Many families have been separated by strict travel bans, and employers in the state's lucrative mining sector have struggled to fill vacancies as workers have been prevented from traveling interstate and internationally. Australia's removal of the hard border comes as a relief for many families who have been separated by strict travel bans.

Another member of the Covid Zero club has left.

After nearly two years of the shutdown to eradicate the coronavirus, Western Australia finally reopened its borders to vaccinated travellers on Thursday. As a result, the entire continent is now available to visitors and international labour.

Many families who have been divided by tight travel bans will be relieved by the elimination of the hard border, as will employers in the state's rich mining sector who have battled to fill vacancies as workers have been banned from going from interstate and overseas.

It aligns the state, which has a population of over 2.6 million people, with the rest of the world, leaving only Hong Kong and China with effectively closed borders and rigorous quarantine regimes, while more transmissible forms like omicron demonstrate the strategy's limitations.

In the wake of its own Covid-19 outbreak, New Zealand, which has maintained a tight border, declared this week that it will no longer compel vaccinated citizens from Australia to self-isolate. By July, the country will be open to Australians, and by October, it will be open to all other tourists.

Blockades on Australia's borders have sparked the country's worst crisis in 120 years.

While most other Australian states' borders gradually reopened in 2021 as the delta and omicron epidemics spread and vaccination rates rose, WA's borders remained closed for the duration of the pandemic, as its instances remained near zero. On February 21, Australia reopened its international border to vaccinated travellers, with a double vaccination rate of more than 94 per cent for those aged 16 and up.

As the omicron variety spreads, daily Covid-19 instances in WA are at all-time highs, although being low by worldwide standards. As part of its preparations for a surge in infections, the state imposed additional limits on non-urgent surgeries on Wednesday, as well as increased mask rules and capacity limits for hospitality venues.

"We anticipate a rapid increase of hospitalizations in the coming weeks," Premier Mark McGowan told reporters on Wednesday. "With the full reopening of the WA border tomorrow, we expect case numbers to continue to rise."

Shortage of workers

The closing of Western Australia's mines triggered a severe labour shortage in the state, with the jobless rate falling to 3.7 per cent in January. This compares to a nationwide rate of 4.2 per cent and levels considerably above 5 per cent prior to the pandemic.

"The reopening of the border would undoubtedly help to alleviate some of the labour shortages," Diana Mousina, senior economist at AMP Capital Markets, said. "It will also make it easier to welcome tourists, as all states are now open." It boasts one's self-esteem."

Mining executives such as Mike Henry of BHP Group and Elizabeth Gaines of Fortescue Metals Group have welcomed the reopening, claiming that the dangers to their operations are manageable. The state requires all personnel travelling into remote mine locations to be vaccinated, and BHP and Rio Tinto have mandatory vaccination protocols in place across their operations there.

"The reopening of WA's border is expected to trigger a rebound of inbound interstate movement, and just in time," said James McIntyre of Bloomberg Economics. "The state is on the threshold of a surge in mining investment activity, which will be impossible to achieve without interstate and international access to trained labour," he said.