Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is confident that the Western Australia border will be open to New South Wales residents by Christmas.

Under Morrison’s national plan, state borders are meant to open once vaccination rates reach 70 to 80 per cent.

But the WA Premier Mark McGowan has hinted that the state’s borders could remain shut into next year.

The Prime Minister says the state can’t stay shut away forever.

“Premiers in some states which have low case numbers of COVID, I can understand why they want to keep things as they are,” he told Jim Wilson on 2GB Drive.

“But you can’t do that and connect with the rest of the country, and the rest of the world.

“… Borders are no match for the vaccine, the vaccine is what will protect Australia, together with common sense low-level measures, not lockdowns.

“We’ve got to live with this virus, and we’ve got to live together, and not apart.”

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