• The federal government is reportedly discussing the creation of a vaccine passport system with a leading aviation body.
• Under a vaccine passport plan, Australians immunised against COVID-19 would theoretically be permitted to travel interstate and abroad without being subject to strict quarantine measures.
• Despite backing from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, senior Labor figures say higher vaccination rates and bolstered quarantine facilities are needed before a passport system.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

The Federal Government is reportedly in active discussions with the airline industry to establish a modern vaccine passport system, designed to allow those immunised against COVID-19 to travel freely interstate and abroad.

But the idea has come under scrutiny from state and federal Labor heavyweights, who have called on the Commonwealth to ramp up vaccination rates and bolster quarantine facilities before toying with a new travel registry system.

The Guardian reports the government is in formal talks with the International Air Transport Association, an airline industry group representing 290 major carriers, regarding the possibility of using the organisation’s existing Travel Pass app to store vaccination data.

A vaccine passport could theoretically allow immunised Australians to travel more freely during the COVID-19 pandemic, or allow returning Australians to enter the country without first undertaking two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said vaccine passports would be the “next step” in Australia’s slow reopening to the world.

Air New Zealand has already launched a trial using the app, but the possibilities of such a system being launched in Australia is up in the air while vaccination rates remain low.

Remarking on his government’s predication that borders will open no earlier than mid-2022, Morrison said “we’ve got to plan for when we reopen, but it’s not safe to do it yet.”

“And so we’ll keep planning and we’ll get those processes in place.”

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast on Thursday morning, Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles said vaccine passports are a concept “we’re all going to have to face going forward”,” while calling on the federal government to deliver stronger vaccination levels and more Commonwealth-run quarantine facilities first.

“I don’t hear an end-of-COVID conversation that the government is having with the Australian people,” Marles said.

“What does it look like to actually get to the other side? I think that’s one of the problems here.

“Because clearly, proper quarantine facilities [and] getting vaccinated is central to that, but you don’t hear the government talking that through.”

Later in the program, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said National Cabinet had not been involved in any discussions about utilising a vaccine passport system for domestic travel, as was flagged by Morrison this week.

“I don’t know how a passport would work around Australia,” Palaszczuk said. “To me, there’s been no discussion at National Cabinet of how it would work [or] why it would be necessary.”

Palaszczuk echoed her earlier calls for the Commonwealth to bolster the number of quaratine facilities it supports, instead of allowing states to bear the brunt of the virus-shielding system.

“Why wouldn’t you put all of your cards on table and think, ‘What more can I do to keep Australians safe?'” she said.

As of Tuesday, some 3.27 million vaccine doses have been administered in Australia.

For Australia to reach the Federal Budget’s goal of providing vaccine to every eligible recipient by the end of 2021 — which the budget said is a key prerequisite for borders opening in mid-2022 — vaccination levels will need to increase dramatically.

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