South Australia will reopen its borders to the Northern Territory and Western Australia but will keep borders closed between NSW and the ACT due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.
South Australian Premier Stephen Marshall today announced the state would reopen borders to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and some of Queensland, all of which have active, locally acquired cases of COVID-19.
“Now we have considered the ACT very carefully,” he said. “We know that there are no cases there, we haven’t had community transmission in Canberra for an extended period of time.”
But, ultimately, Mr Marshall said the “porous” border between the ACT and NSW and concerns about the delta variant circulating in Sydney meant South Australia would remain closed to both.
Meanwhile, Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan has said the state could impose a “permanent hard border” with NSW, should the state fail to “crush and kill” COVID-19. His comments come after the NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard suggested NSW might have to “accept that the virus has a life which will continue in the community”.
The Western Australian border is currently shut to the ACT, too, given its proximity to NSW.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Canberra is “clearly not a part of Greater Sydney… this should be acknowledged by other jurisdictions”.
“I have been in regular contact with my SA and WA counterparts during the latest Sydney outbreaks and following yesterday’s announcements have put to them that the greatest risk period for the ACT from the Greater Sydney outbreak has now passed.
“We will continue to press the case with South Australia and hope their decision will be reconsidered next week,” he said.
“I understand the WA-ACT border arrangements will be considered again soon.”
Canberra Airport head Stephen Byron has today expressed his frustration with South Australia and Western Australia for keeping borders closed to the ACT despite no cases of coronavirus, impacting the airline industry and grounding Qantas and Virgin flights to Adelaide and Perth.
Mr Byron said on ABC Radio this morning the border closures are “just a bit hard to take”. He said Canberra is being penalised for an “outbreak with no cases”, and suggested Canberra Airport could suspend flights from Adelaide and Perth from landing in Canberra.
“Borders should be assured to stay open where there are zero cases. I don’t think it’s that big an ask.”
Mr Marshall said earlier today South Australia’s concerns were in part due to the 10,000 people under stay-at-home orders after visiting Greater Sydney. Mr Barr yesterday said around 6,400 people were at home due to having been in Greater Sydney, with numbers continuing to drop as more people completed their 14-day stay-at-home order.
