Scott Morrison believes international travel could be on the near horizon for fully vaccinated Australians.
The prime minister and Qantas are pinning a reopening of borders on having 80 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older fully vaccinated.
“It enables Australians who are vaccinated … to be able to travel and return at significantly reduced risks to themselves and others,” Mr Morrison told reporters on Friday.
Qantas earlier revealed plans to resume flights to some low-risk destinations with high vaccination rates from the end of the year.
These include Singapore, Japan, the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
The airline will require travellers to be vaccinated.
An expansion of home quarantine, currently being trialled in South Australia, could also be on the cards under higher vaccination rates.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham expects the type of quarantine people will be expected to do depends on where they’re coming from.
“There may well be some significant changes in terms of what we’ve known quarantine to be to what it will be and there may well be new additional green zone countries,” he told Sky News.
“We are continually looking at that situation and evaluating it.”
Slightly more than 32 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older are fully vaccinated.
There is contention among state, territory and federal leaders about whether to include younger children in Australia’s vaccination thresholds.
Mr Morrison is adamant this is not necessary under modelling provided to the national cabinet.
AAP
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