Australian PM wants internal borders open by Christmas, as protests over restrictions grow

Australia's prime minister pressed states on Friday to reopen their borders by December and ease restrictions, as businesses and locked down households vented their frustration over deepening revenue and job losses.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country would look to bring more Australians home, raising the cap from 4,000 a week, and suggested that an eventual travel bubble with New Zealand would boost tourism and help revive the economy, which has fallen into recession for the first time since 1991.

Seven of Australia's eight state and territory leaders agreed to map out a path to open borders by December, by coming up with a definition for “hot spots” to manage travel around the country, Morrison said after a national cabinet meeting.

He said he had told New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that Australia would also look to apply the same hotspot approach to New Zealand.

“In the absence of a vaccine, we may have to live this way for years,” Morrison said.

Australia's biggest state Western Australia, which has not had a local transmission for 129 days and has no social or business restrictions, rejected the plan to reopen its border until the eastern states have contained the coronavirus.

Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan said the desert borders which separate his state would stay closed to save lives and protect the nation's largest mining operations.

Australia's early international border closures, lockdowns and social distancing restrictions has seen it record far fewer coronavirus infections and deaths than other nations. Nationally there have been around 26,100 infections and 737 deaths.

Australia's tourism industry welcomed the push to reopen internal borders in time for summer holidays and Christmas.

“Our industry remains on its knees in the fight of its life and has been losing thousands of jobs each month,” said Margy Osmond, CEO of the Tourism and Transport Forum.

Victoria, the second-most populous state, is the epicentre of Australia's latest wave of cases, mainly in the state capital Melbourne. Daily new infections have dropped to double digits this week thanks to a strict lockdown imposed on August 2.

Melbourne is nearing the end of the six-week lockdown which includes a night time curfew, an hour a day of outdoor exercise and travel limits to within 5km of home. Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews is due to outline plans on Sunday for easing restrictions.

Businesses have been calling for the economy to reopen, but Andrews does not want to lift restrictions quickly and then be forced to shut down again with another wave of infections.

“There is simply no alternative but to ease out of these restrictions in a safe and steady way,” Andrews said.

The strict lockdown has led to calls for protests this weekend, which police have aggressively tried to shut down. Video footage of police seeking to detain a woman and a man for inciting people to protest have gone viral on social media.

On Thursday, police came under fire for arresting and handcuffing a pregnant, pyjama-clad woman at her home for promoting an anti-lockdown protest in the regional town of Ballarat.

Victoria reported a record 59 deaths on Friday, the highest daily total for the country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but that included 50 previously unrecorded fatalities in aged care homes in July and August. It also reported 81 new cases, taking the state's total infections to 19,415. — Reuters