Western Australia Will Reopen Its Domestic and International Borders on March 3
After postponing its plan to ditch its hard border in February, WA will finally reopen to the rest of the country — and the world — in March.
It's happening a month later than last planned, but holidays in Western Australia are finally back on the agenda effective Thursday, March 3. And if you live in WA, getaways somewhere other than your home state will become an easy possibility again as well, with Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan locking in a new border reopening date.
There's more than a little deja vu to this announcement, given that Western Australian Government set a February 5 date back in December 2021, then suspended those plans indefinitely due to the Omicron wave elsewhere in the country. But now there's a new firm date, with the Premier revealing the news on Friday, February 18.
Consider it a late new year's gift, a chance to see friends and family, or — for folks now keen to head west ASAP — an excuse to visit WA's newly minted best Australian beach for 2022. When the borders reopen, the state will adopt its updated safe transition plan that'll allow travellers from other states and overseas destinations to visit again. And yes, the reopening will apply to both WA's domestic and international borders.
Today we announced the new date for WA's full border opening – and it's worth talking through how we got here.
Four weeks ago, on January 20, we took the difficult decision to delay Western Australia's full border opening. pic.twitter.com/zEpV2tQRoR
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) February 18, 2022
There'll be different rules in place depending on where you're entering from; however, you'll need to be triple-vaccinated to enter from interstate, also undertake a rapid antigen test upon arrival, and have one of WA's G2G passes registered.
For those making the journey from an international location, there'll be no quarantine for vaccinated arrivals — and the same testing requirements will be in place for both domestic and overseas travellers. If you're unvaxxed, you'll still need to go into hotel quarantine for seven days.
The border news comes as WA's COVID-19 case numbers have been rising — 194 local cases were reported on the same day as the announcement — with the Premier advising that "we held back Omicron as much as we could".
"There comes a point where the border is redundant, because we'll already have the growth of cases here, having the border is no longer effective," McGowan also noted.
Effective Monday, February 21, WA also brought in a range of new public health and social measures for the Perth, Peel, South West, Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Pilbara regions, limiting at-home gatherings and venue capacities, and requiring COVID-19 safety checklists or plans for events with more than 500 people. The mask mandate for indoor settings was also extended to apply statewide.
To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Western Australia, and the state's corresponding restrictions, visit its online COVID-19 hub.
Top image: Tourism Western Australia.
