Australia eases international border restrictions for first time in pandemic

  • Travel initially limited to Australian citizens, residents
  • Some parts of Australia still have closed borders
  • Medical regulator expands list of recognised vaccines
  • Unvaccinated travellers face ongoing quarantine restrictions

Sydney drops quarantine for Australian travellers for first time in pandemic

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Reporting by Jonathan Barrett, Jamie Freed, Jill Gralow, James Redmayne and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Richard Pullin and Jane Wardell

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Domestic travel requirements are determined by state and territory governments. Check the websites of local health departments for information about travel to:

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The Australian Government does not currently have any COVID-19 requirements in place for travellers entering and departing Australia.

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‘Fortress Australia’ Has a New Message: Come Back

For nearly two years, the country projected a harsh message of rigidity and “rules are rules.” Will long-haul travelers bet on the easygoing, inviting image it is sending out now?

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australia travel restrictions timeline

By Tacey Rychter and Isabella Kwai

Moments after the Australian government announced that it would reopen the country’s borders to international travelers later this month, Emily Barrett locked in a fare for a flight to Sydney. The 32-year-old nanny from Palo Alto, Calif., spent three days researching and talking to Australian friends before she decided to book her trip to the island continent, which for two years had some of the world’s strictest border controls and longest lockdowns aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus.

“They all said, ‘if we go back into a lockdown now, people will go into the streets,’” she said. Her two-week trip is scheduled to start a few days after the border opens on Feb. 21.

Potential travelers and tourism operators alike are cautiously optimistic about the reopening of “Fortress Australia,” but many wonder if the isolated nation’s ongoing Covid restrictions — such as vaccine and testing requirements, as well as mask mandates — will make the return of international travel more of a trickle than a splash. Australia’s reputation for rigidity and reclusiveness during the pandemic — at odds with the inviting, easygoing nature portrayed by the country’s tourism boards — may also be a hurdle to overcome.

“There is no doubt that a full recovery will take time, but we are confident that the demand for Australia is strong,” said Phillipa Harrison, the managing director of Tourism Australia, the country’s tourism board.

Tourism was one of the fastest growing sectors in Australia’s economy before the pandemic, contributing 45 billion Australian dollars in 2019, or $32 billion.

Australia is among the world’s most immunized countries for Covid-19, with 94 percent of people over 16 fully vaccinated. Through 2020 and 2021, the country pursued a tough “zero Covid” strategy that closed national and state borders; restricted Australians from returning home and even leaving; enforced monthslong lockdowns and required its few visitors to undergo expensive hotel quarantines . Surging cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in January, which persist, but have since declined , tipped most of the country into a new ‘living with the virus’ phase .

“It’s about coming back so the virus is under our control, whereas we felt that the virus was controlling us,” said Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Deakin University in Melbourne, adding that opening the borders represented a turning point. “This is saying: We’re ready for this.”

Australia’s walls come down

Australia’s grand reopening comes with a few ground rules. Travelers entering the country must be fully vaccinated to avoid a costly hotel quarantine, and must test before arrival — somewhat common requirements for travel now.

But it will take a little more time for Australia’s welcome mat to roll out all the way. The entire state of Western Australia — a third of Australia’s vast land mass, but home to just 10 percent of the population — has essentially been closed to both international travelers and even vaccinated Australian citizens for most of the pandemic. It plans to reopen to vaccinated travelers on March 3, with testing rules on arrival. The state, which has reported about 2,900 total cases and 10 deaths since the pandemic began, is home to Perth — one of the world’s most remote major cities — more than 7,000 miles of coastline, the Kimberley region’s dramatic sandstone gorges and wine destinations like Margaret River. While the federal government can open the nation’s borders, the states can still set their own Covid restrictions, including entry rules.

“We desperately want people to come back,” said Graeme Skeggs, a general manager at Adam’s Pinnacle Tours , one of Western Australia’s larger tour companies, which, until the pandemic, operated luxury tours of the state’s renowned coastlines and landscapes. Much of their business evaporated after Covid struck, and some smaller operators the company worked with have closed. “Two years is a lot longer than any of us thought,” Mr. Skeggs said.

While many operators who rely on foreign tourists are hopeful, it’s clear that there is no simple return to prepandemic times.

China overtook New Zealand as Australia’s largest foreign tourist market for the first time in 2017, and 1.3 million visitors from mainland China spent more than $12 billion Australian dollars , or nearly $9 billion, in 2019, about 27 percent of the year’s international visitor spend.

With China still severely limiting outbound travel, that leaves a gaping hole in Australia’s tourism economy.

Michelle Chen opened the Apollo Surfcoast Chinese Restaurant in 2012 along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road — one of the state’s major scenic attractions, about a 2.5-hour drive from Melbourne — to cater to the hundreds of Chinese day-trippers who would stream off buses each day on their way to view the Twelve Apostles, a limestone rock formation farther down the coast.

When Australia closed to Chinese travelers on Feb. 1, 2020, she lost “nearly a hundred percent” of her business. In another stroke of misfortune, the restaurant burned down in April of last year. She reopened in December a few doors down. But Ms. Chen is not expecting her core customers to return for a long time.

She’s even revamped her menu, which used to feature dishes like Sichuan chile chicken that appealed to mainland Chinese visitors. Now the menu is “80 percent Australian-Chinese,” Ms. Chen said, with milder offerings like Mongolian beef. “I find I can’t sell the Chinese-Chinese dishes.”

Another thing desperately she’s looking forward to with the return of international travel: more workers. “Everywhere is shortage of labor,” she said.

The Djokovic drama

In January, the Australian Open — one of the country’s biggest sporting events, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers annually — became a media circus when Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one men’s tennis player, who is not vaccinated, was detained and finally deported from Melbourne because of his risk for “civil unrest.” The drama, which stretched on for 10 days, triggered protests in Australia from groups who believed the battle was the latest example of Covid-related mandates trampling public freedoms.

“Strong borders are fundamental to the Australian way of life,” the country’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said after the decision to cancel the tennis star’s visa.

Australia’s fixation with border security is highly contentious within the country, particularly its harsh treatment of asylum seekers , but ultimately plays well with voters. But how would Mr. Djokovic’s unceremonious booting fit into Australia’s new “come on in” narrative?

“From our view, it really highlights the strength of Australia’s border policies,” said Chris Allison, Tourism Australia’s acting manager of the Americas. While Mr. Djokovic’s treatment was divisive, he said, it showed that “Australia has zero tolerance in terms of requiring vaccinations to come into the country,” and affirms the message of “how we’re trying to reopen our borders safely and protect the health of the nation.”

But time — and bookings — will tell if long-haul travelers are willing to bet on Australia’s reopening.

Some prefer to wait and see. Australia was where “everyone wanted to go” before the pandemic, said Samantha Carranza, a manager at Sky Tours , a travel agency in downtown Los Angeles. But “there isn’t much demand right now,” she said, adding that Australia’s protectiveness has made her clients cautious to travel there. “No one’s sure if it’s really open or not. Will it close again, will they get stuck there?”

The data shows that interest in travel to Australia is already on the rise: Flight bookings were up 200 percent following the border-opening announcement compared to the week before, according to Forward Keys, a travel analytics company.

“While the immediate jump in bookings is encouraging, the overall booking volume compared to the equivalent week in 2019 is modest,” said Olivier Ponti, the firm’s vice president of insights.

“I imagine there will be more and more confidence over the course of the year,” said Christie Hudson, a senior public relations manager at Expedia, the major online travel agency. “People are really ready to start thinking about these bucket-list trips again. I think for a lot of Americans, Australia is a bucket-list-type trip.”

Opening Aboriginal Australia to the world, cautiously

Cultural experiences led by Australia’s diverse Indigenous groups will be a focus of marketing to overseas travelers, according to Tourism Australia. But in the Northern Territory, the region with the highest proportion of Indigenous people, many remote communities are barred to outsiders until at least March 3 in an effort to protect the residents there from infection.

International visitors are key for the region’s Indigenous tourism sector: Before the pandemic, nearly 70 percent of overseas visitors to the Northern Territory engaged in Aboriginal tourism activities, compared to 16 percent of Australian tourists.

Victor Cooper, who owns and operates Ayal Aboriginal Tours in Kakadu National Park, said he used to welcome visitors from Europe and the United States to his “grandmother’s country,” where he taught them about bush tucker (native foods) and told traditional stories of the land.

“I had a really, really good thing in the overseas market, it took a long time to get that,” Mr. Cooper said. He has not had any overseas bookings since the reopening announcement, and worries things may be “complicated” for a while yet. “I don’t think I’m going to get the clients I used to have back in 2019.”

Other tourism operators are already seeing signs of recovery, which gives them hope for a better year ahead.

“It’s good to see people again,” said Dave Gordon, an employee at Wake Up Bondi , a hostel on Sydney’s famous beach, of the limited number of travelers who have been filtering back in recent months. “It’s exciting.”

Since the news of the border reopening, booking numbers for later in the year have risen, he said.

The first year of the pandemic was “quite a struggle,” he said. To survive, the hostel, which is on Bondi Beach’s main thoroughfare, slashed its rates and accepted longer-term lodgers, and even closed for a period.

But the border opening removes a major hurdle for him and other operators across the country, who want to convey a clear message for would-be tourists thinking of Australia: “Come!” he said. “This is the time to travel.”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

Tacey Rychter is the social editor for the Travel section. More about Tacey Rychter

Isabella Kwai is a breaking news reporter in the London bureau. She joined The Times in 2017 as part of the Australia bureau. More about Isabella Kwai

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Australia Border Opening: International Travelers Will Be Allowed to Visit This Month

By Rachel Chang

man. surfboard. beach. palm tree

Traveling down under will soon be a reality again—the long-awaited Australia border opening is finally here. The government announced on Monday that the country's border restrictions, which have been in place since March 2020, will be lifted on February 21, reopening Australia to vaccinated foreign visitors.

“The condition is: You must be double vaccinated to come to Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a press conference on Monday. “That is the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it.”

The news comes just four days after neighboring New Zealand—with which Australia has a travel bubble—announced its five-step plan to open to foreign travelers by July . Australia had planned to reopen to travelers as early as last December, but officials delayed due to the quick-spreading Omicron variant . Inbound visitors to Australia will need to present proof of being fully vaccinated upon check-in to their flights and may be asked to show the evidence again to border officials upon entry. The vaccines must be from an approved list , which includes AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfizer, Moderna, and Sinovac. Paper and digital certificates issued by government authorities or accredited vaccination providers are accepted and must have a name matching the one on the passport, a date of birth or passport number, the vaccine brand, and dates the dosages were completed. Additionally, they must be in English, or accompanied by a certified translation.

In addition to vaccination status, foreign visitors must also have a negative pre-departure test , either a nucleic acid amplification (NAA) test, which includes polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests performed within three days of departure by a lab, or a rapid antigen test (RAT) performed within 24 hours by a medical practitioner.

The Australian Department of Health also specifies that masks must be worn for the duration of the flight and says to put on a fresh one every four hours or if and when it gets wet. “If you don’t agree to wear a mask, you will not be allowed to check in or board the aircraft,” the site says .

While the news seemed to have come suddenly, the Australia border opening is actually the final phase of the country's  long enacted plan that said international borders would be reopened when 80 percent of its population 16 and older received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. As of Tuesday, more than 19 million people over the age of 16 are fully vaccinated, accounting for 93.8 percent of the population (9.2 million of those fully vaccinated have received a booster shot).

Travel within Australia

Once on the ground in Australia, there may be additional restrictions depending on the state or territory, but that could be changing, says Amanda Fisher of Australian travel company Alquemie. “We still don’t have all the facts, but we do know travel into New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria will be very easy,” she says, suggesting visitors check requirements for individual states . 

For example, New South Wales (where Sydney is located) and Victoria (where Melbourne is) currently require another test within 24 hours of arrival with self-isolation until a negative result is received. “It’s a chance to rest up after the long flight and a good reason to book a room with a view,” Fisher says. 

Traveling between states should also be seamless without additional testing required, according to Fisher, with one major exception at the moment: Western Australia, where vaccinated international travelers need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival—with seven days in a hotel quarantine and another seven days in self-quarantine.

“Some states are completely open, others are opening gradually,” Denis Page of Asia-Pacific travel company Longitude 80 says, recommending foreign visitors use an Aussie-focused travel agent to help navigate the constantly changing regulations. “It’s just a matter of a travel specialist keeping on top of the latest regulations and helping travelers to get on a safe holiday without worrying about details.”

Visitors may also run into other COVID measures, depending on the area. “Mask wearing and COVID check-in is required in some settings, and proof of vaccination may also be required in cafes and restaurants in some states,” says Brooke Garnett Chalk of Maya Maya Travel . “[But ] there are very few remaining COVID restrictions to daily life in most of Australia.”

While the news comes just two weeks before the opening date, an overwhelming influx of travel is expected. “Not only is there a lot of pent up demand from international travelers, but Australians themselves are great travelers and many of us have locked in domestic travel this year,” Fisher says. “For those hoping to visit Australia this year, book soon!”

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All COVID-19 border restrictions to be lifted

​People travelling to Australia will no longer have to complete a Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status, following changes to the Biosecurity Act, which come into effect from midnight AEST on Wednesday 6 July 2022.

“This is great news for families coming home from school holidays who now don’t need to use the DPD,” Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil, said.

The Biosecurity Act changes, which were made following health advice from the Chief Medical Officer, also mean that all visa holders can travel to Australia without needing a travel exemption.

“As more and more of us travel internationally and we get more confident in managing our risk of COVID, our airports are getting busier,” Minister O’Neil said.

“Removing these requirements will not only reduce delays in our airports but will encourage more visitors and skilled workers to choose Australia as a destination.

“And for Australian citizens, with the removal of these requirements, returning home will be much easier.

“I know anyone who has travelled internationally since the borders have opened will find this as one less thing to worry about – especially as more Australians get back to travelling overseas.

“We’ve also listened to feedback about the DPD. While in time it will replace the paper based incoming passenger card, it needs a lot more work to make it user friendly”

Those arriving by sea will also benefit, and no longer need to complete a Maritime Travel Declaration. Airlines, cruise ship operators and other countries may still have specific requirements that travellers need to comply with.

Australians planning to travel overseas are encouraged to check current travel advice by visiting Smartraveller .

For more information on the changes to international travel requirements visit: www.homeaffairs.gov.au/covid19 .

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Australia sets out plan to open borders to international travel

Sasha Brady

Jul 30, 2021 • 3 min read

Beach Scene: Rock swimming pools on Pacific Ocean in Bondi, Sydney - Australia.

Travel to Australia may not resume until 2022 © GagliardiImages / Shutterstock

The countdown begins for Australia 's return to international travel. The government today published its four-phase plan out of lockdown, in which it was revealed that borders will reopen when 80% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison shared details of the plan today to show how the country will move away from its current lockdown status. Underpinned by vaccination targets, the plan aims to gradually remove local and state-wide restrictions and eventually reopen international borders. Here's what each of those phases mean and how they affect travel.

Phase A (current phase)

Australia is now in phase A of the plan, which is the supression stage, with some states and territories in lockdown as officials try to get ahead of the virus with vaccine rollouts.

Phase B (transition phase)

Australia will move to the next phase when 70% of the eligible population is vaccinated. At that stage lockdowns should be less likely and special rules will be introduced for vaccinated people. There will be capped entry for student and business visa holders and new quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers.

"We will allow capped entry of student and economic visa holders, subject to quarantine arrangements and availability, and will introduce new reduced quarantine arrangements for vaccinated residents," Morrison said in a statement .

Phase C (consolidation phase)

Once that's achieved, Australia will move to phase C, that is when 80% of the adult population is vaccinated and international borders can gradually reopen. There will be no caps on returning vaccinated Australians, and vaccinated people will be able to leave the country. The travel bubble with New Zealand (which is currently closed) will also be extended to countries with similar vaccination rates.

"There will be a gradual reopening of inward and outbound international travel with safe countries, those that have the same sort of vaccination levels that Australia," Morrison said.

Phase D (final phase)

The fourth and final phase of the the government's plan will see life return to pre-pandemic times, more or less, where COVID can be managed and international travel can return in a sustainable way.

"The final phase will see the opening of international borders. Quarantine for high risk inbound travel only. Minimising cases in the community without ongoing restrictions or any lockdowns," Morrison added.

There's no timeline for when Australia will reach each phase; it's expected to be dependent on vaccine supplies and uptake. However, Morrison said that he expected Australia to reach phase B before the end of the year. At present, around 14% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to statistics from Our World In Data .

Australia has some of the strictest restrictions on international travel, which is one of the reasons why it has been relatively successful in containing the virus. Its current strategy also relies on contact tracing, mask mandates, social distancing and targeted lockdowns when outbreaks occur.

This article was first published on May 6 and updated on June 30, 2021.

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Visa requirements for visiting Australia When is the best time to go to Australia? Australia's 10 most iconic road trips

This article was first published May 2021 and updated July 2021

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Australia welcomes millions of overseas visitors each year. Anyone who is not an Australian citizen needs a valid visa to enter the country.

International passenger caps have been removed for all international passenger arrivals into Australia.

All travellers should be aware that: People entering Australia do not need to provide evidence of vaccination status People entering Australia do not need to complete the Digital Passenger Declaration or Maritime Travel Declaration People leaving Australia will not be asked to provide evidence of their vaccination status Unvaccinated visa holders do not ​ need a travel exemption to travel to Australia Mask wearing on international flights to Australia is no longer mandatory . It is important to remember that airlines, vessel operators and other countries may have specific requirements that travellers need to comply with.

Australian Citizens

All Australian citizens must enter and exit Australia on an Australian passport. Your Australian passport must be valid (not expired) on the day of your arrival in Australia. It does not need to have six months remaining validity to enter Australia unless you are passing through a third country that requires it. Citizens are not entitled to a visa, even if you are also a citizen of another country. Please see the  Department of Home Affairs website  for more information. 

Immigration and Visas

All foreign travellers, except New Zealand citizens, must obtain a visa or travel authority before travelling to Australia.

»    Immigration and visas

If you have a specific question, please contact the Department of Home Affairs .

You will also need to know what you can and cannot bring into Australia, knowing the duty-free concession limits and what to experience when travelling through Australian airports and seaports.

Please visit the Department of Home Affairs website for more information.

Plan your trip with  australia.com , the official Tourism Australia website, offering a wide range of travel information and planning tools including over 2000 images, a currency converter, daily weather updates, interactive maps, suggested holiday itineraries, holiday deals, specialist travel agents and more. Available in nine languages.

Tourist Refund Scheme

The  Tourist Refund Scheme  enables you to claim a refund, subject to certain conditions, of the goods and services tax (GST) and wine equalisation tax (WET) that you pay on goods you buy in Australia.

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A crowd of people in surgical masks walk down the street

A timeline of Covid-19 in Australia, two years on

The first Covid-19 case was detected in Australia on January 25, 2020. What have we learnt since then?

Cassidy Knowlton

It's hard to believe that while Australia was so focused on the bushfires that raged in the early part of 2020, another threat was already on our shores – one that would change the way we live and work for years. Covid-19 was first detected in Australia on January 25, 2020. More than two years old, we've passed another grim milestone: 10,000 people have now died of Covid-19 in Australia.

ICYMI: Here's everything we've learned from Melbourne's polarising e-scooter trials.

January 25, 2020.

A man who had flown from Guandong, China, to Melbourne on January 19, 2020, tests positive for Covid-19, becoming Australia’s first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. On the same day, three men in NSW also test positive for coronavirus. Two had travelled to Wuhan, China, and the third was a close contact of the two travellers.

March 1, 2020

The first person in Australia to die of Covid-19 dies in a Western Australia hospital. The 78-year-old man had been a passenger aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship and was the first WA resident to test positive for the disease. His wife was the second. 

March 11, 2020

The World Health Organisation declares the novel coronavirus to be a pandemic.

Time In logo

March 13, 2020

Time Out rebrands as Time In worldwide to bring our readers ways to connect with their cities and support urban culture without leaving home. 

March 15, 2020

The NSW government cancels all major events of more than 500 people.

The Victorian government cancels the F1 Grand Prix , hours before the event.

March 18, 2020

The federal government announces these measures , to be implemented by state governments:

  • a ban on non-essential indoor gatherings of 100 or more people (including staff);
  • a ban on outdoor gatherings of 500 or more people to continue in place;
  • people only consider travel when it is essential;
  • strict visitation rules for aged care facilities including a limit of two visitors a day and preferably no children under 16 years of age;
  • social distancing measures of 1.5 metres; and
  • lifting work restrictions on 20,000 student nurses so they can be engaged to help respond to the pandemic.

March 19, 2020  

Australia closes its borders to everyone who is not a resident or citizen. Panic buying leaves supermarket shelves bare, leading the prime minister to urge calm and compassion at the shops:  “There is no issue with food supply in Australia, but there is an issue with the behaviour of Australians in supermarkets." 

Almost 2,700 passengers aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship are permitted to leave the ship in Sydney without being tested for Covid-19. There are confirmed positive cases on board at the time, and 130 people test positive within a week. The ship is later linked to up to 900 infections of Covid-19.

March 23, 2020

National Cabinet agrees that the states will close:

  • Pubs, registered clubs
  • Gyms, indoor sporting venues 
  • Cinemas, entertainment venues, casinos, and nightclubs 
  • Restaurants and cafés except for takeaway and/or home delivery 

Melbourne distiller Gypsy Hub is the first (that we know of) to pivot to making hand sanitiser .

Deserted Melbourne Street

March 25, 2020 

The streets of Melbourne  are eerily quiet as people stay at home.

Haymarket during Sydney shutdown

March 27, 2020 

We hit the streets of Sydney and find the normally bustling metropolis completely empty.

March 30, 2020

Victorian premier Dan Andrews announces that only two people may gather outside unless they are members of a household, as well as the only four reasons people are permitted to leave home:

  • For exercise;
  • For food and supplies;
  • For work or education; and
  • To access medical care or provide caregiving.  

March 31, 2020

NSW health minister Brad Hazzard announces that there are 16 reasons to leave home in NSW. These include the reasons listed in Victoria, in addition to things like attending weddings or funerals.

Two teddies in a window

People in Melbourne start putting teddy bears in their windows for children to find on daily exercise walks.

April 2, 2020

Couples who don't live together are permitted to visit in Victoria.

Dogs in the aquarium

April 16, 2020

Sydney Aquarium staff bring their dogs  to the closed aquarium to see the fish.

Sourdough fruit loaf

May 5, 2020

Everyone is trying ( and failing ) to make sourdough.

May 10, 2020

The NSW government announces that from May 15, the following will be allowed:

  • Outdoor gatherings of up to ten people
  • Cafés and restaurants to seat up to ten people at any one time; and
  • Up to five visitors to a household at any one time.

May 11, 2020

The Victorian government announces an easing of restrictions, allowing: 

  • Gatherings of ten people outside;
  • Up to five people visiting at home;
  • Up to ten guests at weddings;
  • Up to 20 people at an indoor funeral or 30 for an outdoor funeral; and
  • Some outdoor activities.

June 1, 2020

Time Out announces the winners of the Time In Awards , supporting businesses and organisations that pivoted to new initiatives during lockdowns.  

NSW announces more of its restrictions will ease, allowing people in the state to:

  • Travel to regional NSW for a holiday
  • Attend places of worship and attend a funeral with up to 49 others; and
  • Visit a campground or caravan park.

June 2, 2020

Then-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announces that from July 1, the following will be allowed:

  • Gyms and fitness studios can reopen with up to ten people per class and 100 people in an indoor venue;
  • Children’s sport and community sports competition can resume; and
  • Tattoo and massage parlours can reopen with up to ten clients.

June 30, 2020

Victoria announces  postcodes 3038, 3064, 3047, 3060, 3012, 3032, 3055, 3042, 3021 and 3046 will go back into lockdown from July 2.

July 7, 2020

The rest of Victoria goes back into lockdown , as Sydney restrictions ease further.

Woman wearing a mask in public

July 10, 2020

Victoria asks (but does not mandate) people to wear masks in public for the first time.

August 16, 2020

Victoria announces tough new lockdown measures , including the 5km rule and an overnight curfew. Retail shops like Bunnings are closed for the first time. Masks are now required .

September 6, 2020

Victoria's roadmap out of lockdown is announced.

September 28, 2020

Victoria adds 'outdoor recreation ' to the reasons to leave home, allowing picnics for the first time since July.

Woman in yellow jacket wearing a beige mask

October 15, 2020

We reflect on what we've learnt after 100 days of lockdown in Melbourne.

October 26, 2020

Victoria's second lockdown ends .

December 19, 2020

The Sydney suburb of Avalon records an outbreak of Covid-19, after NSW had gone 12 days with zero community transmission. Local lockdown orders are reinstated in the northern beaches.  Victoria closes its borders with NSW.

January 9, 2021

Lockdown orders end for Sydney's northern beaches.

February 12, 2021

Victoria goes into lockdown for the third time.

February 18, 2021

Victoria's third lockdown ends .

February 22, 2021

The first Covid-19 vaccine doses are administered in Australia. 

May 6, 2021

Sydney temporarily reintroduces mask-wearing and imposes limits on visitors to the home.

May 27, 2021

Victoria enters lockdown for the fourth time.

June 3, 2021

Lockdown measures ease in regional Victoria but remain in metropolitan Melbourne.

June 11, 2021

Melbourne exits its fourth lockdown .

Kings Cross under lockdown

June 25, 2021

Sydney  announces lockdown measures  for suburbs across the city as the Bondi outbreak grows. The affected LGAs are  Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick, and the City of Sydney, including the CBD.

July 15, 2021

Victoria enters its fifth lockdown . 

July 27, 2021

Victoria's fifth lockdown ends , but less than a week later, the state is plunged back into another long lockdown.

August 5, 2021

Victoria goes into lockdown for the sixth time . 

August 19, 2021

Sydneysiders  are restricted to 5km of home.

Two people overlooking Sydney

August 23, 2021

Sydneysiders who live alone are permitted to establish a 'single's bubble ' with a friend. 

October 11, 2021 

Sydney  is released from lockdown on 'freedom day'. 

A woman with purple hair holds a hairless cat in front of a bookcase

October 21, 2021

Melbourne exits its sixth lockdown , after 263 cumulative days. Melbourne spent more time in lockdown than any other city on Earth. 

January 23, 2022

With daily case numbers in the tens of thousands, NSW health officials  and Victorian authorities are cautiously optimistic that the state has passed the peak of the current Omicron outbreak.

July 3, 2022

Daily case numbers remain at tens of thousands in NSW and Victoria. More than 10,000 Australians have now died of Covid-19 . The new BA.5 variant is considered to be even more transmissible than previous Omicron variants.

This article was originally written on July 4, 2022 and has since been updated and fact-checked. 

Pack your bags: Australia has one of the most powerful passports in the world.

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Tourism Central Australia calls on NT government to relax bottle shop trade restrictions

A closed roller door on a drive-thru bottle shop, with concrete bollards out the front.

Central Australia's tourism peak body has urged the NT government to relax bottle shop trading restrictions in Alice Springs in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the tourism industry. 

In January 2023, the Northern Territory government forced the closure of Alice Springs bottle shops on Mondays and Tuesdays and limited trading hours from 3–7pm on other days, in response to a wave of alcohol-fuelled violence and crime.

Blanket alcohol bans were also reimposed on Aboriginal town camps and communities.

In a letter penned to Chief Minister Eva Lawler last week, obtained by the ABC, Tourism Central Australia (TCA) said it could no longer remain silent on the issue as some of its members reported declines of more than 50 per cent.

"One of our core [tenets] of the tourism industry is being open for business," TCA Chair Patrick Bedford wrote.

Tourism Central Australia Chair Patrick Bedford standing in full sunlight in the Alice Springs mall.

"Visitors quickly adapt and change their travelling patterns if they know they cannot access experiences or products.

"Our visitors as they travel to Alice Springs are looking to purchase necessary provisions — as they do in almost every other community in Australia. Whether we like it or not, alcohol is one such provision."

Mr Bedford proposed bottle shops opening for one additional day per week or remaining open every day during the peak tourist season between April and October.

Tourists need 'full offering'

The introduction of the restrictions resulted in an initial decrease in alcohol-related harm. However, 12 months on, progress on the issue remains an uphill battle.

Lasseters Hotel Casino chief executive Craig Jervis, who oversees a string of Alice Springs pubs, bottle shops and hotels, said businesses needed to be able to provide a "full offering" to tourists passing through the town.

Craig Jervis

"When you travel, [tourists want] to have a six-pack after a hard day of setting up your caravan or out visiting some of the amazing facilities we've got here," Mr Jervis said.

"It's not that people come just to drink, but it's part of the overall holiday mode and relaxation mode that people are involved with.

"We're shut from 8pm on a Sunday till 3pm on a Wednesday — that's a big chunk of a week for a traveller."

Mr Jervis said changing the restrictions would complement the large investment already going into Central Australia's tourism sector, including building the National Aboriginal Art Gallery and sealing the Mereenie Loop.

"There's hundreds of millions of dollars going into being a tourist town — we've got to make sure we're doing it and doing it well," he said.

'Tourists do not come here to drink'

His comments were in response to Central Australia Aboriginal Congress's chief executive, Donna Ah Chee, who has argued that "tourists do not come here to drink".

"That's an old argument that keeps coming up," she told the ABC earlier this month.

Woman with glass smiles at camera with Indigenous art as a backdrop on the wall

"We need to stop that sort of narrative.

"They want to come and experience a beautiful landscape, Aboriginal culture that is still thriving."

Ms Ah Chee also said data suggested there had been a decline in alcohol consumption in Alice Springs since the restrictions were brought in.

"The evidence shows that when you reduce consumption you reduce harm, and that evidence is across the world," she said.

"We just need to stop playing politics with this.

"I really hope that we don't see the removal of these regulations because, if we do, we will be on the front pages again."

  • X (formerly Twitter)

Related Stories

'i'm pretty desensitised now': one year since alcohol bans returned, alice springs looks to future.

Empty liquor bottles and cans lay in the dry Todd River.

Northern Territory government extends alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs for another three months

An empty VB carton lying on the sandy ground, with a bridge in the distance.

Central Australia sees 'massive drop' in visitor numbers, as new minister flags revitalisation plan

People taking photos of Uluru

  • Alice Springs
  • Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)
  • State and Territory Government
  • Tourism and Leisure Industry
  • Travel and Tourism (Lifestyle and Leisure)

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