have yet to be asked by any shop, cafe or restaurant at Pacific Fair or anywhere else to show my proof of vaccination or check-in!
We look forward to welcoming you warmly.