Home

Coronavirus crisis: Mark McGowan confirms WA border with South Australia will open Christmas Day

Peter LawThe West Australian
CommentsComments
Mark McGowan said the low number of cases in NSW was “very positive” but the results didn’t change his mind about WA’s hard border with Australia’s most populous State.
Camera IconMark McGowan said the low number of cases in NSW was “very positive” but the results didn’t change his mind about WA’s hard border with Australia’s most populous State. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Quarantine-free travel from South Australia to WA will restart on Christmas Day, Mark McGowan has confirmed.

As first reported by The West Australia this morning, the SA-WA border will reopen at 12.01am on December 25.

The border was slammed shut in mid-November as SA authorities scrambled to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Adelaide.

SA reaches 28 days with no community cases — the trigger for a State or Territory to be considered “very low risk” by WA authorities — on Christmas Day.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

“For many South Australians that won’t be ideal, but we think that’s the right approach and that just follows with our very cautionary and precautionary approach to dealing with COVID,” the Premier told 6PR radio.

The announcement means families can reunite for a late Christmas lunch, with the earliest direct Qantas flight from Adelaide landing at Perth Airport just before 2pm.

However, anyone who arrives from SA in WA before Friday will be required to serve 14 days in self-quarantine.

: South Australian Premier Steven Marshall speaks during a COVID-19 press conference.
Camera Icon: South Australian Premier Steven Marshall speaks during a COVID-19 press conference. Credit: Kelly Barnes/Getty Images

The West Australian understands consideration was given by the WA Government to potentially bring forward the SA reopening date by a day or two.

But that idea was scuppered by the outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches, which on Tuesday grew to 91 cases.

NSW detected eight new cases, including seven linked with the Avalon outbreak. The cases were recorded from a record 44,466 tests.

One case—– not linked with the cluster — was also recorded in a nurse who works in the transfer of patients from the international airport.

Mr McGowan said the low number of cases was “very positive” but the results didn’t change his mind about WA’s hard border with NSW.

He also confirmed NSW would have to go 28 days with no community spread of the virus for quarantine-free travel with WA to resume.

“I’m very pleased for NSW and very pleased for all the people who were at risk. I think the shutdown of the northern beaches ... was a good decision and I think that will have helped. They’re not out of the woods yet but it’s really very, very positive,” he said.

“We have to be very careful and you just don’t know if it got out anywhere else at this point in time. They’ve had a lot of testing, not many cases which is a great sign but we just will be careful.”

Quiet streets at Avalon Beach as Sydney’s Northern Beaches enters day one of the lockdown.
Camera IconQuiet streets at Avalon Beach as Sydney’s Northern Beaches enters day one of the lockdown. Credit: Jeremy Piper/NCA Newswire

The Premier warned uncertainty over interstate border closures is going to be a part of life until a vaccine is rolled-out sometime in 2021.

“As we’ve gone down the COVID road over the course of this year there’s been lots of arguments and fighting and name calling ... but what inevitably seems to happen is we’re very, very cautious, which stands us in good stead, but then subsequent weeks there’s then an outbreak in another State so we have to close the border again,” he said.

“Until we get a decent vaccine and I think this is the world we’re in.”

Mr McGowan is also due to provide a pre-Christmas update on quarantine requirements for travellers from New Zealand and local gathering restrictions, such as the 2sqm rule.

The Sydney outbreak today spread to Victoria after a teenage girl who visited several of the exposure sites in the northern beaches returned to Melbourne and tested positive.

Health authorities in Victoria said the 15-year-old’s close contacts were believed to be limited but contact tracing was underway.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails