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Technology allowing Australians to travel overseas with an internationally recognised vaccine certificate will be ready within weeks, as the government prepares to announce a plan for the country's borders to finally reopen.

In evidence to the Senate's Covid committee on Thursday, the chief executive of Services Australia, Rebecca Skinner, said the department had developed a visible digital seal for vaccine status that would be ready by the end of October. She said:

Our plan is to have all of the technology in place so that it is a settled and tested situation before the policy decisions need to be made.

We don't want to be in a situation where policy decisions can't be taken because the technology isn't ready.