‘No rush to open borders’

SCOTT Morrison has warned it is “not safe” for Australia to turn the switch on its international border closure.

The Prime Minister has rejected a growing push from MPs and business leaders to soon reopen the country after assumptions in the budget revealed border restrictions would not ease until mid-2022.

Speaking in Brisbane, Mr Morrison (pictured) said Australians understood the importance of caution.

“It is not safe to take those next steps right now,” he said on Monday. “It’s not one day the borders are open, one day the borders are closed. That’s not how it works. There is a sliding sort of scale here, and we’re working on the next steps.”

Mr Morrison said these included fully vaccinated Australians being exempt from domestic restrictions and the return of international students and skilled migrants to address workforce shortages.

“There are some practical challenges that we are working on now and finding solutions to,” Mr Morrison said.

“I’m looking forward to further discussions with the Singapore government about them being the next potential (travel bubble) country.”

The nation’s former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth also expects a gradual opening of borders, which he says will probably come in the first half of 2022.

Dr Coatsworth said vaccinations would help Aussies feel more comfortable about the threat of COVID-19.

“I think at least the first half of 2022 is when we can start a slow, methodical and safe opening up of our international borders,” he told Today. “What we have to start a conversation with the community about is what do we do in 2022?

“What do we do when the majority of Australians are vaccinated and immune, safe from hospitalisation, safe from death from COVID-19?”

Almost three in four voters surveyed in an exclusive Newspoll for The Australian said international borders should remain closed until at least the middle of next year and supported the government’s approach.

Victorian Liberal MP Katie Allen agreed that Australia should retain its border restrictions, saying COVID-19 is still raging overseas.

“We are where we are because we have done the right thing, listened to the evidence, and no one thinks we should open now,” Dr Allen told Today. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start having a conversation about what the future might look like. But we’re in a good position for now and we should stick with it.”

Labor backbencher Joel Fitzgibbon said MPs pressuring Mr Morrison to open the border sooner were feeling pressure from voters in their own electorates.

But he said getting stranded Aussies home put other Australians at risk.