Western Australia delays border reopening

On Wednesday, 20th January, the Western Australian Premier, Mark McGowan, announced that WA would push back the re-opening of the state border amid concerns about the transmissibility of the Omicron variant. 

In December the Premier announced that the border would re-open on February 5th. No new date for the re-opening has been announced, with WA health stating that they would continue to monitor the situation in the Eastern States. 

The purpose of the delay is to provide West Australians with sufficient time to receive their third dose. Currently, 25.8% of Western Australians aged 16 and over have received a third dose of a vaccine.  

UPDATED RESTRICTIONS 

Under the new hard border settings, approved travellers may enter WA for the following reasons:

• Returning Western Australians, with strong recent connections or direct legitimate family connections with WA;
• Compassionate grounds including funeral, palliative care or terminally ill visitation;
• Member of the family of an approved traveller;
• People entering for urgent and essential medical treatment;
• Reasons of national and state security;
• Commonwealth and State officials, Members of Parliament, Diplomats;
• Provision of specialist skills not available in WA, health services, emergency service workers;
• People required to attend court matters, judicial officers and staff of court, tribunals and commissions; and
•  Special considerations and extraordinary circumstances are determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or Chief Health Officer.

However, they must comply with the restrictions outlined below.

INTERSTATE TRAVEL 

Interstate Travellers will need to meet the following requirements:

• Have an approved G2G Pass, under the new exemption criteria. 
• Be triple dose vaccinated if eligible (double dose vaccinated if not eligible for third)
• Provide proof of a negative Rapid Antigen Test within 24 hours before departure
• Undertake 14 days of self-quarantine at a suitable premises, with the same requirements for household members at the self-quarantine premises
• Return a negative  PCR test within 48 hours of arrival and on day 12 of self-quarantine. Household members will also be required to undertake a PCR test on the traveller’s day 12.
• Be subject to mandatory use of G2G Now and in-person checks by WA Police as required
• Additional requirements are in place for domestic road travel to keep WA safe:

Interstate travellers will be restricted from travelling into remote Aboriginal communities.

Approved domestic travellers to limit travel to 1,500km from road borders, to enable people to travel by road to suitable premises for quarantine in Perth from Eucla. 

Entry at the Kununurra border will only be for transport, freight and logistics and border community residents.

OVERSEAS TRAVEL 

International travellers will need to meet the following requirements:

• Meet the Commonwealth requirements to enter Australia under the arrivals cap
• Undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine including, seven days in hotel quarantine and if eligible, seven days of self-quarantine at a suitable premises, 
• Return a negative PCR test on days one, six, nine and 12, and household members will also be required to do a PCR test on the traveller’s day 12
• Be subject to mandatory use of G2G Now and in-person checks by WA Police as required

International travel in-directly into WA via another state or territory will be subject to the same entry and quarantine requirements as domestic travellers

Current entry arrangements remain unchanged for transport, freight and logistics, maritime, aircraft crew, rig/platform and specific industries approved by the State Emergency Coordinator and Chief Health Officer.

The Premier has stated that border controls will be re-evaluated over the course of the month. 

For more information, please contact Simon Banks, Managing Director on +61 419 638 587.