When Australia reaches 70 per cent, fully vaccinated Australians will be able to use smart phones to gain access to cafes, restaurants and events by mid-October using their Australian Vaccination Record number (AIR).
A national cabinet plan agreed last Friday will facilitate the use of digital records to verify vaccination status using a QR code to create a form of vaccination passport and states that don’t participate will face reductions in federal financial support.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the national plan was a “deal with Australians”.
“Premiers and chief ministers have signed up to that plan, but they haven’t signed up with me, they’ve signed up with the Australian people,” Morrison said.
Morrison said national cabinet was working on the exemptions to deliver a reward to people who signed up for vaccinations quickly.
“We have made a lot of progress on the digital support that is available to be done through state systems to give effect to that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warned that states and territory leaders could not expect the same federal financial support if they abandoned the agreement to ease restrictions once people had been vaccinated.
“We have to give people the clear sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Frydenberg said.
The idea is that people could add the AIR registration number from their vaccination record to the QR code app they use in their state or territory to register for entry to stores. The AIR digital certificate with watermark would be shown to gain entry to cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other venues.
It’s also possible the AIR number could be incorporated in access control credentials to allow staff access to sites.
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