Scott Morrison has declared lockdowns will be unsustainable once widespread vaccination coverage is achieved, in another warning shot to state premiers.
The prime minister continues to pressure state governments hinting at backing away from an agreement to end lockdowns and reopen Australia.
National cabinet has set vaccine coverage thresholds of 70 and 80 per cent to reduce the chances of lockdowns and move towards more normal settings.
Mr Morrison said the focus would shift to hospitalisation numbers rather than daily cases when immunisation targets are hit.
“That is our goal – to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
Consensus has frayed with Western Australia not budging from its zero-case goal and Queensland warning it may not reopen its NSW border even at the higher threshold.
Updated Doherty Institute modelling will be presented to a national cabinet meeting of the country’s leaders on Friday.
Mr Morrison said heavy restrictions, which are affecting more than half of Australia’s population across Victoria, NSW and the ACT, could not go on forever.
“It is always darkest before the dawn and I think these lockdowns are demonstration of that,” he said.
“But the dawn is not far away. We should not delay it, we should prepare for it. We should not fear it, we should embrace it and we should move forward together.”
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly believes eliminating all cases is not achievable in the long-term.
Professor Kelly said even New Zealand, which is pursuing an elimination goal, was coping with an outbreak in Auckland.
“The whole of national cabinet, including the West Australian premier, did sign up to the plan only a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles urged the prime minister to show more leadership.
“We’re getting this debate at the moment because we don’t have leadership from the federal government,” he told Sky News.
“Scott Morrison has gone missing and he’s struggling to get all the states on the same page.”
Qantas boss Alan Joyce said it would be a “terrible shame” if the agreement was not maintained and challenged premiers to explain how life would return to normal.
“There would be a big backlash if people can maybe even go to London and visit relatives there is for Christmas but can’t go to Perth to visit their relatives,” he told the ABC.
Australia has fully vaccinated 30 per cent of its population aged 16 and above, while 52 per cent have had one jab.
AAP
