PM announces plan to fast track international travel for millions
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet are looking to "accelerate" opening the international border for the state after its vaccine rollout continued to go from strength to strength.
Mr Morrison said it will be made possible once home quarantine arrangements are finalised, a process he revealed NSW is also trying to fast track.
"If that happens we will be able to move to facilitate the opening up of the international border in NSW sooner," he said in a video address.
Mr Morrison said it would allow not only Australians overseas to return home but vaccinated residents to also travel abroad.
The target date for reopening is November 1 in just three weeks time, news.com.au understands.
Mr Morrison praised the effect of the vaccine which, alongside lockdown measures, has seen daily Covid cases fall from a high of 1599 to just 477 on Sunday.
"The vaccines are doing their job, they're working," he said.
NSW reached 90.1 per cent of its eligible population aged 16 and above with at least one dose on Sunday, a figure he said put Australia ahead of nations once lauded for their impressive rates.
He called such progress an "amazing achievement".
Mr Morrison noted how difficult the current situation in Melbourne is as daily cases near 2000. He said there is "light at the end of the tunnel" however and said the state is following NSW's example with impressive vaccination rates.
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