The Federal Government’s policy on border controls has been identified as a business critical issue by our Members.
Together with 19 organisations representing Australian and Australian-interested organisations across Europe, we made a submission to the Australian Government addressing the commercial and professional career related (rather than personal) impacts of Australia’s policy framework on border controls.
Bilateral business relations between Australia and Europe, and Australia’s reputation, have suffered significantly as a result of the Australian policies. Significant effort will be required to mend the damage done.
Our submission provided empirical input, relevant experiences and suggestions from the members and associates of bilateral business associations operating between Australia and Europe for consideration as the Government considers adapting its future policy on border controls.
In summary, we made the following recommendations to the Australian Government relating to this matter:
Provide certainty on the reopening policy framework as soon as possible
Abolish quarantine and removal of caps for fully vaccinated or immune (recovered) people or PCR-tested arrivals similar to the UK and EU easing.
Seek to replicate the current operation of the European health passport which is now allowing free travel between Schengen nations.
Ensure entry from each country is governed by objective reasoning (eg any preference of entry to USA citizens over European citizens will lead to further questioning of Australia’s commitment to trade with Europe also noting the impact from the French submarine cancellation).
Implement an “open for business” campaign similar to the current ‘’open for education’’ campaign.
We are happy to share the full submission document to our Members.