Australia’s continuing border closure is costing the country $203million every day as the vaccine rollout is delayed
- McKell Institute think tank estimates $203million lost a day from border closure
- Sydney’s newest hospital on the Northern Beaches cost $2.1billion in 2018
- Labor-aligned think tank said border closure would cost $74.4billion a year
Australia’s continuing border closure is costing the equivalent of a hospital every ten days as the Covid vaccine rollout is plagued with delays.
The Labor-aligned McKell Institute think tank calculated $203million a day was being lost as a result of foreigners being banned from entering Australia for a holiday.
Put another way, Sydney’s Northern Beaches Hospital was meant to cost $1billion when it was announced in 2013.
When it opened in 2018, New South Wales taxpayers ended up paying $2.1billion for the privately-run health centre.
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Australia’s continuing border closure is costing the equivalent of a hospital a week as the Covid vaccine rollout is plagued with delays. The Labor-aligned McKell Institute think tank calculated $203million a day was being lost as a result of foreigners being banned from entering Australia for a holiday. Pictured is Perth airport
The doubled overall cost of one state hospital in Sydney cost the same as ten days of forgone economic activity as a result of Australia’s border closure.
‘The end of international border closures will increase economic activity by approximately $203 million per day,’ the McKell Institute said.
It estimated the border closure, imposed in March 2020, would cost $74.4billion a year.
That economic cost would grow by another $16.4billion if the original October 2021 schedule for reopening Australia was delayed by another three months – or 81 days – until January next year.
The report – by McKell Institute chief executive Michael Buckland and policy analysts Felix Zerbib and Connor Wherrett – said the federal government’s failure to meet an earlier target of 4million Covid vaccines by March 2021 would ne economically crippling.
‘State-based capital city lockdowns are only one economic cost associated with the delay in the vaccination program,’ it said.
Put another way, Sydney’s Northern Beaches Hospital was meant to cost $1billion when it was announced in 2013. When it opened in 2018, New South Wales taxpayers ended up paying $2.1billion for the privately-run health centre
‘A second and larger cost is associated with any delay in international border reopening as a result of the delay in the vaccination program.’
The month-old Australia-New Zealand travel bubble has been temporarily suspended for 48 hours from Thursday night after a husband and wife in Sydney’s eastern suburbs mysteriously tested positive to Covid.
The man’s test result, which was announced on Wednesday, sent shockwaves through the city because he had not returned from overseas, does not work in border control, health care or at a quarantine facility.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Thursday that face masks will be compulsory at indoor public places and dancing banned in greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains, from midnight Friday until the end of Sunday, which coincides with Mothers Day. Pictured is Sydney’s crowded Wynyard train station on Wednesday
NSW Health have now traced his infection to a returned traveller from the U.S. who contracted an Indian variant of the virus – but it is not known how the pair came into contact with each other.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Thursday that face masks will be compulsory at indoor public places and dancing banned in greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains, from midnight Friday until the end of Sunday, which coincides with Mothers Day.
Residents will only allowed to host 20 people in their houses on Mother’s Day as part of the new rules and pub patrons will be forced to stay seated.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Thursday that face masks will be compulsory at indoor public places and dancing banned in greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains, from midnight Friday until the end of Sunday, which coincides with Mothers Day
Dancing and singing will be banned, except at weddings where 20 people are allowed to gather on a dancefloor, and face masks will be mandatory indoors and for hospitality workers.
Australia’s vaccination program has been delayed after the AstraZeneca vaccine was linked with blood clots for those under 50.
This caused Prime Minister Scott Morrison to last month step back from an earlier promise for every Australian adult to receive their first jab by October.
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