The hard border in Western Australia is being scrapped from November 14, and will be replaced by a “controlled state border”.
However, premier Mark McGowan said that could be jeopardised by new international travel bubbles.
“If the Commonwealth Government moves to establish further travel bubbles with other nations, we reserve our right to do what is in the best interest of WA – which may include returning to a hard border,” he said in a statement on Friday.
The new controlled state border will be determined by the number of coronavirus infections in other states, the premier said.
Each state and territory will have to have a rolling 14-day-average of less than five daily cases.
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For states and territories where the 14-day-average remains below five, people travelling over the border will have to undergo tests and quarantine for 14 days at a suitable premises. Those people will also have to have a coronavirus test on day 11 of their arrival.
“Based on the public health advice, New South Wales and Victoria remains as a low risk jurisdiction for now, however, when they reach 28 days of no local cases or are deemed very low risk by the chief health officer, they will move into that category of border control measures,” Mr McGowan further explained.
“The chief health officer will continue to closely monitor community transmission in other states and territories into the future and will advise the WA government if any changes to our future border controls are required to keep Western Australians protected.”
WA’s border has been closed since April, and the state hasn’t reported any cases of community transmission for six months.
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“We all know how quickly things can change and I will say this. I will have no hesitation to reintroduce a hard border if that’s what’s needed to protect the health of Western Australians.”
Earlier Friday, Mr McGowan said the existing hard border exemption system will be removed and replaced with a controlled interstate border regime, established on an updated nationwide health-based threshold.
“And it will be subject to trigger points being met. I want Western Australians to know that we would not be proceeding down this path unless we had the clear health advice to do so.
“The time is right, the conditions are right, and I’m very confident our control border arrangements strike the right balance.”
It comes as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that the border would remain closed to 32 local government areas in the Greater Sydney region.
However, people in the rest of NSW will be able to cross the border from November 3.
