If there was mention of this previously, I couldn't find it.

I do a decent amount of business there. They have banned 1st Class international mail. You can only send something UPS, FEDEX or USPS Express mail. All of these are minimum 5 times to cost to use and they are holding these "Express" packages up, for months.
My customers tell me it is like Germany 1934, with Vaccine police kicking in doors of those not on record of getting the shots.

Yeah it’s been a messed up shipping system there for a while. It’s pretty bad when China ships things faster than Australia.

I ordered a few NATO straps for watches from an eBay seller in Australia. It took MONTHS to arrive. Ive never ever had something take anywhere near as long as it took for that damn order to arrive.

Australia would be amazing if #1 it were a free country and #2 if you rounded up all the idiots and political authoritarian turds (basically it’s entire government) and deported them all to a remote island somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:

Australia would be amazing if #1 it were a free country and #2 if you rounded up all the idiots and political authoritarian turds (basically it’s entire government) and deported them all to a remote island somewhere.

That's pretty much how Australia started in the first place, Britain began shipping criminals there in, I think it was, the late 1700's. It was a penal colony. You might say the inmates took over the asylum.
.

^^^ pretty sure he knows that


This is the govt they voted for and allowed. Reap what you sow

Lord help us

OKCgene, Convicts would be a better term than criminals. There were pretty serious social problems in Britain to the point that their jails were full. Some Aussies might take issue with being called a nation of criminals considering the crimes that could land you on a boat bound for Australia.

It breaks my heart to see a country as fun and beautiful as Australia have such an ugly government.

If I am not mistaken, the Brits were shipping political enemies (a lot of Irish) to a penal colony on the island of Tasmania.

I like looking at studies of what works & what doesn’t work trying to prevent Covid spread.

After all that, how are the numbers?

Seems for the most part, Covid is gonna do what Covid does.

I think we should be constantly adjusting to ‘best practices’.

It’s not just Australia. The wife makes jewelry all mail shipments of beads from China has stopped. The supplier said they were able to use the above mentioned shipping means. At a huge increase in cost. The reason they gave was the standard excuse Covid.

I shipped a fountain pen to a buyer in Sydney way back in August, it was around the 15th of August, 2021. I got an email from him on Saturday telling me that the pen is being held up by the Australian Customs, for COVID reasons. The guy is a classical musician, and a pretty much what us folks at the SigForum would call a extreme leftist nut. But, he has changed his mind, he is very tired of and is very angry about how the Australian Govt, both at the State and the Federal Govts are running roughshod over the rights that the Australian people used to enjoy.
I guess that the politicians in Australia are in for a major surprise in the next State and Federal Parliamentary elections. A lot of the pro-Covid restriction politicians are going to be voted out.

quote:

Originally posted by sidss1:

I guess that the politicians in Australia are in for a major surprise in the next State and Federal Parliamentary elections. A lot of the pro-Covid restriction politicians are going to be voted out.

I’m not so certain of that anymore.

The people in Australia seem to be very consistently left leaning and have tolerated this shit for two years now, I have a good friend whose cousin married an Australian and moved there a number of years ago and he told me in talking with her she was delighted with all the restrictions and bullshit, they all feel like they are “doing their part“, she was an American leftist and felt like she fit right in there.

Maybe I’m wrong and they finally reached their breaking point.

PA - maybe you are on to something here. Let's ship the Americans that want to do their part to Australia.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by sidss1:

I guess that the politicians in Australia are in for a major surprise in the next State and Federal Parliamentary elections. A lot of the pro-Covid restriction politicians are going to be voted out.

I’m not so certain of that anymore.

The people in Australia seem to be very consistently left leaning and have tolerated this shit for two years now, I have a good friend whose cousin married an Australian and moved there a number of years ago and he told me in talking with her she was delighted with all the restrictions and bullshit, they all feel like they are “doing their part“, she was an American leftist and felt like she fit right in there.

Maybe I’m wrong and they finally reached their breaking point.

you really have to go farther back for their pattern of tolerance, it was in 1996 that their "conservative" PM over reacted to the Port Arthur shootings and crammed down their gun ban/buy backs/registration. They have been voting for and getting what they voted for, for some time now.

HK Ag

Australia is very similar to the US, in so much that the Lefties all inhabit the urban-metro areas, whereas the rest of the country everyone else to one degree or another is to the right. The middle-class and wealthy suburbs are major strong-holds. Its a massively huge country with a lot of minimally inhabited areas.

For awhile, their restrictions were limited to out of country arrivals, being an island nation their strongest point of control was their borders. As things opened up around the world, virus spread, Australia saw their cases surge while the rest of the world was about 6-9 months ahead of them. Their medical professionals and elected representatives went off-the-rails and started imposing some ridiculously draconian laws and enforcement. Now that it's Summer down there, hopefully we'll see people getting fed-up with things, like we've seen in Canada and start to push-back in greater numbers.

Hmmm, maybe "Mad Max" wasn't complete fiction after all ??

I am disappointed by what I see in Australia. I thought they had it together relative to liberty generally. They let their funs be confiscated in the usual sequence and it’s been downhill from there. Of course I’m disappointed by most every democratic State in the world today.

ETA: Guns, not funs. Sorry. Fat fingered it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: darthfuster,

I’d say the point of no return for Australia was when they banned the license plate “weapon” that was on a hot rod because someone felt threatened. A society like that cannot last long. Especially when China refers to them as the chewing gum under their shoe.

Chinese media calls Australia the chewing gum under their shoe over coronavirus origin inquiries

There is a tiny glimmer of hope. For visitors, not citizens.

https://simpleflying.com/firm-...rder-reopening-date/

Breaking: Australia To Welcome Back International Tourists From February 21

BY ANDREW CURRAN
PUBLISHED 17 HOURS AGO

Australia will reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists on February 21, ending a near two-year travel ban that has ravaged the local airline and tourism industries. The border reopening was announced on Monday following a National Security Committee of Cabinet meeting in Canberra.

Fully vaccinated travelers welcome

To date, only Australian citizens and permanent residents, their families, and those with certain visas and exemptions are allowed to enter. That's severely curtailed the ability of airlines to fill their planes. As a result, airlines in Australia and airlines flying to Australia have struggled to gain much lift over the usually busy Southern Hemisphere summer.

“The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia. That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.

"But if you’re double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia, and I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that.”

It's the news Australia's airlines and airports were waiting for. In an upbeat statement, Brisbane Airport said, "Today’s announcement gives much-needed certainty to airports, airlines, tourism operators, and everyone involved in the international visitation industry."

Entry with a minimum of fuss
Except for Western Australia, all Australian states and territories will welcome inbound travelers with minimal fuss. Proof of vaccination status and a pre-departure COVID test is required before flying out. Generally, most states and territories will require you to take an on-arrival test, go straight to your accommodation and wait for a result. Some states and territories allow a rapid antigen test in place of the far slower PCR test.

Western Australia is maintaining its hermit kingdom closed border rule. It's a position that caused Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to liken the state to North Korea late last week. However, how much longer Western Australia can hold out is anyone's guess. The closed border rule remains popular with a large section of the local population there. Monday's news saw the Qantas boss put a cheerier spin on things.

"This is fantastic news for our people and our customers," said Mr Joyce on Monday. "We know there are lots of international tourists who want to come to Australia. There are also a lot of business travellers who will finally be able to be in the same room as their customers or local teams after almost two years apart. This means they can now book to come here with confidence.

"We will be looking at our schedules to see if we can restart flights from more international destinations sooner or add capacity to those routes we are already flying. We have the flexibility to ramp up flights in response to demand.”

A couple of small barriers of airlines to overcome
One of the biggest foreign airlines operating into Australia is Singapore Airlines. They've maintained flights throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A two-way travel corridor is already in operation between Australia and Singapore. However, today's decision will potentially give the passenger numbers on SQ's Australia-bound flights some serious lift.

"Singapore Airlines welcomes today’s announcement by the Australian Prime Minister that Australia’s international border will open to fully vaccinated arrivals,” Singapore Airlines' Regional Public Affairs and Government Relations Manager Karl Schubert told Simple Flying. "Singapore Airlines will continue to remain nimble in the deployment of capacity to meet demand as restrictions ease and confidence returns to the travel industry."

But a few details need to be nutted out before the airline has full commercial confidence about beefing up its Australian operations. Mr Schubert says Australia's State Governments need to work out the "little nuanced differences" concerning on arrival testing regimes not just for passengers but for airline crews.

"If a crew member laying over in one state tests positive, the entire outbound flight is canceled. But if a crew member in another state tests positive, the aircraft is allowed to fly out and operate as per normal with the negative crew members," he told ABC Radio National on Monday.

"Ultimately, we need to work with the State Governments to make sure we can have the confidence that when we operate into a particular destination, the requirements on us in that destination are the same whether we are going into Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide. There needs to be consistency."

My Buddy is Australian - he said it depends on what state you live in. Some don't require masks or vaccination except for health care workers - like South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. But the other states have vaccine mandates and have closed their borders to anyone not vaccinated. He said his brother hasn't seen his mother in 2 years - they live about 100 miles apart but in different states.

quote:

Originally posted by Dzozer:
My Buddy is Australian - he said it depends on what state you live in. Some don't require masks or vaccination except for health care workers - like South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. But the other states have vaccine mandates and have closed their borders to anyone not vaccinated. He said his brother hasn't seen his mother in 2 years - they live about 100 miles apart but in different states.

Ask him about Western Australia and what they've done to their borders and travel.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/20...uch-longer/100737778

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
They have banned 1st Class international mail. You can only send something UPS, FEDEX or USPS Express mail.

The reason for this is what?