Qantas to lay out roadmap for restart of international flights

[Chronic Snoozer]

Originally Posted by KRviator

"You UNGRATEFUL, SELFISH, OUTRAGEOUS....yadda, yadda" <- McGowan's commentary towards Qantas after they flagged running QF9/QF10 via the Top End. "We paid $15 million to upgrade the Perth Terminal, we funded the Perth-London flights, it's our state money propping up the commonwealth and now we're being punished for it!"

$15m? That'd probably fill in a couple of potholes outside the terminal, it's not a big amount. Perhaps he shouldn't have sold the East Perth power station for just $1 to Stokes/Forrest and co. Labor promised to pay $100m for a film studio in Freo. Guess no one will be flying in to film the next Bond movie.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by SHVC

QLD will not open anytime soon like WA, I can see these two states just having their own bubble. QLD ppl are happy with how their state is going they don’t care they can’t leave, you can go to the pub you can go to the shops and you can go to a stadium with 100% crowd. QLD ppl have no desire to open up or even leave with all they’re able to do. You don’t build a 1000 bed facility that will be completed in December to not use it by opening up internationally in December. All states will run their own course on this NSW will be flying internationally soon how QLD, WA and SA residents react to that will be interesting. Will they give up on covid zero for a holiday to Europe or will be happy going to the local pub for the next couple yrs.

And TAS NT, don't forget the most important one, CHINA, if they don't open their doors and they don't look like they are going to anytime soon, that's at least a 2 decade backward step.

[Iron Bar]

Wanderer type tripe.


“Lambda is allegedly resistant to current vaccines from what I saw and the Pfizer CEO just a day or two ago was saying other vaccine resistant variants are a certainty in the near future.”

A disease is not resistant to a vaccine. It may be resistant to an antibiotic or perhaps antiviral, the two concepts are different. The idea is for the vaccine to precede the disease. There is capacity for vaccines to be modified for different mutations of the original Covid.

[Foxxster]

Originally Posted by LostWanderer

Love the optimism for attempt 3 (or is it 4 now?) to reopen international. But with winter now just around the corner for many of these proposed destinations and a new variant to scare our government almost a certainty, how long before this gets pushed back yet again.

Lambda is allegedly resistant to current vaccines from what I saw and the Pfizer CEO just a day or two ago was saying other vaccine resistant variants are a certainty in the near future.

None of this news is even remotely compatible with our federal and state governments unfortunately. Pulling the trigger on closing the country and states is their favourite pastime and highly doubt that will change if any of this happens as most any educated bets now say it will.

i have said the same thing a while ago. He also said that Pfizer could make a new version of the vaccine to fight variants in 95 days. So that’s 3 months. Then you have to produce billions of doses and then actually get them into people’s arms. We can see now how long that takes. So a year from start to finish. And in the meantime. If the variant renders current vaccines almost useless then we are back to where we where in March 2019.

The other factor is that Joyce has no control over what other countries do. If their response is to close their borders or insist on quarantine for all arrivals regardless of their vaccine status then it’s game over.

it’s all hope and fingers crossed. I can’t blame him, he has to do what he is doing. But don’t anyone think this is over.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by Foxxster

i have said the same thing a while ago. He also said that Pfizer could make a new version of the vaccine to fight variants in 95 days. So that’s 3 months. Then you have to produce billions of doses and then actually get them into people’s arms. We can see now how long that takes. So a year from start to finish. And in the meantime. If the variant renders current vaccines almost useless then we are back to where we where in March 2019.

The other factor is that Joyce has no control over what other countries do. If their response is to close their borders or insist on quarantine for all arrivals regardless of their vaccine status then it’s game over.

it’s all hope and fingers crossed. I can’t blame him, he has to do what he is doing. But don’t anyone think this is over.

Exactly! and that's the worry for those among us hanging on by their fingertips believing in complete faith the QF dribble.

[SHVC]

He has a plan whether you like it or not, better than WA, QLD, SA plan they simply don’t have one. None of these states have done anything to improve their health system so we can move forward. Like Sco Mo has said if not 80% then when? Covid is not going anywhere.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by SHVC

He has a plan whether you like it or not, better than WA, QLD, SA plan they simply don’t have one. None of these states have done anything to improve their health system so we can move forward. Like Sco Mo has said if not 80% then when? Covid is not going anywhere.

"Then When" well not in December, anyone with money bought/built caravans, I don't think their plan is to park up their new $50K vehicles to rush off to Europe in winter, do you.

[SHVC]

Not everyone has bought a Van, a lot still want to travel. But 80% is not good enough for WA and QLD. I can’t wait to see how they handle their constituents when some of us will be allowed to travel. I can almost be certain NSW will not put up being held to ransom by other premiers dragging their heels. If they want to stay on their zero course let them do that.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by SHVC

Not everyone has bought a Van, a lot still want to travel. But 80% is not good enough for WA and QLD. I can’t wait to see how they handle their constituents when some of us will be allowed to travel. I can almost be certain NSW will not put up being held to ransom by other premiers dragging their heels. If they want to stay on their zero course let them do that.

We all still want to travel, including myself, will I though this year, outside of the state, hell no.

If they want to stay the zero course. We do and we are.

[dr dre]

Originally Posted by KRviator

And the Territory Government seems to have been the most pragmatic in their dealings with Covid,

I haven’t really seen it that way, the NT government at times has closed borders sooner to outbreak states than WA. The “hotspot approach usually only lasts a day or so before the hotspot is declared to be the whole city or state, so in practice no real effect. They definitely operate on a Covid Zero policy with hard lockdowns over one community case. They have similar worries to WA (big resource industry and vulnerable indigenous population). NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner recently said he’d probably need higher vaccine rates than indicated by the Doherty modelling before he stops using lockdowns due to the amount of vulnerable indigenous in the NT.

At the moment NT’s restrictions are identical to WA, with the exception of Qld, and Qld should move to restriction free with WA within a week.

I would say WA, NT, SA, Tasmania and Queensland essentially are all talking off the same page at the moment.

Which is why I wonder why QF would issue that statement considering a change to DRW with a “conservative WA border policy” if the NT is being just as strict on its borders, and really no indication from the NT government how they’ll transition from Covid Zero. Just like how no one has questioned how SA, Tasmania or Queensland will transition from Covid Zero, didn’t stop multiple international routes out of Brisbane being announced this week. Didn’t stop Perth-Singapore route being announced with no suggestion of a re-route despite the same issues with a Perth-London route existing.

So personally I think it may be a bluff to get more leverage in negotiations about extra routes from Perth from the existing T3/4 and more leverage in negotiations about the eventual move to T1/2. This happened in 16/17 before the London route was announced with indications it wouldn’t go ahead unless the State government came to the table with funding for more terminal facilities.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by dr dre

So personally I think it may be a bluff to get more leverage in negotiations about extra routes from Perth from the existing T3/4 and more leverage in negotiations about the eventual move to T1/2. This happened in 16/17 before the London route was announced with indications it wouldn’t go ahead unless the State government came to the table with funding for more terminal facilities.

That's exactly what it is. Political Rogering! it's important to know though the government processes are rational. For example when Gladys asked for the other states vaccines publicly in the media, McGowan responded with piss off their ours we need them ourselves publicly in the media. They were still redirected to NSW though because they needed them desperately, it's why the roll out rate is the highest. All of the states work well together in reality.

[kiwi grey]

Originally Posted by KRviator

Rubbish. The UK has had 88.1% of eligible citizens get their first dose, with 77.7% of eligible citizens receiving both doses. Source
Oh, and they still manage to accrue around 35,000 cases and over 100 deaths, every day with those vaccination rates....

And with the UK population being about three times Australia, that implies a Covid death rate of between thirty and forty Australians every day, even if Australia gets to 80%+, not the 70% target suggested.
Sounds to me like an electoral death sentence

[a_pilot]

Sounds to me like an electoral death sentence

A death sentence "mostly for the unvaccinated", as I often hear in the media now.

Everyone has a choice?

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by a_pilot

A death sentence "mostly for the unvaccinated", as I often hear in the media now.

Everyone has a choice?

It still is if you only had your first shot in the last couple of weeks, that's going to be an issue for NSW for quite some time yet.

[GaryGnu]

Originally Posted by kiwi grey

Sounds to me like an electoral death sentence

If this turns out to be the case, it will be a financial death sentence to many and perhaps a literal one for some that will pay the price for society's desire for public health perfection.

Where lies the acceptable balance? That's what is playing out in the many public squares, including this one, right now. I hope we find a sustainable mid point.

[Xeptu]

Originally Posted by GaryGnu

If this turns out to be the case, it will be a financial death sentence to many and perhaps a literal one for some that will pay the price for society's desire for public health perfection.

Where lies the acceptable balance? That's what is playing out in the many public squares, including this one, right now. I hope we find a sustainable mid point.

That's the conversation communities are having right now, if we continue down the no covd path are you willing to sacrifice those industries for at least a decade (like international airlines) that rely on the global community. Most want to stick their head in the sand and shrug their shoulders, the next group say we should open up when it's safe to do so (read the problem has gone away) and the rest say oh! well I guess if we have to.

[Scooter Rassmussin]

Time to dust off the CV , no point waiting around QF group as a junior when command hours are begging in Dubai!
must beat the mad rush !
Even at the moment in lockdown you cannot visit family even if all double jabbed .
kind of spells out the future here , there isn’t one !!

[KRviator]

Originally Posted by dr dre

I haven’t really seen it that way, the NT government at times has closed borders sooner to outbreak states than WA. The “hotspot approach usually only lasts a day or so before the hotspot is declared to be the whole city or state, so in practice no real effect. They definitely operate on a Covid Zero policy with hard lockdowns over one community case. They have similar worries to WA (big resource industry and vulnerable indigenous population). NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner recently said he’d probably need higher vaccine rates than indicated by the Doherty modelling before he stops using lockdowns due to the amount of vulnerable indigenous in the NT.

At the moment NT’s restrictions are identical to WA, with the exception of Qld, and Qld should move to restriction free with WA within a week.

You're wrong. There's been many a time I could have travelled to the NT from NSW, stayed there for two weeks, sans quarantine and done the whole touristy thing, then travelled to WA, whereas I couldn't go to WA directly without going into mandatory quarantine. Even today, a WA resident cannot travel from NSW to WA at all, yet resident of the Top End can return home from NSW. You cannot enter WA from Queensland, unless you have somewhere to quarantine for 2 weeks, yet you can go to the Territory from Qld, so long as you have not been to one of the identified hot spot locations.

Originally Posted by The NT Government

There are currently no hotspots in place for Queensland. Testing and quarantine directions. A number of testing and quarantine directions are in place for those people who have visited a COVID-19 public exposure site in Queensland. These directions include:

Any person who arrived in the Northern Territory before 12:00pm on 8 August 2021 who has been in one of the below listed Queensland Local Government Areas since 29 July 2021 must:

• be tested for COVID-19.
• Any person who is required to be tested must travel directly to a suitable place of quarantine and remain in that place, except to submit to testing for COVID-19 (or in an emergency). Once tested, the person must remain isolated in the suitable place of quarantine until notified of the results of the test.

Local Government Areas:
- Cairns Regional Council
- Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah

Originally Posted by The Democratic Peoples Republic of Westralia

Low risk jurisdictions
Before travelling to WA, complete a mandatory G2G PASS registration and declaration.
Complete a health screening on arrival.
Scan your G2G PASS and then verify you have suitable premises for self-quarantine.
If you have suitable premises, enter self-quarantine for 14 days. If not, you will be directed to enter a Government-approved quarantine facility at your own expense for 14 days.
You must wear a mask from when you enter WA until you arrive at suitable self-quarantine premises or government approved quarantine facilities. In addition if travelling by air, you must also wear a mask on the flight while in WA airspace, and while inside the airport (with some exceptions – e.g. children under the age of 12 are not required to wear a mask).
Travellers are subject to a COVID-19 test within 48 hours of arrival and on day 12 of quarantine, or at any point when symptoms develop. A mask must be worn while travelling to and from the COVID Clinic.

Originally Posted by dr dre

I would say WA, NT, SA, Tasmania and Queensland essentially are all talking off the same page at the moment.

I would say you're wrong.

[Ollie Onion]

Who cares if opening the borders is a 'death sentence', what people are suffering economically and socially at the moment is death by a thousand cuts and I can assure you when we look back on this in years to come we will realise just how many died as a result of these restrictions through inability to access health services, suicide, isolation etc. Those who have opened their borders such as the UK are having daily deaths but the overall mortality rate for each day is no higher than in a non covid world, the average age that someone dies from COVID is 82 years old, the same as the average lifespan in the UK. We will find the vast majority of people who die from COVID simply die 'with' covid. We don't worry about any other instances of deaths in younger people, we let people drive (that kills many people per year), we let people smoke and drink (kills many people every year), we don't ban meat or nitrate use even though the evidence is clear that this leads to many cases of colon cancer in western society every year. The thing is we have learned to live with many risks in the modern world and covid is one we need to add to the list, the sooner we accept this the better.

[Keg]

I think Joyce said it best when he reckoned that it will be a shame if people in NSW can fly to the USA and the UK but can't fly to WA. I can see that exact scenario playing out. NSW will be open to most of the rest of the world (that will have us) whilst WA (and perhaps QLD and others) are still closed to NSW arrivals.

Ce la vie. We all make our choices. The people of WA and QLD have made theirs. It will take a number of focus groups to change their Premier's minds.