Australia COVID: Pressure builds on premiers to reopen for Christmas

Australia should be open for Christmas, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says, as the pressure moves to state premiers to ease restrictions and open their borders once 80 per cent of eligible people over 16 are fully vaccinated.

“That’s a gift I’d like to see us give,” he told Channel 7, adding once the 80 per cent double-dose COVID-19 vaccine threshold had been met, he could see no reason why people should continue to be kept from each other.

The Prime Minister’s comments come as Queensland and Western Australia indicated their borders could remain closed even after the 80 per cent threshold was achieved.

Premiers Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mark McGowan said their states already enjoyed the freedoms NSW and Victoria would gain once the vaccination thresholds were met, and the national plan allowed borders to remain shut.

A spokesman for Mark McGowan said under the national plan, states and territories could continue to apply measures to keep their states safe – “be it with lockdowns or border control”.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he hoped borders would open once vaccination targets had been met.