[Clewza313]

For better or worse, Australia is a federal state and individual states have a wide degree of freedom to impose rules on their populace.

I'm a little surprised we didn't see similar moves in the US, but COVID spread so quickly there that it would have been kind of meaningless. The maritime provinces of Canada, though, had a very similar arrangement at one point, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the country.

All that said, I do think Australia is on a very slippery slope here and the current government is no fan of civil liberties. The restrictions on leaving Australia are particularly indefensible.

[chii]

> The restrictions on leaving Australia are particularly indefensible

if those leaving would sign a waiver that they may be refused entry back (e.g., people who left australia after the first wave, but decided to come back when delta variant first appeared), then it would be ok to let them leave.

[type0]

> if those leaving would sign a waiver that they may be refused entry back (e.g., people who left australia after...

Aussies have the whole empty continent nearby to banish the wrong-thinkers to exile /s