Let’s acknowledge what lockouts do.
Once we get to the point, and that is certainly the point we want to get past, 80% … home quarantine needs to be a viable and widespread option for people who are travelling overseas and returning. And indeed people who are overseas and have been vaccinated by the vaccines that are recognised in Australia.
For that to occur then we need to get these home quarantine models up and running in states and territories across the country.
That means that people will be able to in states that aren’t locking others out, those states who have moved into those thresholds, there will be opportunity for people to go and travel and return to Australia and quarantine at home.
That people in those states [who] were overseas can come back to Australia. And the caps that are on flights coming into those places that have gone into that zone that aren’t locking others out, they will be able to receive more and more and it will be a big change.
And you know, in many states, and I think of states like South Australia for example when I discussed this with premier [Steven] Marshall yesterday, he is a strong supporter of the national plan because he knows South Australia will lead the students to come back.
They will need the skilled migrants to come back. They will need to be connecting up with all of those things that enable their economy to be successful.
And it is important, whether it is the tourists, students or skilled workers, the connection with the rest of the world, the trade that comes from that, all of that is essential to Australia’s future prosperity in whatever state you live on in this country. And that is why the national plan is so important.
The national plan connects us together again as Australians and connects us to the world again and enables Australia to secure our future in the Covid world.
