How to get the Australian state borders to open ASAP

At last someone has launched a petition lobbying politicians to be clearer about the Australian state border closures – and it’s Qantas.

Qantas has launched a petition calling on states with low levels of COVID-19 infections to open their borders and is calling for legislation to be put in place so we know when and why the Australia state borders are opened or closed.

It’s not just Qantas employees who are being encouraged to sign it but we encourage anyone in the travel industry or in fact anyone being affected by the political dysfunctionality of the Australian border closures have highlighted.

The campaign is hoped to highlight how many people have been effected and push politicians to come to their senses.

You can sign the petition right here.

If you sign the online petition (link above), you have to provide your name and postcode and leave a comment on what impact the border closures have had on you.

The petition will be forwarded to MPs.

The Qantas statement being forwarded to MP’s reads like this:

“Australians love to travel. While it might be a while before we can fly overseas again, we’re lucky there are so many amazing destinations right here in our own backyard. Not to mention friends and family we long to see again. But that can only happen if our domestic borders are opened.

“The health response to this crisis is our most important priority. That’s why we’re calling for decisions on domestic border closures to be risk-assessed against an agreed set of medical criteria and a shared definition of what constitutes a COVID hotspot.

“There is huge pent-up demand for domestic travel with Australians wanting to get away on holiday after being stuck at home. We want to see Australians reunite with loved ones after months of being separated. And we want to see local businesses, and the 1 million people in the tourism industry, get back to work.”

Qantas are one of the greatest corporate victims of the closures, and has already laid off 6000 staff due to the COVID-19 downturn, with more than 20,000 stood down.