Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McMahon for that important question. Our government has been working closely with state and territory governments through the national cabinet process to lift restrictions across the nation as swiftly as possible but in a way which is COVID safe. As the federal Chief Medical Officer and the deputy chief medical officer have made clear on a number of occasions, there is no medical reason for any state borders to remain closed. In fact, there is no health advice in front of us that state or territory borders need to be closed.

The closure of state borders is having a significant negative impact on our economy. With international borders closed, tourism operators will need to rely on domestic holiday-makers to fill the void from international tourists. Tourism is worth around 3.1 per cent of our GDP, or around $60 billion last financial year. In fact, the tourism sector employs around 670,000 Australians, or 5.2 per cent of all workers. That is why, the longer state and territory borders stay closed, the bigger the impact on our national economy. The clear three-stage plan to lift restrictions included borders being opened in July. The Prime Minister said that there was a very open and constructive discussion at national cabinet last Friday about reopening borders, and we are also proposing to work closely with states on a pilot basis to enable international students to come to Australia in a very controlled setting.

But clearly—this is an important point, and I think it's an important point for the people in the Territory—while travel to a state or territory is not allowed from other parts of Australia, we cannot consider travel to that jurisdiction from overseas. If we want to ensure that tourism operators and businesses around Australia have the best possible opportunity to be successful again and to hire more Australians, including more Territorians, we need to see those borders come down as swiftly as possible.