Scott Morrison has taken aim at mask mandates, claiming Australians will use their "common sense" over a festive period likely to include rising COVID-19 case numbers.
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But health experts are demanding "clear signals" from federal and state governments, warning "low cost" measures will be needed as long as COVID-19 variants can bypass vaccines.
But Mr Morrison pointed to the state, which has abandoned mask mandates despite the surge, claiming residents were continuing to take "common sense" precautions.
"They're not being fined if they don't [wear masks], because Australians know what is a common sense, responsible action to look after their own health and to look after the health of those around them," he said.
"As a country, we have got to get past the heavy hand of government, and we have got to treat Australians like adults."
The trigger for entering the national reopening plan's final stage has yet to be outlined, despite over 90 per cent of Australia's 16-and-over population having been fully-vaccinated.
The issue will be discussed at national cabinet on Wednesday, but Mr Morrison conceded Omicron had delayed progress.
"Some states will move into that phase sooner than others. But at this point, Omicron means we are in Phase C and that will continue," he said.
After two years of lockdowns and border closures, Mr Morrison insisted Australia would not revert to draconian measures.
"We will need to continue to calibrate how we manage this virus and how we live with this virus in the face of Omicron," he said.
"Of course that is necessary, but we're not going back to lockdowns, we're not going back to shutting down peoples' lives. We're going forward to live with this virus with common sense and responsibility."
But health behavioural expert at the Queensland University of Technology Ross Gordon warned Australia's plans were based on now-defunct assumptions over vaccine efficacy, arguing ongoing "low cost" measures - mask mandates, check-in apps, and indoor density limits - would mitigate spiraling case numbers.
Mask mandates have returned across the northern hemisphere with Omicron growing roots.
Professor Gordon said Australia had so far managed the pandemic in a "much less damaging way" than many European countries, but feared it was now "going in the opposite direction".
"It'd be great to have a Christmas that we all thought we were going to have, but Omicron has changed things dramatically," he said.
"[These measures are] not too much of an imposition. It's not a lockdown. It still allows people to go about their everyday business, but it's just in a slightly safer way."
Professor Gordon rejected the Prime Minister's binary shift to personal responsibility, saying Australians need to be supported by "clear signals" from their leaders.
"It's hard to suggest that it's all about personal responsibility. It's about government and the population working together to try and navigate us through the pandemic," he said.
"It's all well and good to say that a lot of responsible Australians might keep using a mask, anyway ... [but] it just leaves that lack of clarity about what you should and what you shouldn't be doing."
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The emergence of Omicron has also raised the prospect of restrictions being reimposed sporadically as new mutations reached Australian shores.
Professor Gordon believed localised lockdowns and mask mandates were "very likely" to continue over the next few years, with vaccines never likely to be a "silver bullet".
"Our political leaders globally, not just in Australia, have sold this story that all we need to do to get out of this is get double-jabbed, and unfortunately that's not proving to be the case," he said.
"I don't think it was wise to over-egg that argument. It was always going to be the case that vaccines are part of the mix, but behavioural change is important as well."
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