The COVID 19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to resort to unprecedented measure to save the lives of their people. Australia's early closure of borders with mandatory hotel quarantine has been wildly successful in keeping Australians residents safe and allowing our current life relatively free from restrictions.

However, despite the government priding itself that the travel ban is popular, for the millions of Australian residents with family and friends overseas, it is taking a heavy toll on their mental health. There is still no real prospect as to when the borders will re-open and what the criteria for the opening will be. Half of the Australian population are either first or second generation residents (meaning: born overseas or at least one parent born overseas). The vast majority of these millions of residents still have strong ties to their families overseas. After more than 13 months of travel ban, many are longing to reunite with their loved ones, either in Australia or in their country of origin. They want to do this without being forced to wait until their elderly parents are dying or dead, or until a family crisis forces them to apply for a travel exemptions, effectively begging the department of immigration for permission to board a plane to their former home (often without knowing whether and how they will return to Australia). No matter what the destination and the vaccination status of an applicant for a travel exemption, the ban is blanketed on everyone, with a distinct lack of transparency and consistency on the rules for exemptions and how they are applied.

In the long run, the zero-case strategy the government currently pursues will not be feasible, unless the borders stay shut for ever. Like the rest of the world, we will have to learn to live with a low level of infections in the community, a level which will allow the health care system to function normally (remember how the initial slogan was: "flatten the curve" to protect the health care system?) and high risk groups of the population to remain safe. The large scale vaccination campaign in Israel has demonstrated how COVID 19 vaccines effectively decreases transmission and prevents severe cases of COVID 19 disease including death with just over 50% of the population (and 88% of Israeli aged 50 and older) immunized (standing as of April 2021). Most restrictions have been lifted in Israel, and the country is preparing itself to welcome vaccinated tourists as of 23 May 2021 without quarantine requirements. With currently just under 150 new infections per day and no deaths for the first time in 10 months, Israel has proven how a low level of infections spares the health care system the strain of the pandemic and protects the population through the vaccine.

We ask from the National Cabinet to devise and implement a phased strategy of border reopening until the end of 2021 at the latest. Specifically, we want to see

- this strategy to be informed by epidemiological and medical advice rather than by a political election campaign.

- the definition of the proportion of vaccinated population considered to be protective against a new wave of coronavirus infection, therefore allowing the reopening of the borders.

- the concentration and prioritizing of efforts to reach this level of population vaccination by October 2021.

- the granting of travel privileges for fully vaccinated persons, either to travel to overseas destinations or to enter Australia for the purpose of family visits outside extenuating circumstances, without the requirement of applying for a travel exemption and without undergoing mandatory hotel quarantine upon return.

- a dynamic system of risk assessments of individual countries and associated leveled quarantine system for non-vaccinated returning residents or travelers - i.e. mandatory hotel quarantine for return travel from high risk countries, home quarantine for return travels from low risk countries, no quarantine for return travels from no risk countries (similar to systems adopted in many other countries)

- the definition of and adherence to thresholds of community transmission, hospital admissions and ICU occupancy at which (travel and other) restrictions need to be re-instated (including differentiation of restrictions between vaccinated and non-vaccinated persons)

To be very clear: this petition is not about taking frivolous holidays overseas. Everyone needs to play their part in keeping themselves and everyone around them safe from this devastating virus. But many of us don't have the privilege of having their families in the same country. This petition is about these families, about the human longing to reunite with loved ones. About grandparents meeting their grandchildren. About families gathering for important life events.  And about sparing Australian residents the trauma of battling the immigration authorities to then possibly still be too late to say goodbye to their dying mother or father.

The world has moved on since the start of the pandemic when closing down was the only option to control it. There is now the knowledge and technology to effectively control transmission. Let us take advantage of this knowledge and apply it sensibly, allowing families to reunite while keeping Australia safe.