(Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

Australia is fast approaching 80% vaccination rates for those aged over 16. Despite knowing for more than 18 months that this day was coming, Australia is woefully unprepared to reopen, with a massive to-do list to sort out.

This raises the question: why haven’t governments been laying out the rules, regulations and infrastructure crucial for social freedoms?

Vaccine passports

Across Europe, vaccination passports in the form of QR codes that can be scanned before entering venues have been in place for months.

Australia’s national vaccination certificate has been plagued with problems, from it being incredibly easy to forge (with more than 10,000 sellers of fake vaccination certificates) to others waiting weeks for their vaccinations to show up on the MyGov site.

There are also no ​federal public health orders or laws that make COVID-19 vaccine passports mandatory, and no consistent passport in place; states and territories are developing domestic passports linked to their check-in apps. Victoria is starting to trial its certificate in regional areas. 

International passports are set to be issued from next week but the details are still murky. 

Hospitality and retail workers have also raised concerns about having to police vaccine passports as a condition of entry. Casual, low-paid and often young workers are set to be on the front line for abuse from those who take issue with the certificates. Customer violence towards these staff members has escalated throughout the pandemic. 

New South Wales hasn’t issued a public health order so it’s not known what fines businesses will face for allowing entry to non-vaccinated patrons, but failing to comply with QR code check-ins can lead to fines up to $55,000.

Officials have said the details of checking and enforcing passports have yet to be worked out. 

Vaccine mandates

Just like pretty much every other aspect of Australia’s COVID strategy, vaccine mandates have been introduced ad hoc by states and territories. The federal government has mandated vaccination only for residential aged care workers.

The vaccine hasn’t been federally mandated for disability workers, with a surge in demand for vaccinated workers among clients with a disability.

The Australian Medical Association has called on the government to implement nationally consistent public health orders for mandatory COVID vaccinations for healthcare workers, with many states introducing this mandate themselves. 

International travel

“Home by Christmas” has been the mantra of federal, state and territory governments for some time — but the details have, yet again, not been released. 

Qantas plans to resume six international routes to COVID-safe destinations from December 18, but we haven’t finalised travel bubbles with many other countries. 

State borders are another issue, with Qantas pushing back planned interstate and international flights from Western Australia due to its hard border stance. 

Home quarantine  

For those lucky enough to score a flight abroad, getting home is yet another problem. Trials of home quarantine started only earlier this month, and Victoria launched a home quarantine “selfie” app yesterday. Each state has varying timeframes for quarantine, from seven days in NSW to 14 days in South Australia. 

Rapid antigen home testing is set to be available from November, but rules around what happens when someone tests positive have yet to be devised by state and territory governments. 

Those stuck abroad since the start of 2020 are still struggling to get home, with Australians forking out upward of $2000 to nab a repatriation flight from Argentina, but struggling with visas to get into the South American country. 

Back to school

Victoria and NSW have been criticised for reopening pubs before classrooms, although there are a lot of questions around safety measures for teachers and students. Children under 12 aren’t eligible for a vaccine, although Pfizer this morning submitted initial trial data for its vaccine in kids aged five to 11. 

Some governments plan to invest in ventilation for classrooms to lessen the spread of the virus’ airborne particles, though most of these are only in the trial phases.

With Parliament sitting weeks cancelled or postponed in Canberra and across state governments, it raises the question: if not preparing for Australia’s reopening, what exactly have our legislators been doing?