Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison corrects NSW plan to welcome back tourists to Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blocked NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s plan for NSW “open to the world”.

Aiming to accelerate the reopening of the NSW economy, Premier Perrottet announced yesterday that fully vaccinated arrivals into Sydney wouldn’t need to isolate in hotel quarantine from 1st November - provided that they were fully vaccinated and had negative COVID test result prior to departure and on arrival.

However, as of late yesterday, Prime Minister Morrison, while welcoming the NSW Government's move to scrap quarantine, clarified that the policy shift would only apply to Australian citizens, residents and their immediate families and would not extend to international tourists.

Prime Minister Morrison advised “I want to stress that, for the other states and territories and I have advised the premiers and chief ministers to this end, it is about Australian residents and citizens first.

“The Commonwealth Government has made no decision to allow other visa holders ... to come to Australia under these arrangements.

“They are decisions for the Commonwealth Government and when we are in a position to make that decision down the track, obviously in New South Wales, they will be able to do so if they are vaccinated without having to quarantine.”

Asked whether Premier Perrottet had moved to fast in suggesting tourists and international travellers would be allowed in, Prime Minister Morrison highlighted that such a decision was the responsibility of the Federal Government, adding “this is a further sign of the national plan coming into effect and allowing Australians to start reclaiming so many of the things that have been taken from them throughout this pandemic.”

As of Thursday, 66.3% of Australians aged 16 and over had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccination.