Friends, family and a musical duo in drag welcomed passengers as they disembarked Qantas flight QF401 at 7.20am local time, the first of 26 flights scheduled between the two states yesterday.
Queensland, a popular holiday destination, closed its borders to travellers from New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria in August following clusters of COVID-19.
Australia will lift more internal state border restrictions in a boost for tourism as new coronavirus infections slow to a trickle, while the first vaccines could be available in March, a government minister said on Tuesday. The borders were last shut in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.
Besides providing relief to businesses that straddle both sides of the border, lifting of the border ban will also put more people back on jobs in several hard-hit sectors during the pandemic, including airlines.
'Victoria will be good to go to come up to Queensland as well (on December 1),' Ms Palaszczuk told Seven's Sunrise program on Wednesday.
The Sydney-to-Melbourne air route is the world's second-busiest, and Australian lawmakers are keen to revive domestic travel and tourism in a bid to revive the ailing economy.
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Along the way, she must also confront personal demons, as she struggles with emotional problems and alcohol and drug addiction. Slanted sometimes uses affiliate links and may earn a commission if you purchase items through those links.
Besides reopening its border with Victoria, New South Wales said that up to 500 people can now gather at outdoor religious gatherings.
Queensland will also open to Victoria on the same date, should that state continue its long (and extremely promising) streak of no new cases.
The moves will please Prime Minister Scott Morrison who has pushed state leaders to relax some curbs to help revive the economy, which shrank 7% in the three months to end-June, the most since records began in 1959.
This comes as Victoria has no active cases for the first time in nine months, after a man in his 90s was discharged from hospital on Monday.
While Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews lauded the milestone, he urged Victorians to remain vigilant.
The state accounts for about 73 percent of Australia's total COVID-19 cases of just over 27,800 and 90 percent of its 907 deaths.
