Morrison admits states at different points in reopening ‘journey’ but must reach same destination

Prime minister shifts gear amid sustained pushback from state leaders but warns of travel implications of differing restrictions

• Covid restrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; borders
• Hotspots: NSW; Vic; Qld
• Vaccine rollout tracker
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Scott Morrison has declared it will be up to each state and territory to decide how to ease restrictions once vaccination rates lift across the country, after warnings from the states that it will be unsafe to open borders with only 70% coverage.

But the prime minister, who announced on Tuesday that Australia had secured an extra 500,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines from Singapore to distribute next week, also suggested that if states kept hard domestic borders in place once vaccination rates lifted, some Australians would be free to travel overseas while others were not.