Australian states free of COVID resist opening their borders

“We are in paradise,” said one of those fans, Andrea Williams, who is all for the region continuing to defy the federal government and maintain strict border restrictions that keep it separated from the pandemic raging in large parts of the rest of Australia

with the exception of sports stars and officials of course, who seem to jet about the planet pretty-much as usual.... a new branch of the elite....

Always said WA should be an independent country.

Freedom with prevention is a best word to liberty.

Australia will be in the ridiculous situation where residents from Victoria and New South Wales will be able to travel to internationally to places such as the UK before they are able to reunite with family members in WA. What a backwards country...

Bradley

There is no sense in throwing open the borders until at least 80% of eligible people are vaccinated. To do so would be inviting the grim reaper in.

Totally agree.

SteveinJapan

What a backwards country...

Try hiding your jealousy a little better. ;-)

Try hiding your jealousy a little better. ;-)

Mate, I'm an Australian citizen, but absolutely delighted I don't live there.

Bradley

Western Australia has a lower than hoped for vaccination rate but it's improving.

That line became invalid long ago once we learned that the vaccinated can get and spread the infection like everyone else. Why keep bringing up this dud?

There is no sense in throwing open the borders until at least 80% of eligible people are vaccinated. To do so would be inviting the grim reaper in.

The numbers for the now edemic disease do not support wild claims like that.

An area that is covid free today could be overwhelmed with covid in a few weeks. It just takes one carrier of the delta variant to spread the virus everywhere.

Nobody gets in, people like me going for a funeral! Haven’t seen my family and probably won’t, They’re happy and full of themselves, live it up guys it will leak in eventually with those much needed goods that you are happy to let in on trucks. Anyways WA is hot crappy boring place, nothing to see there folks.

Prison WA

I'm an Australian as well and glad as ever i dont live there have been in Japan since 2003 , bloody nanny states too many rules compliance border checks fines etc Japan has done a great job so far .

This was always a likelihood when the federal government closed the borders and went for Covid zero. They have created their own mess.

The simple solution is to accept internal borders, open up half the country to international travel, and shift the financial burden of residual covid financial support on to states. Then wait until the inevitable happens and Delta hits 'paradise'.

Aussies have had so much time to get vaccinated and wasted it. Now they are trailing the developed world. Get a jab whilst the numbers are still low.

Perth doctor Omar Khorshid, national president of the Australian Medical Association, said keeping the state border closed is popular among many of his patients. But they should understand it's not possible to keep Delta out, he said.

And yet for months they have managed exactly that.

Mate, I'm an Australian citizen, but absolutely delighted I don't live there.

I also am Australian and I am absolutely delighted that I do live in Australia. I would not want to live anywhere else.

As for WA, if they want to keep borders closed until they choose to open up that is their choice. Their economy has been underwriting the rest of the nation and their state budget surplus of $5.6 billion dollars shows what they are doing is working very well indeed. A little less criticism from other states not doing as well would be more mature. Concentrate on vaccinating the population and worry less of the success in WA.

WA should also put more effort into vaccinations while they have the good fortune to be free of covid.

In order to save the public from a disease whose average age of death in Australia is 84, they will have to permanently isolate the whole state.

May as well slice themselves off from the rest of the country and drift off.

Always said WA should be an independent country.

unless they want to surrender all their mineral resources.

those resources are for all Australians not just WA,

wonder if they were so inclined for Independence if the bulk of WA resources were in say QLD.

 Japan has done a great job so far

compared to who

Australias deaths per capita from covid, is 45/million.

New Zealand 5/million

Japan 130/million

USA 2024/million. 50x that of Australia

Israel 784/million. 17x that of Australia

with the national government arguing that internal border restrictions are a drag on the national economy.

Just only envying….I don’t see such a drag on economy in the East, when they only party, visit sports events or enjoy some nightlife there. Have fun and avoid the viral intruders… lol

marcels

I'm an Australian as well and glad as ever i dont live there have been in Japan since 2003 , bloody nanny states too many rules compliance border checks fines etc Japan has done a great job so far

Unfortunately, the numbers don't agree:

Japan: 132 deaths / million

Australia: 42 deaths / million

It's true that governments in Australia are compelled to bubble wrap the population, but once 75-80% of the population are fully vaccinated, it's obvious they will open up. Opening up before then will just result in lockdowns and preventable deaths like the rest of the world

There have been three types of approaches to the pandemic from the world’s nations. On one end you have countries like America and Brazil who mostly went with little interference in business and tried to go on as normal. On the other hand you have countries like New Zealand and Australia who went with lockdowns and supporting business financially. Then you had countries who did some blend of those two styles.

Different people obviously have different ideas on which approach is best. But even if you disagree with the Australian approach, their Covid numbers speak to the efficacy of that approach. The question is not whether the approach was a good one - it clearly was - the question is whether it was worth the cost to achieve that goal.

I believe it was. That’s my opinion.