Meanwhile, regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine…..i bet there are some serious negotiations going on now. We must hope they are successful.

Officials involved in talks about the potential US UK travel corridor said they thought it was increasingly unlikely they would reach a conclusion by the end of July, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The officials added that the rise in cases of the Delta variant in the UK and the complexities of the U.S. political system were set to extend the talks into August and even September, the newspaper said.

The matter is further complicated by the fact that the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be approved in the US.

This could mean that Britons who have been jabbed with the vaccine could be barred from entering the US until it is approved - a process which could take several months.

One UK diplomat told the FT: 'AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the US doesn't recognise it, it means millions of Brits won't be eligible to travel if we agree to a new corridor.'

Declare a state of emergency, requisition all the manpower, equipment, materials and temporary structures you can find. Get army engineers to manage the immediate construction of temporary vaccine facilities on federally owned land in all regions. I hate the use of this term, but we should be on a "war-like" footing when it comes to the establishment of getting everyone vaccinated.

All returning travellers must be vaccinated and can quarantine at home, if possible, until we hit 70%-80%

The only people in "hotel" quarantine are vaccinated international flight crew and people that don't have a safe place to quarantine. They get dealt with like human beings, not criminals. Requisition airport hotels within walking distance of the terminal where they're available.

Frankly, given our recent experiences, the next "leak" is already brewing in a hotel somewhere. We are suffering a breach roughly every 7-10 days. These lockdowns cannot go on.

It's going to be expensive, but not as expensive as building huge facilities that will be redundant in 6-12 months. I'll happily not pay a temporary levy for 12 months as if everyone is vaccinated we don't need to waste more money.

Fixed it for you.

Princess Anna has delayed her daily address a few hours: expect her to announce at 11am (15 minutes away) a 3 day lockdown and hard border closure.

Off to the shops for bread and milk before the locusts clean the shelves :p

clear the cupboard first. Or maybe the garage, need plenty of space for that pallet of toilet paper.

Why would the facilities be "redundant" in 6 - 12 months, Cirressna? The Biosecurity Act is there for a reason, and the potential biosecurity risks and their (disastrous) consequences are easily foreseeable. Which is why there is a Biosecurity Act.

The costs of establishing and maintaining proper quarantine facilities in 'standby mode' prior to this pandemic would have been chump change compared to the costs - and I mean real costs - of the lockdowns and interstate border closures.

The site would have lain dormant and been sold to developers years ago.

SEQ by the looks of it.

Not much left now. Melbourne to CNS/TSV. MEL and ADL to HBA/LST

You can take Townsville off the list. What an absolute sh!tstorm. But Scotty from Marketing said ‘it’s not a race?’

This is turning into a national lockdown.....

And the deputy PM just got fined for failing to wear a mask - what hope have we got.

I prefer the spend big on vaccinations option rather than spend big on quarantine. Quarantine doesn't fix the problem and our resources are finite.
I'm sure a "temporary levy" will appear soon enough and it will last a lot longer than 12 months. Our children will be paying for this mess.

A nation gets the politicians it deserves. If it wants the at times acting PM to be a guy who opposed the HPV vaccine because it would make women “promiscuous” and who said snake bites killed 40 times as much as Covid then it’s a reflection of the society that voted him into office.

Dan has just said something sensible. He wants to cut overseas arrivals by 75 percent and stop people going out until we ca get people vaccinated.

I mean we can cut arrivals by 99% but until they get real on stopping the leaks it wont matter.

The fact that an intl airport driver was not required to wear any PPE, get tested or get vaccinated 18 months in is inexcusable - heads need to roll for that.

And in QLD it should have been blindingly obvious to separate low risk domestic from high risk arrivals. Post quarantine testing....it goes on and on.

Gnadenburg, a bit more "panic" 12 months ago and we wouldn't find ourselves in a position where we need to rush like we do now.

Cirressna, the premiers have come to the same conclusion I have. Hotel quarantine doesn't work. As SOPS said above, expect them to unilaterally cut their caps. Up to 80% reductions being reported.

Clark Y, yep agreed, but we are where we are and there is no sign that quarantine won't continue in some form for some time to come. If we're going to have it and continue this push for COVID zero it needs to work. The feds need to do both.

Ruprecht, I can't disagree with you. :-)

Outsider here currently peering out of my rydges syd quarantine hotel.
It’s amazing watching the news here. It’s like watching news in the California last June. Seems like a time warp.
The State premiers and govt officials are barking about international flights to be paused and a fedex crew possible source. A few breaths later call for more vaccinations, Pfizer/moderna etc. How do they think vaccines arrive? I’m not fdx, but have pulled Pfizer vaccines in on our preighter runs.
I am also glad to see the age guidance change on Astra/z. I look forward to an open Australia and brighter future for our crews on both sides of the pacific.

So you want to drastically cut arrivals,

Doesn’t that make the governments heartless and racist. I mean cutting now this new INDIAN very contagious variant is spreading around.

oh, that’s what all the lefty lovies will be screaming. Human rights,and all that. How can we deny AUSTRALIAN citizens their RIGHT to return….. and so on.
Or is it the usual story, if a lefty politician says or does something it’s ok but if a conservative government does it it’s racist and against human rights.

All returning travellers must be vaccinated and could possibly quarantine at home, until we hit 70%-80%
But, will almost certainly have an urgent and irresistible need to get to a leagues club, gym, self hynosis session or whatever

There, now I've fixed it for you.

Fk, the left/ right argument. The premiers are starting to see that the benefit for the many outweighs the desires of the few.

Labor premiers, and there very much is a different standard for them as opposed to liberal premiers.

For people like Mr Sharma, who travelled to India to mourn his father's death, the lack of compassion and community solidarity is dispiriting.

"It's really devastating to see when people on social media say: 'Just let them stay there'. What kind of thing is that to say about a fellow Australian?