National cabinet set to cap arrivals to Australia as states look to charge for hotel quarantine
The Morrison government will move to lower the cap on numbers of people arriving in Australia and New South Wales has proposed charging international arrivals – including Australians returning home – for hotel quarantine.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her government is “seriously considering” charging arrivals ahead of a national cabinet meeting on Friday which will discuss limiting arrivals to prevent hotel quarantine becoming overrun.
The changes were sparked by Victoria’s battle with a second wave of Covid-19 infections, which also caused the Australian National University and University of Canberra to indefinitely postpone the first pilot program for international students to return to Australia.
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has asked Scott Morrison to limit international arrivals to his state, and Guardian Australia understands Queensland will also ask for a cap although it hasn’t yet put a number on its request. Victoria has already diverted all international flights away.
On Thursday Scott Morrison and the health minister, Greg Hunt, accepted the case for a reduced arrival cap to “ease the pressure on our points of entry” and agreed that national cabinet will “moderate the number of total flights”.
On Thursday Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney that NSW had so far welcomed back between 30,000 and 35,000 Australians, about two-thirds of who were NSW residents but at least one-third were residents of other states in transit.
Some 70,000 Australians have returned through the two-week compulsory hotel quarantine since the measure was agreed by national cabinet on 27 March.
Berejiklian said the government is “seriously considering” charging international arrivals and it was “extremely
valid” to question why Australians hadn’t returned when they were urged in March.
“Obviously they’ve had considerable time to consider their options to this point in time,” she said.
“Can I state quite stridently that we will be charging overseas visitors rather than charging NSW residents …
“Obviously I’d also welcome a lowering of the daily cap around the nation as to how many people are coming on board so I’m looking forward to that discussion tomorrow at national cabinet.”
Berejiklian said she was “proud of the work we’ve done … but it does take up a lot of resources” and is “high risk”.
“I would welcome the Australian government reducing the daily cap around the nation and … that would mean that we could put resources elsewhere.”
Berejiklian said the government would be careful with the timing of any announcement because “there’s likely to be a rush” and hardship arrangements needed to be put in place.
On Thursday the Morrison government confirmed that national cabinet would review the number of arrivals and consider the effectiveness of hotel quarantine as part of a snap review.
Morrison told reporters in Canberra he would take a “proposal that would ease the pressure on our points of entry, whether that’s in Sydney or Perth or Brisbane or Adelaide”. Morrison declined to express a view on how low the cap should go.
Between 7 June and 7 July, there have been 14,192 international passenger arrivals in NSW; 5,267 in Victoria; 4,527 in Queensland; 2,509 in WA; 836 in the Northern Territory; 438 in South Australia; and 296 in the ACT.
The ACT’s chief minister, Andrew Barr, has previously said the ACT will only take one international flight per quarantine period of 14 days.
The compulsory two-week hotel quarantine for international arrivals was agreed by national cabinet on the basis the commonwealth would provide support through the defence force and border force but “states and territories would meet the costs and determine any contributions required for travellers arriving within their jurisdictions”.
Victoria has set up a judicial inquiry into hotel quarantine due to fears infection control breaches have contributed to the second wave of coronavirus infections in that state and smaller outbreaks elsewhere in Australia.
Earlier, Hunt played down suggestions that failures of hotel quarantine were widespread, telling ABC News Breakfast while there were “clear, significant breaches in Victoria … seven out of eight states and territories have done an extraordinary job”.
“It’s detected well over 400 cases incoming, prevented them from going out into the community, kept those individuals safe, and kept the community safe,” he said.
Hunt said the national cabinet review process will “moderate the number of total flights, and therefore the number of people that come into Australia”.
“But we have to work to the safe capacity of each of the states and territories; that’s the fundamental responsibility.”
Hunt said lowering the cap was a “difficult decision”, adding that “for Australians who are coming home now, five months after the virus first started, then obviously each will have their own circumstances”.
“And if they do have to wait, we’d ask them to be patient.”
More restrictive caps on arrivals would affect not only Australians returning home, but also business travellers granted special waivers and the prospect of pilot schemes to return international students.
On Thursday ANU and UC announced their pilot – which proposed to bring 350 international students back to Australia in July – has been postponed “until there is a clearer picture around the COVID trajectory”.
The federal government decided on Tuesday that pilots could continue despite border bans on Victoria but UC vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon said it was “best to press pause on our plans” due to the “ever-evolving circumstance of this global pandemic”.
ANU vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt, said: “This is not an end to the program – just a delay – and we remain committed to ensuring our students can continue their studies back in Australia when the time is right.”
The Australian Industry Group chief executive, Innes Willox, told Guardian Australia while its members haven’t raised Australians returning from overseas, they are “concerned with difficulties for returning or new visa workers”.
“This ranges from workers with specialist trades to [chief executives],” he said.
“Exemptions for entry are being granted but this could be streamlined more.
“Workers in oil and gas and in health-related fields seem to get in relatively easily, which is very welcome, but many are being rejected and families of visa holders divided.”