Effective immediately, WA’s border settings provide a pathway to allow students to return to WA in time for the start of the school year, by selecting the “returning student” reason for entering. WA Police have commenced assessing these applications as a priority. Students, already in Australia, and their families captured by the approval are required to self-quarantine at suitable premises for 14 days in addition to meeting other entry requirements.
Based on the latest health advice, WA’s Safe Transition Plan has been updated with a new hard border from Saturday 5 February, 2022, in response to serious concerns around the impacts of the Omicron variant.
New hard border and approved travellers
A new hard border will be introduced under the plan to allow for safe, compassionate travel into WA and the return of legitimate Western Australians.
The updated plan means the full border opening will be delayed given the full impacts of Omicron in Australia are still unknown, with peak infections not yet reached in jurisdictions with widespread transmission.
Under the new hard border, approved travellers are permitted to enter WA with testing and quarantine requirements under the new expanded exemption criteria:
- Returning Western Australians, with strong recent connections;
- Persons with direct legitimate family connections with WA;
- Compassionate grounds including funeral, palliative care or terminally ill visitation;
- Member of the family of an approved traveller;
- People entering for urgent and essential medical treatment;
- Reasons of national and state security;
- Commonwealth and State officials, Members of Parliament, Diplomats;
- Provision of specialist skills not available in WA, health services, emergency service workers;
- People required to attend court matters, judicial officers and staff of court, tribunals and commissions; and
- Special considerations and extraordinary circumstances determined by the State Emergency Coordinator or Chief Health Officer.
Interstate travel
Approved interstate travellers into WA will be permitted with the following requirements:
- Travellers must have an approved G2G Pass, under the new exemption criteria;
- Be triple dose vaccinated, if eligible (or double dose vaccinated if not eligible for a third dose);
- Provide proof of a negative Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) within 24 hours before departure;
- Undertake 14 days of self-quarantine at a suitable premises, with the same requirements for household members at the self-quarantine premises;
- PCR testing within 48 hours of arrival and on day 12 of self-quarantine, and household members will also be required to do a PCR test on the traveller’s day 12;
- Subject to mandatory use of the G2G Now app and in-person checks by WA Police as required.
Additional requirements are in place for domestic road travel to keep WA safe:
- Approved domestic travellers to limit travel to 1,500km from road borders, to enable people to travel by road to suitable premises for quarantine in Perth from Eucla;
- Entry at the Kununurra border only permitted for transport, freight and logistics and border community residents;
- Restricted travel into remote Aboriginal communities.
International travel
International travel into WA will be permitted with the following requirements:
- Meet the Commonwealth requirements to enter Australia under the arrivals cap;
- Travellers must have an approved G2G Pass;
- Undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine including, seven days in hotel quarantine and seven days of self-quarantine at suitable premises, if eligible;
- PCR testing on days one, six, nine and 12, and household members will also be required to do a PCR test on the traveller’s day 12;
- Subject to mandatory use of G2G Now and in-person checks by WA Police as required;
- International travel indirectly into WA via another state or territory will be subject to the same entry and quarantine requirements as domestic travellers.
Current entry arrangements remain unchanged for transport, freight and logistics, maritime, aircraft crew, rig/platform and specific industries approved by the State Emergency Coordinator and Chief Health Officer.
Further reviews of border controls will be considered over the course of the next month
Everyone in WA aged five years and older is urged to roll up for WA and receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Translated information and advice about WA’s updated Safe Transition Plan will be available soon.
More information:
