'Fortress Australia' re-opens after two-year COVID closure

Simian Lane said

I wouldn’t go there if you paid me...

I'll let the consulate know. Flags at half mast across the nation.

 wouldn’t go there if you paid me,

I would.

Wishing well to the good people of Australia.

the government has surely tarnished Australia’s reputation for many years to come. Let’s see.

Only among a certain group of people. They tend to be peevish types. I’m sure Australia will survive without them.

Fine country. If you haven’t been there, I recommend it.

Good news - a beautiful country full of warm, friendly people. I've yet to win a drinking contest with any of my RAAF counterparts...but had a good time doing it...

SanjinosebleedToday  09:24 am JST

@prionking

Western Australia is even worse. Mcclown has turned it into a police state!

No he hasn't.

chinpo wo sasageyo

Don't forget to bring your money with you.

The real reason why years of zero-Covid nonsense finally ends and he didn't even try to hide it.

Zero covid ended months ago. Try to keep up.

Australia opened its international borders to all vaccinated tourists Monday

Still closed for novaks

Brilliant. I can finally go see family and friends and reintroduce myself to the awesomeness that is Australian beaches.

To Eastman and others. My wife returns in a few days from Japan to Australia and I have sought and received assurances that - if the international arriving traveller has received a negative test prior to departure and is fully vaccinated the only requirement is to return directly to accommodation, or home, take a RAT test ( rapid antigen test ) and isolate until result of test is negative ( 15 minutes ). This so for Eastern States, Qld NSW and VIC. Western Australia and South Australia and Tasmania may have more onerous obligations. No sweat!

Oz is a wonderland of nature and light. Apart from the native wowsers , beer-swilling low-brows, poisonous spiders and snakes and hungry sharks what's not to love? A summer Down Under is the perfect time to take a holiday break from a freezing Japan winter.

thank you for your smart suggestions but yes maybe I am to spoilt as I wanted read exact information in this article 

You always get travel info from news articles?/

I dont call this "reopening" I call this just a pure segregation!

why majority of Australian nationals are vaxxed, the most popular countries that come to Australia are majority vaxxed including Japan. So the majority dictate what the minority will do, thats democracy

Thanks mate,so for according your talk Australia welcomes "vaccinated only" travellers?Its does seems to me as full re-opening at all?

well to the countries that have a majority of vaccinated nationals, which is nearly all of Australias most popular visitors, it wont be a problem for them. then youve got the problem of finding an airline that let passenger board their planes unvaxxed, goodluck

Anyway the very first sentence of the article says it clearly:

SYDNEY - Australia opened its international borders to all vaccinated tourists Monday

I prefer to bring my money to my Mom and Pops Izakaya here in Japan.

Japan has had strict quarantine and border closures and a large majority vaccinated and adhering to health officials advice.

Mom and Pop here are no different from Mom and Pop in Australia. Don’t forget to take your money with you.

What kind of money-grabber actually says things like this?

You're gonna lose it when you find out about capitalism.

What kind of money-grabber actually says things like this?

anybody that lives in a capitalist country

@Simian Lane - then stay where you are! We’re not forcing you to visit.

@gazman - can I have the link for those videos please?

@Eastman - are you vaccinated?

I doubt our reputation has been ‘tarnished’, each country handled the pandemic their own way, our way whilst harsh compared to others certainly assisted us. I’m in WA and we’ve been quite fortunate until now..

And the PM’s comment about bringing your money, well we Aussies get it, its a playful remark, personally I would’ve just said bring your wallet and empty suitcases.

them and accepting that they have to allow travel and other restrictions to lapse in order to save their economies and government finances.

tourism isnt even close to Australia's biggest industry, its iron ore mineral exports and food, you know the thing that countries cant do without. their GDP growth has weathered covid far better than most countries worldwide, tourism will just give them the icing they havent had for the last couple years.

Australia exports what people NEED not what people WANT,

big difference , tourism is a want industry

No thanks, I have never had the desire to visit police states. I'd rather go to the UK or Denmark.

lol have you ever been out at night in London or UK city, armed police walking everywhere,

if you can navigate all the drunk morons starting fights in the streets, thats not even taking into account the terroism threats

No thanks, I have never had the desire to visit police states. I'd rather go to the UK or Denmark.

I hear Dubai and Sweden are also popular. Don’t forget to spend a lot of money.

Don't forget to bring your money with you.

The real reason why years of zero-Covid nonsense finally ends and he didn't even try to hide it.

Everyone is acting like the pandemic is over. It is not and covid continues to mutate. Omicron 2 or stealth covid is as deadly as delta and harder to detect while being 30-40% more transmissible than omicron and killing people from children and upwards. Long covid, as described on JT by a young Japanese journalist recently who has had it for over a year shows part of the cost for every age group.

We all "want" this to be over but acting to soon could well have catastrophic consequences down the road. Do not be surprised if it takes a turn for the worse with people trying to go back to the old normal of no precautions.

Probably the smallest continent and the biggest island

Scotty from Marketing can go play in traffic.

sorry Scott I will pack my bags,will prepare money but not for Australia.

im sure Australia isnt worried about the antivaxxers, theyre a small minority, their most popular tourist come from countries that are majority vaxxed. about 10million tourist come to Australia prior to covid.

im sure theyll be back to normal with a couple years

"Don't forget to bring your money with you, because you'll find plenty of places to spend it."

Guess that pretty much sums it up. Wonder how many of the "plenty of places" won't include the little guys that couldn't weather the covid lockdowns and manage to stay in business.

Wouldn't it be nice to save the money you'd spend on airfare and a chain hotel, and instead donate it to the struggling shopkeepers and restaurateurs that got shut down permanently because of covid so that they get another shot at things now?

Western Australia is even worse. Mcclown has turned it into a police state!

lol WA has been opened for over a year, sport events, people going out.

other countries not so much, this what happens when you take the pandemic seriously, keep infections contained until a majority of the population have reached herd immunity through vaccination.

WA has done this which is why theyve got one of the lowest infection and deaths per capita in the world.

There isnt one EU country that has done a better job than Australia, or any Nth or Sth American country for that matter. Australia GDP growth over the last 2 yrs has outperformed nearly all of them also.

Hmm.....Im still cynical about the Morrison Govt.s reasoning on opening up .....I think an election has concentrated the minds of the politicians of the right wing LNP party in charge.

Im also mindful of the rapid about faces re: covid regulations that we've seen in the past.

An upswing in cases could see more restrictions AFTER the election if LNP win again.

And my God, how were those scenes of Police on horses patrolling beaches, and the Army knocking on doors to see if the right number of people were home.

Nah.....I''m Aussie but that stuff really burnt.

Not interested in any country/locale that thought "lockdowns" was helpful instead of harmful.

Antivaxers always get this part wrong.

It's not your decision to give your money to businesses or countries that require vaccine passports.

It's their decision.

They don't want you and your money.

The first sentence made me laugh for its sheer stupidity. Australia is not an "island nation". It's a continent.

Money running out? Seems to me that more and more countries putting their past mistakes behind them and accepting that they have to allow travel and other restrictions to lapse in order to save their economies and government finances.

"Pack your bags," he told potential visitors, adding, "Don't forget to bring your money with you, because you'll find plenty of places to spend it."

What kind of money-grabber actually says things like this?

I prefer to bring my money to my Mom and Pops Izakaya here in Japan.

They are struggeling a lot during this pandemic, and I prefer to support them, than to follow a politician's request from overseas "Don't forget to bring your money with you".

Mom and Pop here are no different from Mom and Pop in Australia.

I agree!

But Japan is my home!

Japan is the country I am living, and before I support some a Mom and Pop restaurant in another country, I support a Mom and Pop Izakaya in the country I am living and call my home, and which gives me best hospitality since many many years.

Ah. The return of industrial tourism. A problem in and of itself.

I think the new title sums it up pretty well!

Fortress Australia!

The Govt has woken up that there is an election around the corner and Australians have had an absolute gutful of the draconian stealth mandates by default. When they started talking about mandating 3 doses the polls took a nose dive and so did the discussions about mandating 3 doses!

No thanks, I have never had the desire to visit police states. I'd rather go to the UK or Denmark.

Do they think people have forgotten the videos of children being ripped from their parents arms because they’ve got covid? I’d go to China before I went to Auz…..

Can't enter as an unjabbed citizen though without a stay win one of their Orwellian quarantine camps, and even jabbed people who go to Victoria have to comply with their ridiculous vaccine passport system to get a simple cup of coffee.

No thanks.

@prionking

Western Australia is even worse. Mcclown has turned it into a police state!