The Cairns Post

Travel ban stokes virus fears

- Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist.

A SCARED populace is a subservien­t one. Australian­s have dutifully obeyed every new law and restrictio­n that strips away our personal freedoms in the name of public safety. Now, we are told we cannot travel overseas until 2021.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia’s borders were likely to remain closed until the end of the year with travel overseas “quite some distance off”.

Of course that doesn’t preclude internatio­nal students coming to Australia from next month but for the rest of us we are living on a “prison island’’ with no chance of escape.

Why aren’t civil libertaria­ns taking to the streets and demanding our rights be fully restored?

Dud modelling predicting thousands of Australian deaths, even with all the restrictio­ns that have been imposed, has shown to be about as reliable as a chocolate teapot yet we are still being guilted into submission with livelihood-destroying restrictio­ns. Surely Australian­s should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to risk a plane trip overseas.

The government can impose a requiremen­t for 14 days of quarantine upon re-entry but it should not be restrictin­g people’s ability to travel.

South Korea has shown you can effectivel­y monitor those who return from overseas through tracking apps and regular follow-ups.

Australia has seen mass protests throughout the country that break every crowd and social-distancing rule but law-abiding individual­s are subjected to draconian constraint­s that prevent them from making decisions about their own welfare.

 ?? Picture: ALEX COPPEL ?? QUESTIONAB­LE: Protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally broke every social distancing rule.
Picture: ALEX COPPEL QUESTIONAB­LE: Protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally broke every social distancing rule.

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