Last week, Australia began loosening controls at its international border, which closed early in the coronavirus pandemic. Fully vaccinated Australian citizens, residents and family members can enter parts of the country quarantine-free, while those who are in Australia no longer have to get government permission to travel internationally.

But states and territories have also restricted entry to one another for much of the pandemic, and many of those restrictions remain. The internal border closings have kept Elliott, 32, a writer who lives in the state of Victoria, from seeing her father in Western Australia, on the opposite side of the country.

“My dad is my best mate,” she said.

As Australia’s two most populous states reopen to the world, others are staying firmly shut even to fellow Australians. Western Australia says its internal border won’t be fully open until next year.

“So my dad and I won’t be spending Christmas together,” Elliott said. “It was really disheartening to find that out.”