Shock (but fabulous) news this morning, with the announcement that Queensland will reopen its border to ALL of New South Wales from Tuesday, December 1. And Victorians and our friends down in Radelaide won’t be far behind to the beach either.
You can feel the massive relief, tears and joy that have followed the news we’ve all been waiting for today.
FINALLY! Some common sense.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the huge announcement this morning saying she was very positive about reopening the borders with New South Wales and Victoria.
“We know how tough this has been on families. This is a great day. It’s exciting news,” said Ms Palaszczuk.
“It is wonderful to be back in communication with the New South Wales premier, and I am also in contact with the Victorian premier on a regular basis.
“That is how we always want to work in the best interests of our states, but we are all part of a national cabinet and we want to work in the best interests of all of Australia as well.” She said.
After all the angst in recent months, that’s some turnaround. And an extremely welcome one at that.
And in great news for everyone in Victoria, the premier said that a decision will be made on the Victorian border tomorrow, November 25.
The guess is that Victorians will also be allowed to enter Queensland without the 14-day mandatory quarantine, on the proviso that VIC does not record a new case on Wednesday 25th November.
And a message of hope for tourism from the premier… “Queensland is good to go. We absolutely want to see our tourism industry continue to flourish and prosper.” Said the premier.
FINALLY! Sydneysiders will be able to reunite with family and friends in Queensland and fingers crossed Victorians too well before Christmas.
Is this the end of state and territory borders repeatedly closing?
Ms Palaszczuk said there would have to be “a major outbreak” for the borders to close again” from Queensland’s perspective.
While New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian said that once borders open, they should remain open indefinitely even if and when outbreaks do occur in the future.
“I don’t want to give the message to the community that the borders will keep opening and shutting at a whim because that doesn’t give anybody any certainty.” She said.
Meanwhile, Adelaide remains a hotspot but Queensland says they will review the situation in South Australia at the end of November and again hopefully reopen the border for Christmas.
And as for Western Australia… All is still quiet.
Since all this nonsense began back in March, we’ve been updating our Australian border story on a regular basis, and we’re absolutely thrilled to say that soon it won’t be needed anymore.
What a moment that will be when we can finally tick WA off too.
In the meantime, get ready for more flight sales and deals from all the major airlines in the next couple of days and a travel rush into Christmas.