National cabinet agrees to begin travel on the ‘road out’ depending on the continued success of Covid-19 measures

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Governments are considering a reduction in “baseline restrictions” in four weeks should strategies to contain the coronavirus continue to be effective.

A national cabinet meeting on Thursday agreed to begin travel on the “road out” of the economic and health crisis should authorities gain greater confidence in the success of their measures.

The baseline restrictions potentially to be eased would depend on the regime imposed by individual state governments.

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The federal government has foreshadowed the removal of a ban on non-urgent elective surgery, possibly as early as next Tuesday.

Hypothetically, the easing could see police lighten up on enforcement of home isolation rules.

Sources insisted it wasn’t the full “road out” of the crisis but a few limited steps in that direction.

In a further sign of optimism, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he wanted parliament to return briefly in May to debate and vote on matters not directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Previously, federal parliament was not scheduled to return until August.

However, Morrison made clear on Thursday the major measures combating coronavirus would continue until at least the end of September, and that the public would be urged to keep washing their hands and maintaining safe distances from each other long after that.

The federal government’s broad strategy is to boost testing for the coronavirus, expand tracking to detect possible cross-infections, and be prepared to deal urgently with localised outbreaks.

Morrison said national cabinet had agreed to use the next four weeks to “make sure we can get these in place, and baseline restrictions that have been set some weeks ago will remain in place until we can achieve those three goals”.

“There are some restrictions put in place from some states and not others. Those states will take the advantage over the next couple of weeks and they will make their own decisions whether they change any of those arrangements,” he told reporters in Canberra.

The prime minister pledged major boosts to private industry, possibly to be outlined in the budget, to “achieve the growth that will be necessary for our economy to get people back to work, the economy back on track”.

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“It will be a different world on the other side of this virus and there will be many challenges,” Morrison said.

That different world is likely to include the continuation of the national cabinet process, with Morrison saying “there has been some talk about its role on the other side of the virus, and that is a discussion for another day”.

In comments certain to delight the business figures perhaps worried by the levels of government intervention during the pandemic, Morrison said he would devise policies to move business forward.

“Our government sees business at the centre of the economy. We do not see government as the centre of the economy,” he said.