Opinion: WA might as well be another planet with no date set for border opening

That's because a state in our own country remains closed to Australia and the rest of the world.

It's an issue close to my heart, as Western Australia is my home state - the place where I was born, went to school, graduated from university and spent my first year as a cadet journalist.

I've spent nearly eight years over east, after making the move to continue my career in the media and I've been a Port Macquarie resident for majority of that time.

However, I'll always have ties to WA because my immediate family lives there.

For the best part of two years I've witnessed life events through snaps on social media - seen close friends get married, my nieces start school and family holidays to our favourite locations.

I'm suffering 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) to the extreme - and the photos and videos always leave me wanting more.

It's the little moments which I'm missing the most - the coffee dates with my sister, the beach swims with my Dad and the ballet concerts with my Mum.

I was lucky enough to escape NSW and enter WA with my four-month-old son when there was a COVID lull in February 2021.

However, it's not enough when so many of his major milestones have been missed.

The hardest part is that we've all followed the health advice to a tee.

We've listened to WA Premier Mark McGowan when he told us to get vaccinated.

We've all now received our boosters - to put us in the best position possible to mitigate any potential spread to people who are vulnerable in the community, especially those who live in rural and remote locations.

WA has had two years to prepare for the coronavirus pandemic and Omicron has already impacted its border.

However, Mr McGowan has still not given a date for when his border will open.

I take it as a good sign that the quarantine period for positive cases and their close contacts has been halved from 14 days to seven, under a change that came into effect on February 8.

Perhaps the state is only weeks away from officially opening?

However, with a premier as reactive as Mr McGowan, who knows what the future holds?

With experts predicting another variant could be just around the corner, perhaps the WA planet will block itself off yet again.

In the meantime I'll start preparing for my journey to Mars, as I've probably got more hope of seeing that planet firsthand.

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