With interstate travel restrictions and the regular and repeated slamming shut of borders across Australia as COVID-19 cluster hot spots emerge, many Australians have become wary of short-term travel in case they find themselves stuck far from home or in quarantine.

The future of travel and border restrictions, including state and international borders, regulation of travel and quarantine and vaccination requirements, will all be addressed in a UWA Public Policy Institute panel and Q&A event at Perth’s State Theatre Centre next Thursday 9 September. Fortress Australia: How long can we stay closed? will also be live-streamed and recorded for remote, regional, interstate and international audiences.

Panellists include Dr Katie Attwell and Professor Loretta Baldassar from the UWA School of Social Sciences, Professor of Finance from the UWA Business School Dirk Baur, CEO of Perth Airport Kevin Brown, President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, and CEO of StudyPerth, Phil Payne. In-person and remote audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of the expert panel.

So, what does the future hold and how long can we stay closed? Over a third of people living in Western Australia were born outside Australia – feelings of isolation and separation from extended families are mounting and the outlook is uncertain.

Discussion will focus on what it will take for Australia to open up again, and what the new world will look like. It will also examine the benefits of open borders – economically, socially and nationally - and the potential costs and risks.

Dr Attwell, a vaccine policy researcher who is leading a study into community attitudes to COVID-19 vaccinations, said Australia faced a near unique situation in relation to its vaccine rollout.

“The absence of serious COVID-19 outbreaks – until now on the East Coast – has meant that our rollout has proceeded slowly given the supply and risk aversion around the available vaccines. We are very fortunate to have managed as we have for as long as we have,” Dr Atwell said.

“What has remained far more unexamined, however, are the associated costs of our strategy in terms of our other mitigation strategies, most notably lockdowns and closed borders. Reaching high vaccination targets now appears to be central to any process of reopening, but that may be challenging in our unique context.”

UWA PPI Director Professor Shamit Saggar said periodic lockdowns, near-sealed international borders and miniscule quarantine facilities were the only available levers given we had lagged so far behind in our vaccine roll-out.

“Our economy’s global connectedness, our citizens’ kith and kin overseas and our international student market have all been hit badly. The UWA Public Policy Institute’s role is to examine these policy trade-offs by hearing directly from key experts and senior figures in these sectors.”

Tickets to the event have now sold out but you can register to be added to the waitlist or attend online or on-demand.