Western Australia's premier says it's too early to tell whether the state's reopening will be delayed and has warned mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations are here to stay.
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Mark McGowan expects WA will hit 80 per cent full vaccination by the end of next week, allowing him to set a date for a late-January or early-February reopening.
But the emergence of the highly-infectious Omicron variant of the virus has added to uncertainty around when WA will rejoin the rest of the nation.
"I don't know what's going to happen with Omicron. Omicron didn't exist until three days ago," the premier told ABC radio on Monday.
"I'm having a national cabinet meeting tomorrow with the prime minister and the other premiers and we'll just see what they have to say.
"It may well be that Omicron spreads more rapidly but is not any more lethal, and therefore we can proceed as planned."
Mr McGowan said he was highly confident a police officer's last-ditch legal challenge against the state's vaccine mandates would not succeed.
The application for judicial review in the WA Supreme Court comes ahead of Wednesday's deadline for all police employees to have had at least one vaccine dose, along with other frontline workers and fly-in, fly-out resources workers.
Launched on behalf of Senior Constable Ben Falconer by Hotchkin Hanly Lawyers, it argues the direction is "disproportionate or not rationally connected to its stated aim".
Police officers who do not comply will initially be stood down on full pay but are ultimately expected to lose their jobs. About 20 have indicated they will not get jabbed.
The premier said vaccine mandates would continue to be enforced for years to come.
"I can't say what a future premier might do but they'll be in place for a very long time while I'm the premier," he said.
A crowdfunding page for the legal action has raised more than $24,000 after being established earlier this month.
"Contrary to what some will have you believe, these members are not mentally deranged anti-vaxers (sic), they are hard-working and dedicated employees who love serving the community of WA," a description on the GoFundMe page says.
A larger cohort of West Australian workers including retail and hospitality staff have until the end of the year to get jabbed.
The premier is bullish WA will achieve its target of 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over becoming fully vaccinated.
About 75 per cent of West Australians have now had both doses but there has been backlash over the mandates from a vocal minority, some of whom have levelled violent threats against the premier and other leaders.
Australian Associated Press
