Art in the plague year: when a painting is like a new sofa We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Normal text size Advertisement In March last year a friend in Bangladesh forwarded a news item that said Australia’s borders would be closed until September. “Is it true!!!!” he exclaimed. I was sceptical and replied that neither the economy nor people’s limits of endurance would allow the closures to last that long. I thought we’d be flying again within a few months. It’s in such moments you discover you’re really an optimist. One month into 2021 and the international borders are just as firmly closed as they were at the end of March, maybe more so. The most dire predictions don’t see us travelling internationally until next year. More than 30,000 Australians can’t even get a flight home.