|
Scott Morrison:
'I don't see a great deal of difference in skilled workers or students who will be able to come to Australia when you reach those vaccination rates [80%]. Those who are coming for that purpose when it comes to their profession, which is playing cricket, I don't see the difference between that and someone who's coming as a skilled, qualified engineer or someone who's coming to be ready for study.'
What do I read from that? Tennis and F1 will certainly be included in the same bracket as professional cricketers - and arguably the situation is less complex because there is no intra-country travel for F1. The Ashes dates are not really in question, but the locations are dependant on state rules.
Australia's vaccination figures (fully vaccinated) have risen from 10% to nearly 40% in two months, the current trend indicates that the 80% figure will be reached before the England players have to travel in November.
As I see it, the biggest hurdle to F1 (and tennis) is currently in terms of scheduling, and fitting in a quarantine period if still mandatory. Currently the Aus GP is scheduled just two weeks after Saudi Arabia, leaving too short a window for quarantine. Moving it right a week would effectively mean the teams are on the road for the first six weeks of the season, with just a week turnaround between China and Miami.
My prediction would be that either:
A shuffle of the opening rounds, to start the season in Aus.
A shuffle of the October / November rounds, with Aus being scheduled a week before the final round in Abu Dhabi.
|