Hi all - I'm an Australian citizen currently residing in the UK with my British wife (I have dual nationality). Trying to plan a trip back to Aus at the end of Dec into Jan with her but having difficulty navigating the various government websites and was hoping some kind folks could help. We will be flying in and out of Sydney from London.

Firstly, in regards to my wife coming too, is the e-visitor (subclass 651) sufficient, or does she need an exemption on top? It's not clear from the homeaffairs website if she needs the exemption due to the pandemic, or the exemption is for people who aren't for instance a direct family member of a citizen.

Secondly I'm also concerned because their site says the processing time is high, with only 75% done in 31 days and 90% in 4 months. We get these often, and they're always pretty much instant so I wanted to see if anyone else has experience with this within the last few weeks? What I'm confused about is this is the main visa for a short trip - when the government announced opening of borders they spoke about people getting back for xmas but really this means that so many people would be at risk of missing out and having to book knowing the chances of visa being processed in time weren't guaranteed.

Thanks so much!